Ian Mckellen was born on May 25, 1939 in Burnley, Lanashire,
England.
In a Shakespearian play is how Ian Mckellen got his start
his first role, as Malvolio in TWELFTH NIGHT.
Working mostly in theater, brought Ian Mckellen fame, recognition and knighthood by Queen Elizabeth in 1990 for
his efforts in the arts.
Bruce Davison and Ian Mckellen have been in four films together:
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION (1993), APT PUPIL (1998), X-MEN
(2000) and X2 (2003). The first of these is the only one not
directed by Bryan Singer.
Preparing for his role of Gandalf, Ian Mckellen listened
to a recording of Tolkien reading Gandalf lines from the
novel. Mckellen used this as a base for creating the character, and
imitated the accent used by Tolkien in the recording.
For Ian Mckellen's role in THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy he
had to wear a prosthetic nose.
The phrase "old friend" has been used in both the X-MEN and
THE LORD OF THE RINGS. In both cases Ian Mckellen said it
to Christopher Lee as Saurman in the LORD OF THE RINGS and
Patrick Stewart as Xavier in X-MEN it is said to an ally who
has become a nemesis and "old friend" is said mockingly.
In APT PUPIL Ian Mckellen played an ex-Nazi soldier, and
in X-MEN he was an ex-Jewish prisoner.
Along with the other members of the fellowship in THE LORD OF THE
RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING Ian Mckellen received a tattoo of the Elvish character for 9.
Ian Mckellen's other notable credits include...
