ACTOR
IAN MCKELLEN
Whether strutting onstage or off, Ian McKellen remains one of our most visible, grandest advocates—and the most tireless. The son of pacifists, and a lifelong atheist, he has been out since 1988—the year in which the British government enacted a controversial act, popularly known as Clause 28, forbidding the "promotion" of homosexuality "as a pretended family relationship" in schools. That same year McKellen met with British Secretary for the Environment Michael Howard, hoping to enlist his opposition. Howard refused, but asked for McKellen's autograph. The actor gallantly pulled out a pen, before writing: "Fuck off, I'm gay."While the stakes seemed higher in the '80s, McKellen's unapologetic stance stands in sharp contrast to the quiet diplomacy of many of today's gay actors, without having affected his ability to attract major roles, including his Oscar-nominated performances in 1998's Gods & Monsters and as Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring, a role he will reprise in the 2011 prequel, The Hobbit. Next up he stars as Pozzo in a West End production of Waiting for Godot and will be seen here on the small screen next year in AMC's remake of the trippy '60s British series The Prisoner.
