Ian McKellen

From Philosopedia

1959 "Deutsches Haus", Harry (Ian McKellen), Anna (Margaret Drabble)

McKellen, Ian [Sir] (25 May 1939 - )

McKellen, the English-born actor, has been decorated as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and a Knight Bachelor. He has appeared in numbers of classical plays from Hamlet and Macbeth to Six Degrees of Separation and The Band Played On. On Broadway, he received a Tony Award. In Los Angeles and New York City in 1984, he appeared in a one-man show, A Knight Out at the Lyceum, which was devised especially for a Gay Games IV tour in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

To his stepmother, Gladys McKellen, who was a Friend (Quaker), he came out as a homosexual and was relieved by her reaction:

• Not only was she not fazed, but as a member of a society which declared its indifference to people's sexuality years back, I think she was just glad for my sake that I wasn't lying any more.

“I was brought up a Christian, low church," he told a reporter, "and I like the community of churchgoing. That’s rather been replaced for me by the community of people I work with. I like a sense of family, of people working together. But I’m an atheist. So God, if She exists, isn’t really a part of my life.” {Tim Appelo, Mr. Showbiz, 19 January 1996;

Playing the role of the Wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, in which he earned an Academy Award.

In May 2006, The Da Vinci Code opened with McKellen starring as Sir Leigh Teabing. In the role, he brings up the question of Jesus's divinity, the significance of the Council of Nicaea in 325, and the controversial role played by Opus Dei, the secret Catholic organization. Based on the Dan Brown novel of the same name, the work is controversial, stating that it is possible that Jesus sired a child with the prostitute Mary Magdalene.

On the televised "Today Show" (17 May 2006), when NBC reporter Matt Lauer asked if The Da Vinci Code needs a disclaimer, McKellen responded,

• I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaier in the front saing this is fiction. I mean, walking on water, it takes an act of faith.

Also in 2006, he starred in X-Men, a movie in which as Magneto he uses his mastery of magnetism to bully humanity, clearing the way for mutants to rule. Minorities, the film shows, are feared and despised in an intolerant human world.

George Broadhead, writing for the Pink Triangle Trust's blog, included the following:

"Godless Gandalf

It amazes me how many people don’t realise that the actor Ian McKellen is an atheist, though I suspect it could have something to do with his having starred in The Da Vinci Code and that, in our soap-opera-informed society, many people can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction!

McKellen said at the time:

'The Catholic Church is upset by the suggestion that Jesus Christ was married and that his bloodline survives to this day. As an atheist, I am indifferent. As a reader, I couldn’t stop turning the pages of Dan Brown’s book.'

He also said that he didn’t believe the book was true or factual, simply that it was a jolly good read. Whether he thinks the Bible is also a jolly good read is anyone’s guess, but, as was reported by NewsBusters in 2006, he does think it’s fiction:

'Well, I’ve often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction.'

This quote reminds me of when McKellen was on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, and, when told he'd be able to take the Bible and the works of Shakespeare to his fictional desert island, revealed that when he stayed in hotel rooms he would tear out pages of the Gideon Bible he thought offensive – notably those in Leviticus.

McKellen came out as gay in 1988 while being interviewed on BBC Radio 3, in which he made known his objection to Clause 28 of the Local Government Bill, which was then making its way through Parliament. He has been campaigning for gay rights ever since.

Last week (1 June 2008), McKellen was interviewed on BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show. When asked about the current situation for gays in the UK, he acknowledged that great progress had been made but drew attention to the persistent bullying of gay pupils in schools – especially faith schools – and the inequality of civil partnership compared with marriage! He also cited the persecution of gay people in Islamic countries such as Iran, pointing out that gay men are routinely hanged in this barbaric theocracy. Gay & Lesbian Humanist Autumn 2005 carried a story on one such incident."

Anglican Church Is Confronted

McKellen with gay Anglican Bishop Gene Robinson from New Hampshire

McKellen accused the Anglican Church of homophobia during Andrew Marr's BBC1 television show, 13 July 2008. Sitting alongside Gene Robinson, the American gay bishop from New Hampshire, McKellen said

• institutions shared a problem with homophobia and "having [that problem], they root around in the Bible for the passages that seem to be relevant".

Like the armed forces and schools, religious leaders unnecessarily fear that including homosexuals would cause chaos and disintegration of discipline. Disagreeing, McKellen supported Bishop Rolbinson, whose 2003 consecration and non-celibate relationship with Mark Andrews resulted in the Anglican communion's being pushed to the brink of schism. Guardian reporter Riazat Butt wrote that McKellen

• described himself as an atheist who was looking at the church from the outside, and who was commenting because attitudes within the church had ramifications. He cited the case this week of a Christian registrar in London who was endorsed by an employment tribunal after refusing to officiate same-sex civil partnerships.

Of the world's Anglican bishops, one-fourth are boycotting the July 2008 Lambeth conference, Butt observed:

• Although homosexuality is not on the agenda, it threatens to dominate Lambeth. Around 230 bishops – a quarter of the world's 880 total – are boycotting the conference because the Archbishop of Canterbury invited representatives from the US Episcopal church who supported Robinson's ordination.

• The conservatives – mostly from Africa – are furious that Williams failed to punish the liberals from the US wing of the communion. Last month, senior figures from churches in Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya and Australia launched the Global Anglican Future Conference, or Gafcon, a breakaway movement for traditionalists unhappy with the progressive agendas of churches in the northern hemisphere.

STAGE AND SCREEN CREDITS

McKellen has appeared often on the stage and in movies.

{CA; E; WAS, George Broadhead, 11 June 2008}