304 Quotes by Ian Mckellen

If I was a star, it would be difficult to go off and do 'Coronation Street.' So I guess I'm not a star.

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.

'King Lear,' I've been seeing all my life. I mean, the great actors of my lifetime... to join their company, as it were, by playing a part that's challenged them, is one of the great joys of being an actor who does the classics.

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.

I remember Tom Stoppard saying to me when I came out, 'I feel so sorry for you, because you'll never have children.' These days I would say, 'Well, why not, Tom?'

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

I still hope I've got a lot of life left on stage and making films.

I was a shy gay man at a time when it was illegal to be gay.

Tolkien is as good as Dickens at sketching a scene.