Page 35 - Great Elizabethans

FROM STUDENT TO WIZARD
After he left school, Ian won a scholarship to study English at Cambridge University – but he acted in so many plays as a student that his scholarship was taken away! However, critics were beginning to notice his talent, and he now knew that he wanted to be an actor and nothing else. In 1961, he made his first professional appearance in a play.
Over the next 30 years, he steadily became a more successful and well-loved theatre actor, especially in Shakespearean plays. He played the lovestruck Romeo, the villainous Richard III and the powerful enchanter Prospero. And he even played a pantomime dame in Aladdin!
In the 1990s, Ian began to take on more film roles, and in the 2000s, he gave his best-known performances of all: Gandalf the wizard in The Lord of the Rings, and the metal-controlling Magneto in the X-Men films.
Ian has won many
awards for acting, including six Olivier Awards, a Tony Award and a Golden Globe. He has also been nominated for two Oscars and four BA F TAs.
ACCEPTANCE WITHOUT EXCEPTION
But acting isn’t the only thing Ian is known for. Before 1967, it was illegal for men in Britain to be gay. Even after the law was changed, another law called Section 28 was introduced in 1988,
making it illegal to ‘promote homosexuality’ – for example, by teaching children that some families might have two mums or two dads. This law made it very hard for LGBT+ children to find support.
At that time, in an interview on the radio, Ian ‘came out’, and told people that he was gay himself. Because he was so well known, his honesty helped many others, although Ian did it because he felt he couldn’t keep hiding:
“The minute I came out, I felt immediately better in every way . . . I felt relieved that I wasn’t lying.” At the age of 48, he had become an activist. He went on to co-found Stonewall, a powerful charity organisation that campaigns for LGBT+ rights, whose slogan is ‘Acceptance without exception.’
While he may not actually be able to do magic or control metal with his mind, Ian has used his two super- powers, acting and activism, to entertain, inspire and encourage millions of people. Thinking about his greatest
achievements, he has said that his gravestone should say: “Here lies Gandalf. He came out”!
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