LGBT month - out! northeast magazine

ICONS – Out Northeast Icons. Words - Paul Corduex
Sir Ian
McKellen
11
As he prepares to celebrate his
70th birthday in May of this year,
you might think Sir Ian McKellen
would be tempted to slow down a little
and take things easy. But you’d be wrong.
He is starting off his seventh decade on the
planet with a new role alongside Patrick
Stewart in a UK tour and West End run of
Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot. His
diverse acting ability and keen wit have been
on show in everything from Shakespearian
lead roles to a cameo in Extras with Ricky
Gervais. But there is a lot more to Sir Ian
than you think you know already. Yes, he is
the guy who played Magnito in the X-Men
films, but he is also a longstanding gay rights
activist and as such deserves a place amongst
the Great British Gay Icons.
Initially turning to acting at 18, he won
a scholarship to St. Catherine’s College,
Cambridge, Sir Ian went on to star in many
West End productions and won critical
acclaim for almost every role he played. His
love, particularly of the theatre, was born
when he was young. His sister took him to
see plays as a youngster in Wigan. Having
moved there from Burnley where McKellen
was born. His Mother and Father were both
dead by the time he turned 24, but had
ignited within him an appreciation of acting
and actors as well as the magic of
the theatre itself.
Despite films roles as early in his career as
1969, Sir Ian was only able to gain popular
success from the 1990s onwards with major
roles in amongst other production, Last Action
Hero, Gods and Monsters and the X-Men
trilogy. His most famous films role for most
people will be as Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s
monumental works The Fellowship of the
Ring, The Two Towers and Return of the
King¬ – known collectively as The Lord of
the Rings. His prominent roles in these and
other productions led to critical acclaim and
a trophy cabinet weighed down with Golden
Globes, Tony Awards, Olivier Awards and
Screen Actors Guild Awards.
There is another side to Sir Ian’s personality
however. Alongside cameos in Coronation
Street, 2005, and star roles in 2006’s The
Da Vinci Code, McKellen has been tirelessly
campaigning for Gay rights and equality.
He rose to our attention in 1983 when he
outed himself on Radio 3. He maintains
that his family and colleagues were aware
of his sexuality long before this, but his
public admission opened the door to the
foundation of Stonewall UK, which he
founded alongside other prominent public
gay of the time including Michael Cashman.
We owe a debt of gratitude to these men
and in particular Sir Ian, because of the
way they have selflessly publicised the gay
cause with pride and courage in what were
occasionally very hostile times. The name
Stonewall comes from the Stonewall Inn in
New York City where in 1969 riots broke
out over the treatment and marginalisation
of homosexuals. Stonewall UK successfully
lobby to this day for improved gay, lesbian
and transgender rights and equality and it
is all down to those early pioneers, Sir Ian
included.
In his personal life, which he quite
rightly guards and protects, McKellen has
had occasional long term relationships
including an unrequited alleged attraction
to Derek Jacobi and in 1964 his first serious
relationship with Brian Taylor a History
Teacher. In the late 1970s he has a ten year
relationship with Sean Mathias by whom he
will be directed in Waiting for Godot when
he takes to the stage in The Theatre Royal in
Newcastle in April 2009. Because of Sir Ian’s
attempts to keep his private life private, little
more information appears, he did attend the
Academy Awards in 2002 with Nick Cuthell
his boyfriend at the time.
So as 70 approaches, and yet another
nationwide tour gets underway, what does
the future hold for Sir Ian McKellen? It’s
easy to comment that he has achieved so
much with a 40 year career in theatre and
film under his belt. He took-on and nailed
the role of King Lear in Shakespeare’s play
of the same name – considered by many on
the stage to be the pinnacle of an actor’s
career. He was given much critical acclaim
for the part that he played in 2007 into
2008, for which he appeared naked on the
stage and raised more than few eyebrows.
With that trademark twinkle in his eyes and
an easy and unflappable persona Sir Ian is
undoubtedly our longest most
deserving gay icon.
www.outnortheast.com 11. Out NorthEast