Ian McKellen Biography

Ian McKellen

Knighted in 1990, McKellen is one of the century's finest Shakespearean actors. In addition to his prodigious stage career (including roles as Richard II and Hamlet and a Tony Award for Amadeus, 1981), McKellen has appeared in several films, most memorably in the lead roles of Scandal (1989) and Richard III (1996), a Shakespearean drama set in a 1930s fascist state. He is slated to play the good wizard Gandalf in the upcoming Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003). A gay rights activist, McKellen acted in the TV movie about the AIDS crisis, And the Band Played On (1993).