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" 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. "
Ian Mckellen
I Am
Shy
Nice
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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. "
Ian Mckellen
World
Think
Work
" I have got prostate cancer, and I have to keep monitoring that. It's no problem, it's under control and I'm very cool about it, but other people are dying from it. "
Ian Mckellen
Control
Cool
Problem
" Gandalf is ever-present in my life. I like it. "
Ian Mckellen
My Life
Like
Life
" In the U.K. there is still work to be done, particularly in schools, stopping the homophobic bullies in the playground and introducing unbiased discussion on gay issues in the classroom. "
Ian Mckellen
Done
Work
Classroom
" When I was playing Gandalf, I didn't think, 'Oh my dear, I'm playing a 7,000 year old wizard,' because I've never met one, and I don't know what they're like. "
Ian Mckellen
Year
Never
Old
" Godot is whatever it is in life that you are waiting for: 'I'm waiting to win the lottery. I'm waiting to fall in love'. For me, as a child, it was Christmas. At least that eventually came. "
Ian Mckellen
Win
Fall
Life
" When I went to lobby Nelson Mandela while the post-apartheid constitution was being drafted, I asked him to endorse making it illegal to discriminate on grounds of sexuality. I'd been warned that he might giggle if I mentioned homosexuality. "
Ian Mckellen
Him
Constitution
Drafted
" Gandalf saves the world and saves the soul of the world, really. "
Ian Mckellen
World
Soul
Really
" I know actors who have had to turn down good roles because they just don't pay enough. It's hard. "
Ian Mckellen
Enough
Down
Know
" I don't normally take to Yorkshiremen. "
Ian Mckellen
Take
Normally
" Shakespeare's villains are fabulous because none of them know that they are villains. Well, sometimes they do. "
Ian Mckellen
Know
Because
Well
" In Singapore, Malcolm X type of activity would be extremely difficult because the government can be very harsh on lawbreakers. "
Ian Mckellen
Harsh
Singapore
Government
" There are still times in my life where I pull back from being totally honest, and I can't imagine a single straight person who would understand that. "
Ian Mckellen
Person
My Life
Life
" I like sleeping a lot. "
Ian Mckellen
Like
Lot
Sleeping
" 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? "
Ian Mckellen
Gender
Prison
Trying
" Some relationships get easier as you get older, depending on what sort of person you are. I don't think I've got any better at them. "
Ian Mckellen
Older
Better
Relationships
" That was the big effect Lord of the Rings had on me. It was discovering New Zealand. And even more precious were the people- not at all like the Australians. "
Ian Mckellen
New
People
Precious
" What I particularly like about Broadway is the camaraderie and the friendship of other people in other shows. Everybody knows you're opening and cares about you. There's a real village atmosphere. "
Ian Mckellen
Real
People
Friendship
" I think with Shakespeare you can be required to do absolutely anything at the turn of a sixpence - suddenly you go into a battle, suddenly you utter something passionate. "
Ian Mckellen
Passionate
Think
Turn
" I always walk up the escalator on the Tube, and I live in a house with a lot of stairs, and that's good exercise, but you need more than that. "
Ian Mckellen
Exercise
Live
Stairs
" I think New York audiences are some of the brightest in the world, and certainly the most enthusiastic. "
Ian Mckellen
Most
New
New York
" I'm not quite as cool as I would like to be, really. "
Ian Mckellen
Like
Cool
Would
" I get pretty grumpy about TV. "
Ian Mckellen
Get
About
TV
" It's nice for me to be in touch with a younger generation. "
Ian Mckellen
Younger
Generation
Me
" The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie. "
Ian Mckellen
Lead
Romantic
Wisdom
" I have lots of fans, they are mostly under the age of 12, boys and girls. "
Ian Mckellen
Boys And Girls
Age
Fans
" I'd never read 'Lord of the Rings' until I was asked to play Gandalf, so I didn't really know it was a frightfully famous book. "
Ian Mckellen
Famous
Book
Never
" Doing some of the 'Lord Of The Rings' press junkets got a bit claustrophobic. "
Ian Mckellen
Some
Got
Doing
" 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
Me
Happened
" Most actors are not rich - they are very poor indeed. What keeps them going is that they just love the job. "
Ian Mckellen
Rich
Poor
Love