Quotes from Ian Mckellen

All other areas of my life, I'm hopeless. I can't even be certain how to boil an egg.

Anyone in public life who comes out, comes out primarily for themselves, and their life is immediately improved. That's what happened to me.

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.

I live for the text. It's my job.

Thanks to every gay person in public and non-public life who has come out.

Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I've ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn't even realized I was carrying.

I have little routines in the theater. Once I've established something, like the order of putting on makeup and a costume, I have to invariably do it in the same order every time, even if I only did it by chance the first time round.

Macbeth is a very popular play with audiences. If you want to sell out a theater, just mount a production of Macbeth. It's a short play, it's an exciting play, it's easy to understand, and it attracts great acting.

When I left Cambridge, I applied to regional repertory theaters in the U.K. and got accepted by one of them... And here I am, still at it.

Theatre is relatively easy if you're British - you're living in the theatre capital of the world, London - there are so many places you can work, still. If I had begun to think of myself as a film actor, I think I would have got distracted.

The first film role I deliberately chose to play after I came out was a raging heterosexual, John Profumo.

I got better as an actor, and still I'm getting better. That's only been possible because there's always been work.

It was wrongly assumed that I wished to become some sort of leader among gay activists, whereas in reality I was happier to be a foot soldier.

Bill Gallagher's new version of 'The Prisoner' is an enthralling commentary on modern culture. It is witty, intelligent and disturbing. I am very excited to be involved.

I often get mistaken for Dumbledore. One wizard is very much like another.

When I was playing Gandalf, I didn't think, 'Oh my dear, I'm playing a 7,000 year old wizard,' because I've never met one, and I don't know what they're like.

I get pretty grumpy about TV.

The wonderful thing about modern medicine is that so many of these complaints that used to signify old age and decline can be coped with.

I'm brilliant at cooking my stepmother's scrambled egg recipe. The secret is to put eggs, butter, milk, and seasoning together in the saucepan, and to keep stirring with a wooden spoon under a low heat until the preferred consistency is reached.

My own death threats have declined considerably.

Magneto wants to cope with the difficulties thrust upon him by society and by his own nature.

Every anti-gay remark from the Church gives the thug a license to be cruel.

I suspect the base that I'm working from is not particularly one of inquiry, but of memory of what I did last time.

Gandalf's a good guy, and it's a good part. He says the right things, he believes the right things. An actor can have fun with it.