English Knight Fights X-Men
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 Captain Turned Professor
Patrick Stewart, Star Trek's Captain Picard, leads the X-Men in the upcoming 20th Century Fox feature film.
Patrick Stewart Filmography
Captain Turned Professor
Patrick Stewart, Star Trek's Captain Picard, leads the X-Men in the upcoming 20th Century Fox feature film.
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by Brad Cook
webdate: 06/09/2000 10:35:17 AM
Filmography:
The Trial and Torture (TV 1965)
Hay Fever (TV 1968)
A Touch of Love (1969)
Alfred the Great (1969)
The Tragedy of King Richard II (TV 1970)
Edward II (TV 1970)
Keats (TV 1970)
Ross (TV 1970)
Hamlet (TV 1972)
Hedda Gabler (TV 1972)
The Recruiting Officer (TV 1973)
Macbeth (TV 1979)
Priest of Love (1981)
Dying Day (TV 1982)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (TV 1982)
The Keep (1983)
Playing Shakespeare (TV 1984)
Zina (1985)
Plenty (1985)
Walter and June (1986)
Windmills of the Gods (TV 1988)
Scandal (1989)
Countdown to War (TV 1989)
Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
The Ballad of Little Jo (1993)
Tales of the City (TV 1993)
Last Action Hero (1993)
And the Band Played On (TV 1993)
I'll Do Anything (1994)
The Shadow (1994)
To Die For (1994)
Cold Comfort Farm (TV 1995)
Thin Ice (1995)
Jack and Sarah (1995)
Richard III (1995)
Restoration (1995)
Rasputin (TV show) (1996)
A Bit of Scarlet (1997)
Swept from the Sea (1997)
Bent (1997)
Gods and Monsters (1998)
Apt Pupil (1998)
Great Composers (TV 1999)
David Copperfield (TV 1999)
Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man (2000)
X-Men (2000)
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Sir Ian McKellen has one of the most impressive resumes of the actors and
actresses in Bryan Singer's X-Men film. Born in 1939, he has won more
than 40 major international awards and has acted in countless film, television
and theater productions during the past four decades.
His father was a civil engineer and his mother a housewife. He has an older
sister named Jean who is still involved in amateur theater. His first exposure
to the art form was at the age of three, when his family went to a production
of Peter Pan. His main Christmas present four years later was a foldaway
Victorian theater, complete with cutouts of characters from Cinderella and
Olivier's Hamlet.
A life-long lover of Shakespeare, the first of the Bard's plays which he saw
was Twelfth Night. It was also the first Shakespeare play he acted in.
He attended Bolton School as a child and went to their summer camp at Stratford-on-Avon
every year, just a short distance from the Royal Shakespeare Theater, where
every night he saw performances by the likes of Sir Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud,
Paul Robeson and others.
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X-Men: The Movie
Magneto Desk Helmet
This item ships on 6/19/2000 - Place your preorder now!
Who says the master of magnetism isnít a helpful guy to have around? Magnetoís Magnetic Helmet 4î Desk Sculpture really is magnetic, making it perfect for holding on to paper clips or posting notes to yourself (like a reminder to buy tickets for X-Men: The Movie). This new sculpture is great for home or the office, but itís being produced in strictly limited quantities, so order early because once theyíre gone, theyíre gone for good.
Price:
$39.95
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Later, McKellen earned a Bachelor's Degree from Cambridge, graduating in 1961.
He then moved to London and made his professional stage debut in A Man for
All Seasons. Over the years, he acted in many productions of the works of
Shakespeare, Tom Stoppard and Anton Chekhov. The highlight of his theater career
was his performance as Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus. He won several
awards for that role, including a Tony, in 1980, but he was not invited to be
part of the film version released in 1984. He was able, however, to buy a riverside
terraced house in Limehouse with his earnings from that production. He still
lives there today.
Much of his early screen work was on British television and included productions
of Hamlet and Macbeth. His silver screen debut was in the British
movies A Touch of Love and Alfred the Greatin 1969, and he moved
over to American cinema in 1983 with a role in the forgettable horror film The
Keep. His involvement with Hollywood began in earnest during the 1990s with
small parts in Six Degrees of Separation, The Last Action Hero, I'll Do Anything
and The Shadow.
His watershed year was 1998, when he starred in both Gods and Monsters,
in which he portrayed Frankenstein director James Whale, and Apt Pupil,
in which he played a Nazi in hiding whose secret is discovered by a local teenager.
Many critics' societies proclaimed him the best actor and he was nominated
for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his role as Whale. The Apt Pupil
production introduced him to director Bryan Singer, who later cast him in the
role of Magneto in X-Men.
The following year saw his stock rise considerably in Hollywood. Both Singer
and Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson wanted him for their productions,
so an agreement was reached between Fox and New Line which permitted him to
finish his work on X-Men before flying to New Zealand this past January
for extensive work on Jackson's three films, in which he plays the wizard Gandalf.
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X-Men Movie Figures
Collector Set
This item is not in stock yet, it is expected to arrive in July, but you can order this item now and we'll ship it as soon as it comes in.
***Placing this item on your order may cause your entire order to be held until this item is ready to ship***
With X-Men: The Movie headed to theatres this summer, can a line of related toys be far behind? Obviously not, since the new X-Men movie 6î action figures are right here!
Series I assortment includes Logan (aka Wolverine), Magneto, Toad, Rogue, Storm and Professor X. Series II includes Wolverine, Cyclops, Sabretooth, Mystique and Jean Grey.
Save over $20 and get all 11 X-Men Movie figures with the Collector Set, including 1 each of Logan, Magneto, Toad, Prof X, Wolverine, Cyclops, Mystique, Sabretooth, Storm, Mystique and the short-packed Rogue and Jean Grey!
Price:
$89.95
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McKellen traveled to Toronto last summer to begin his work as Magneto, the
Master of Magnetism and the outspoken opponent of Professor X, played by Patrick
Stewart. As it was his first role in a big budget film slated for summer release,
the notes on his official web site (www.mckellen.com) belie a certain unease
with all the hype surrounding the project. From erroneous claims that Magneto
was going to become a fascist (which he thinks came from his role in Apt
Pupil) to leaks from the set which made their way to fan web sites, McKellen
seemed to take it all in stride, though.
He has never forgotten his love of theater, no matter how much the siren song
of Hollywood calls to him. He returned to the Royal National Theater in London
in 1997 to play roles in Ibsen's An Enemy of the People and J.M. Barrie's
Peter Pan. In 1999 he won a Barclay's Theater Award for his supporting
part in a stage production of Chekhov's The Seagull. He also appeared
on British television again that year, playing Mr. Creakle in Dickens' David
Copperfield and doing voice work for a show about great classical music
composers.
The Queen of England bestowed one of her country's highest honors on the thespian
in 1991, when he was knighted for his contributions to the performing arts;
he is one of the few openly gay knights. That same year he succeeded Stephen
Sondheim as Professor of Contemporary Theater at Oxford University.
With filming for X-Men long behind him, McKellen will be in New Zealand
until sometime next year, working on Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The movies will be released a year apart starting Christmas 2001.
A very private man, he doesn't divulge many details about his personal life
to the press, but he is an outspoken activist who supports England's New Labor
Party as well as many charities. He is a co-founder of Stonewall, which works
for social and legal equality for lesbians and gay men in England, and every
year he directs The Equality Show, a Stonewall fundraiser which is held at Royal
Albert Hall.
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