Work is the curse of the world, and nobody can meddle with it without becoming proportionately brutified.

Actor                          

Selected Works:

Theatre:

Much Ado About Nothing - Royal National Theatre - Old Vic - London - 1965
Trelawny of the 'Wells' - National Theatre - London & Chichester Festival - 1965
The Promise - West End; Broadway - 1967
Edward II (in title role) - Edinburgh Festival & West End - 1969
Hamlet (title role) - UK/European Tour - 1971
'Tis Pity She's a Whore - UK Tour - 1972
Dr Faustus (title role) - Royal Shakespeare Company - Edinburgh Festival & Aldwych Theatre (London) - 1974
King John - RSC - 1975
Romeo and Juliet (as Romeo) - RSC - Stratford-upon-Avon & London - 1976
The Winter's Tale - RSC - Stratford-upon-Avon - 1976
Macbeth (title role) - RSC - Stratford-upon-Avon & Young Vic (London) - 1976–1977
The Alchemist - RSC - Stratford-upon-Avon & London - 1977
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour - RSC - Barbican Arts Centre (London) - 1977
Three Sisters - RSC - UK Tour - 1978
Bent - (as Uncle Freddie) West End - 1979
Amadeus (as Salieri) - Broadway - 1980
Coriolanus (title role) - National Theatre - 1984
Wild Honey - National Theatre - 1984 (& Broadway - 1986)
The Cherry Orchard (as Lopakhin) - National Theatre - 1985
The Duchess of Malfi - National Theatre - 1985
The Real Inspector Hound - National Theatre - London & Paris - 1985
Othello (as Iago) - RSC - London & Stratford-upon-Avon - 1989
Richard III (title role) - National Theatre - world tour - 1990 & US tour - 1992
Uncle Vanya (title role) - National Theatre - 1992
Peter Pan (as Mr. Darling/Captain Hook) - National Theatre - 1997
An Enemy of the People - National Theatre - 1997 & Ahmanson Theatre (Los Angeles) - 1998
Present Laughter - West Yorkshire Playhouse (Leeds - England) - 1998
Dance of Death - at the Broadhurst Theatre (New York) in 2001. At the Lyric Theatre (London - England) in 2003[20]
Aladdin - (as Widow Twankie) Old Vic - 2004 & 2005
The Cut - Donmar Warehouse - 2006
King Lear by William Shakespeare - (as Lear) - Courtyard Theatre - Stratford-upon-Avon - 2007
The Seagull by Anton Chekov - (as Sorin) - Courtyard Theatre - Stratford-upon-Avon - 2007; New York (Brooklyn Academy of Music) - 2007 Minneapolis - 2007 - New London Theatre (West End) - 2007-8
King Lear by William Shakespeare - (as Lear) - New Zealand - 2007; New York (Brooklyn Academy of Music) - 2007 - Minneapolis - 2007 - New London Theatre (West End) - 2007-8
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett - (as Estragon) - London - 2009 The Theatre Royal Haymarket                                              

Mother Margery Lois Sutcliffe
Father Denis Murray McKellen
First partner Brian Taylor - 1964-1972
Second partner Sean Mathias - lasted ten years.                                              

Won a scholarship to St Catharine's College, Cambridge.

Founding member of Stonewall, one of the United Kingdom's most influential LGBT rights groups, of which he remains a prominent spokesman - 1988.