Every actor who has ever made it in the business, or is still out there trying to do so, always has their personal idols who they follow closely and seek to emulate. As a lifelong actor, I have long admired the impeccable Ian McKellen. In 1980, I was privileged to see him portray Salieri in “Amadeus,” which won him a Tony Award and garnered a Best Actor Oscar for F. Murray Abraham for the film version. McKellen has yet to win an Academy Award, even though I thought he was worthy of this honor for both his role as Frankenstein director James Whale in Gods and Monsters and his classic turn as the beloved literary character Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. But I digress.

Garry O'Connor had a tough task in capturing the life of this great actor and man in his biography, which is simply titled IAN McKELLEN. In fact, McKellen did not make things easy for O'Connor as he previously had balked at other biographical works and is simply not terribly comfortable talking about himself. As I read this book about an actor I idolize, it became more apparent why he would feel that way. McKellen always has been extremely dedicated to his craft, and it is nearly impossible to keep up with the constant participation in mostly stage productions at which he has often thrived. Recapping a career of seemingly never-ending performances was surely an exhaustive process for O'Connor.

The other major part of McKellen's life, and one that actually held him back in some ways early on in his career, is his homosexuality. You might be thinking Homosexuals in the theater? What's the big deal? and you would be right. It is a profession that has always been synonymous with actors who, in many cases, lead a double life. McKellen was not ashamed of this, but realized when he was starting out that the expectation was to remain closeted lest you offend the masses and, in turn, commit career suicide. He stated: “Homosexuals are thus encouraged to disguise their true feelings. Is that why so many became professional actors?”

"O'Connor is able to dig deep and find the answers to the enigma that is Ian McKellen.... He indeed will leave behind a worthy legacy, which O'Connor has admirably captured in this outstanding biography."

O'Connor is able to dig deep and find the answers to the enigma that is Ian McKellen. It helps that he has known the man since 1958. We learn of McKellen’s upbringing in the town of East Lancashire. His parents were Denis, a civil engineer, and Margery, a traditional housewife. His ancestry shows Scottish, Northern Irish and English for his official nationality. Denis was also a socialist and a committed Nonconformist Christian, which is far different from the atheistic beliefs that his son would eventually adapt. Perhaps the greatest lesson he took from his father was the ability to keep a big secret. Denis had made it through a war without anyone knowing he was a pacifist, in much the same way that McKellen would hide his homosexuality, even though he pretty much knew from the start of his young adulthood that he was gay. He would lose both of his parents fairly early in his life --- Margery passed away from an illness in 1951, and Denis died in a car accident 13 years later. The latter took place less than a week after Denis and his new wife, Gladys, attended McKellen’s opening night performance in “A Scent of Flowers.”

McKellen's acting career takes up the majority of the book, and for good reason --- he's simply one of the best actors of our lifetime. Readers need be prepared for a high magnitude of name-dropping, which results in a near-dizzying amount of famous thespian names that make up many of the finest actors of the past century. McKellen fondly recalls the first director who made a lasting impression on him: Tyrone Guthrie, a giant of a man who would cast an enormous spell over such classic performers as Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir Ralph Richardson. This is fine company to be in, and it is ironic as Sir Ian McKellen --- he was officially knighted in 1991 --- has been named as the successor to the late, great Olivier. Even more ironic is the fact that McKellen has won six Olivier Awards.

McKellen would really make a name for himself when he joined the acting stable at the National Theatre, which also sported a slew of British talent, such as Derek Jacobi, Anthony Hopkins, Albert Finney, Jeremy Brett and Maggie Smith. Many years later, in 1992, McKellen returned to the National Theatre where one of his contemporaries, Antony Sher, stated that he regarded McKellen as a better actor than Olivier. McKellen would continue to act at a furious pace, while also championing the cause for gay actors in the face of hurdles such as societal prejudice and the AIDS crisis. As he personally did his part to break down these walls, he remarked that he “despise[d] the Ian McKellen of the first 49 years of my life.”

IAN MCKELLEN allows readers to get the scoop on the many roles that have made McKellen famous, such as the aforementioned Salieri and Iago in Othello, which led to the realization that he enjoyed playing complex, tormented characters. Following his Oscar nomination for Gods and Monsters, he became world-famous in three record-setting film series: X-Men, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. On an episode of “The Graham Norton Show,” he professed that he was now two action figures!

McKellen also has had a nice run with Bill Condon, who directed him in Gods and Monsters and Mr. Holmes (his portrayal of an aged Sherlock Holmes was just breathtaking). Most recently, he shared the bill with another beloved actor, Oscar winner Helen Mirren, in Condon's film adaptation of Nicholas Searle’s novel, THE GOOD LIAR. It sure would be nice to see them get Oscar nods again to show the next generation of thespians that the old guard still has it.

One part of McKellen's life that has not seen much coverage has been his private battle with prostate cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2006. Now, at age 80, he realizes that he may only have a few years left, and in the latter part of the book looks back critically on his acting career: “I'm only an actor. I'm not a writer. I'm not going to leave any legacy…All I've ever done is learn the lines and say them.” Of course, those who look up to him know that he has done so much more with his life than merely recite lines from a script. He indeed will leave behind a worthy legacy, which O'Connor has admirably captured in this outstanding biography.