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" Theatre is relatively easy if you're British - you're living in the theatre capital of the world, London - there are so many places you can work, still. If I had begun to think of myself as a film actor, I think I would have got distracted. "

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" It's easier to go from theatre to film than the other way round. In film you're absolutely loved and cossetted and cared for. In film your director makes your performance. In theatre you're carrying it all. "

Ian Mckellen

You

Way

Theatre

" Gandalf saves the world and saves the soul of the world, really. "

" Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef - but that's only when people asked me what I wanted to be. In fact, I always used to say I wanted to be an actor, but I didn't ever believe that I was good enough to be come one. "

Ian Mckellen

Believe

Chef

" There's no sex in Middle Earth. "

" Anyone in public life who comes out, comes out primarily for themselves, and their life is immediately improved. That's what happened to me. "

Ian Mckellen

Who

Happened

" To be allowed for the first time in your later career to play leading parts in extremely popular movies is not a situation to worry about. "

" It's my impression that I've done every job that I've been asked to do. "

" I don't make much distinction between being a stand-up comic and acting Shakespeare - in fact, unless you're a good comedian, you're never going to be able to play Hamlet properly. "

" Acting is a very big part of what human beings do. A dog is always a dog, but we're always changing. "

" The thing you notice here after America is how refreshingly ordinary people look because they haven't had their chin wrapped around the back of their ears. "

" 'Lord of the Rings' was about saving the world, big time, big duties. "

" Every time you work is a challenge. There's a constant worry about it, and it's a side of acting I don't like. "

" Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I've ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn't even realized I was carrying. "

" I often get mistaken for Dumbledore. One wizard is very much like another. "

Ian Mckellen

Mistaken

Wizard

" There are some tremendous actors in the U.K. who have been knighted, and I've spent much of my life admiring many of them, like Laurence Olivier. So it's very flattering to be in their company. "

" I think the point to be understood is that we're all different. I've never been a fan of theories of acting. I didn't go to drama school, so I was never put through a training that was limited by someone saying, 'This is the way you should act.' "

" People on television have trouble with fame because audiences think they're their mates. "

" I don't have Gandalf the White's certainty about everything. "

" I used to comfort myself when I became an actor that it was a useful job, entertaining people. And it was important to do it as well as you possibly can. "

" Gandalf is in Middle-earth to keep an eye on everybody, and that can be a rather serious matter. "

" I love musicals; I love the ballet, opera, the circus. It's all performance to me. "

Ian Mckellen

Performance

Ballet

" I learned that coming out was crucial to self-esteem. "

" I can't take on all the worries of the world, you know. I can only talk about being gay and being an actor. I'll have to leave those other battles to somebody else. "

" It's an interesting but useless bit of information that every single character in 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit' wears a wig, and many of them wears a prosthetic - false ears, feet, hands. In my case, nose. "

" I'm fortunate to be famous for two rather imposing characters like Magneto and Gandalf. "

Ian Mckellen

Famous

Fortunate

" What's nice for me, having identified myself for years as being rather shy, is now, wherever I am, in public, there tends to be a friendly face who's pleased to see me, and I like that. "

" I was brought up in industrial south Lancashire, down the cobbled road from where LS Lowry (1887 - 1976) lived and painted. "

Ian Mckellen

Down

Road

" Because I was in the business of translating the 'X-Men' from the very successful comics, and taking the most popular book of the 20th century in 'The Lord of the Rings,' and making it into three movies, I hope people realize I wouldn't get involved in anything I didn't think was really going to be worth their while. "

" Imagine trying to be a gay actor, a gay anything in modern Russia? Where to be positively oneself, to be affectionate in public with someone you love of the same gender, or to talk of that love in the hearing of anyone under 18, will put you prison? "

" There are a lot of actors - I'm probably one - who are most at home when they're on stage. "