Sir Ian McKellen
SIR IAN McKELLEN has been honored with more than 40 international awards for his performances on stage and screen. He celebrates his 40th anniversary as an actor with his return to Broadway in Dance of Death, happily at the Broadhurst Theatre, where 20 years ago he won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards as Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus. In 1984, he received a Tony nomination and a Drama Desk Award for his solo show Acting Shakespeare. McKellen was most recently seen on Broadway in his autobiographical anthology A Knight Out at the Lyceum Theatre in 1994. Without any formal training, Sir Ian made his professional debut in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. His first London appearance in A Scent of Flowers in 1964 led to an invitation from Laurence Olivier to join his new National Theatre Company at the Old Vic Theatre. Then followed two seasons with the touring Prospect Theatre, storming the 1969 Edinburgh Festival as Shakespeare's Richard II and Marlowe's Edward II. These alternated for two sell-out seasons in London and were televised. Although he has played in long runs in the commercial West End theatre (including creating the role of Max in Martin Sherman's Bent), his most noted work has been in the classics with companies that are publicly subsidized to work in repertoire. He co-founded the democratically run Actors' Company in 1972. His work with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon and in London (1974-78) included plays by Brecht, Chekhov, Ibsen, Jonson, Marlowe, Shaw, Stoppard and Wedekind as well as Shakespeare -- Romeo, Macbeth (with Judi Dench), Leontes, Toby Belch and Iago. He produced the RSC's first small-scale tour of the UK in 1978. At the Royal National Theatre, his hits include Napoli Milonaria, Coriolanus, Wild Honey (also on Broadway in 1986), Peter Pan and Enemy of the People (which played the Ahmanson Theatre's 1998 season in Los Angeles). As Richard III, he toured the world from Tokyo to Los Angeles (1990-92). His most recent stage performances were in The Seagull, Present Laughter and The Tempest for Jude Kelly's company at the West Yorkshire Playhouse (1998). His first starring role on television was the title role in David Copperfield (BBC, 1966). He played Lawrence of Arabia in BBC-TV's Ross, Hitler in ITV's Countdown to War, Amos Starkadder in Schlesinger's Cold Comfort Farm and a mentally handicapped man in the first Film on Four, Stephen Frears' Walter. Also seen on U.S. television were Edward II, Hedda Gabler, The Scarlet Pimpernel, the thriller Dying Day and the documentary Diary of a Year (1985). McKellen won the Peabody Award for his 1984 broadcast On Shakespeare's Birthday, a Cable Ace Award for And the Band Played On (1993), an Emmy as best supporting actor in HBO's Rasputin (1996) and an Audie (1996) for his recording of Robert Fagle's new version of the Odyssey. His first film role in 1968 was with Sandy Dennis in Thank You All Very Much; he has made 25 movies since then. He was named European Actor of the Year in 1996 for his Richard III, which he co-produced and co-scripted. McKellen won the Los Angeles Film Critics' Association Award, the National Board of Review Award, a Golden Globe nomination and an Academy Award nomination, all for Best Actor, for his performance as film director James Whale in Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters. For director Bryan Singer he has starred in Apt Pupil and X-Men. McKellen can be seen as the wizard Gandalf the Grey in the Tolkien movie trilogy of Lord of the Rings. Bio as of October, 2010. American Theatre Wing programs, interviews and/or credits include: Downstage Center (audio) Sir Ian McKellen - October, 2010 - Listen Now. Internet Broadway Database Listing (IBDB.com) Website: www.mckellen.com