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" 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. "

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" 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

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

" Doing some of the 'Lord Of The Rings' press junkets got a bit claustrophobic. "

" Quakers are terrific. "

Ian Mckellen

Quakers

Terrific

" No actor wants to play to an empty house. "

" Will I miss Gandalf? Well, I don't miss him, because people are constantly coming up to me mentioning him and talking about him, so I don't feel that I've lost contact. "

Ian Mckellen

Him

Feel

" 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. "

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

Ian Mckellen

Famous

Fortunate

" I came rather late to film. I've done an awful lot of theater before - before I discovered the camera, you know, seeing everything, requiring much less acting and - and much less presentation, much less projecting, more just being. "

" I think New York audiences are some of the brightest in the world, and certainly the most enthusiastic. "

" The huge difference in my lifetime is that you can just go up to somebody and make a pass. You couldn't do that in the 1950s if you were gay. There were secret handshakes, a secret language. There was nowhere you could go to be romantic outside of people's houses. "

Ian Mckellen

You

Language

" In Singapore, Malcolm X type of activity would be extremely difficult because the government can be very harsh on lawbreakers. "

" I increasingly see organized religion as actually my enemy. They treat me as their enemy. Not all Christians, of course. Not all Jews, not all Muslims. "

Ian Mckellen

See

Treat

" Why do you act? You act for an audience. In the theatre, you're in their presence. Film stars don't know what it is to have an audience. "

" Even now, there are young actors who want careers as romantic leading men, and the best thing is not to reveal you're gay. "

" Thanks to every gay person in public and non-public life who has come out. "

" I don't think many people will re-read 'The Da Vinci Code.' "

" It's only fair that stable gay relationships of long standing should have the same rights and responsibilities as married couples. I know the image of gay marriage is to some people horrific and ludicrous. "

" I've got a waistline to develop. "

Ian Mckellen

Develop

Got

" Until I came out, my acting was all about disguise, and thereafter it became about telling the truth. "

" It's nice for me to be in touch with a younger generation. "

Ian Mckellen

Younger

Generation

" Very, very rare that you do a job knowing that the audience is desperate for you to do that job. Most films you make don't get released, is the fact. "

" There are deaths in public places on the grounds that the victim is gay. "

" 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

" The one thing you can ask, I think, is that actors get paid a living wage. I would like it if all the repertory theatres that currently exist could do that. It would make a huge difference. "

" 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. "

" I certainly don't disparage someone whose attitude towards their work is utterly different from mine - that's up to them. "

" You mustn't upstage the bride. "

Ian Mckellen

Bride

You

" Tony Blair is not a villain, but he's played the part very well. "

Ian Mckellen

Villain

Well

" I'm the sort of person who doesn't write in ink. I only write in pencil, so it can be rubbed out. "