Ian Mckellen Biography

Ian Murray McKellen was born on the 25th of May, 1939, in the general hospital of Burnley, Lancashire. His father, Denis Murray, was a civil engineer, while his mother, Margery Lois (nee Sutcliffe), looked after Ian and Jean, five years Ian's senior. When Ian was but a few weeks old, just before WW2 broke out, the family moved to Wigan. With the Nazis bombing the industrial north of England, Ian would sleep underneath a supposedly bomb-proof iron table in the dining-room. The Germans never came close, but disease nearly got him - at the age of three he managed to survive diphtheria. It's possible this dangerous throat infection changed his voice forever, thereby contributing to his glittering career.
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The role that made McKellen famous was his 1969 portrayal of King Edward II of England in the Prospect Theatre Company's touring production of Marlowe's Edward II. The production was controversial for its explicit torture scenes and implicit homosexuality. He later reprised the role for the BBC. In 1972, he founded the Actors' Company with his friend Edward Petherbridge, and this was the beginning of his reputation as a spokesman for actors and the British theatre in general. Between 1974 and 1978, he enhanced his reputation with leading roles in Royal Shakespeare Company productions such as Romeo and Juliet (in which he played opposite Francesca Annis) and Macbeth (opposite Judi Dench).

In 1978 he met his second lover, Sean Mathias, at the Edinburgh Festival. According to Mathias, the love affair was tempestuous, with conflicts over McKellen's success in acting versus Mathias' somewhat less-successful career. Mathias said that "in those days, the world was far more homophobic, and me being the young, pretty boy — people wouldn't take me seriously as an actor, being Ian's boyfriend." Mathias was 22 when they met; McKellen 39. However, Mathias also says McKellen "did nothing but help me" in his career.

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IAN MCKELLEN BIOGRAPHY