10 Greatest Films of Ian McKellen
Sir Ian McKellen was born in Lancashire, England in 1939. He began acting as a student at Bolton Little Theatre. He attended Cambridge on a scholarship. He first appeared on stage in the West End in a play called A Scent of Flowers. His first film role was in the 1969 film A Touch of Love. In 1980, he had his fist starring role, playing the poet D.H. Lawrence in Priest of Love.
It was in the mid 1990s when he received major recognition and a steady flow of roles in Hollywood. In 1998 he was nominated for an Oscar for Gods and Monsters. He has two Oscar nominations. The other was for playing Gandalf in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He has three Golden Globe nominations (winning one for playing Tsar Nicholas in Rasputin) and he has five Emmy nominations.
10. Cold Comfort Farm (1995) — based upon the novel by Stella Gibbons, this satire is about a young woman (played by Kate Beckinsale) that once orphaned moves to live with relatives on a farm full of eccentric characters, including McKellen as a fire and brimstone preacher.
“Seth, drain the well. There’s a neighbor missing.” — Amos Starkadder
9. Six Degrees of Separation (1993) — This is the film that established Will Smith could be more than a sitcom star. It is based upon the true story of a man named David Hampton that managed to con a number of wealthy people by pretending to be the son of actor Sidney Poitier. McKellen plays a South African that visits a family that is being conned.
“One has to stay there. To educate the black workers. And we’ll know we’ve been successful when they kill us.” — Geoffrey
8. Apt Pupil (1998) — Before making X-Men together, director Bryan Singer and Ian McKellen made Apt Pupil, based on the Stephen King novella. McKellen plays a Nazi war criminal that has been living in anonymity for decades. When a teenage boy discovers who he is, they develop a relationship that creates a monster.
“To have someone in your control. To have them know that they are alive only because you have not decided to the contrary. Do you have that power? Ask yourself. It’s not an easy question, I think you know that.” — Kurt Dussander
7. X-Men (2000) — The heart behind the story of the X-Men is the relationship between Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are perfect, together.
“You must be Wolverine. That remarkable metal doesn’t run through your entire body, does it?” — Magneto
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) — This is really a nod to McKellen’s performance throughout the trilogy of films. Every reader creates a model for the characters when they read a book. I haven’t come across anyone that found McKellen less than the Gandalf from their imagination.
“Be silent. Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I did not pass through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm.” — Gandalf
5. Scandal (1989) — In 1963, the British government experienced a scandal known as the Profumo Affair. John Profumo was the Secretary of State for War. The scandal was that he was caught having a sexual relationship with a young model who was also involved with a Russian military officer. McKellen plays Profumo.
“I have nothing to hide.” — John Profumo
4. The Dresser (2015) — This is the most recent film on this list, so fresh that I just saw it for the first time a month ago. It is a remake, but the original didn’t star Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins. Those two actors, large enough to play Magneto and Odin play a much smaller story here, about an aging actor and his dresser, playing King Lear during the second world war.
3. Mr. Holmes (2015) — Ian McKellan plays an elderly Sherlock Holmes. His faculties are failing and he wants to solve just one more case, a case that has plagued him for decades.
“Because when you’re a detective, and a man comes to see you, it’s usually about his wife.” — Sherlock Holmes
2. Gods and Monsters (1998) — McKellen plays James Whale, the famed Hollywood director that gave us Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933), and The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) and eighteen other films. Whale was openly gay in a time when being so was ostracizing and dangerous.
“Hatred was the only thing that kept my soul alive. And amongst the men I hated… was my dear old dumb father, who put me in that hell in the first place.” — James Whale
1. Richard III (1995) — This version has Ian McKellen playing not the historical Richard, but the essence of Richard on an alternate Earth with a fascist Britain. McKellen is absolutely brilliant and this role is one of the best movie villains of all time.
“Simple, plain Clarence! I do love you so, that I shall shortly send your soul to heaven. If heaven will take the present from my hands.” — Richard III
What would make your list?
