Sir Ian McKellen says fellow actor urged him to stay quiet on gay rights

Sir Ian McKellen has revealed that Star Wars actor Sir Alec Guinness once advised him to stay out of politics and avoid campaigning for gay rights, telling him it was “unseemly” for actors to get involved.

The veteran actor, 86, recalled being taken to lunch by Guinness at a key moment in his life, shortly after he publicly came out as gay and became involved in LGBTQ+ activism. 

Speaking in a recent interview, McKellen said the Obi-Wan Kenobi star had invited him to an Italian restaurant in Pimlico before raising concerns about his work with Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ rights group he helped establish.

“He thought it somewhat unseemly for an actor to dabble in public or political affairs and advised me, sort of pleaded with me, to withdraw,” McKellen said. 

The Lord of the Rings star, however, said he chose to ignore the advice, describing it as coming from “an older generation”. 

McKellen came out publicly in 1988 during a BBC Radio interview and went on to become one of the founding members of Stonewall the following year, campaigning against Section 28, which banned the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools. 

Reflecting on the exchange, he said he had recently been reminded of the encounter while watching a touring stage show about Guinness’s life, Two Halves of Guinness. 

Guinness, widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest actors, died in 2000. McKellen noted that attitudes towards sexuality within the industry had shifted significantly since their conversation, with far greater openness among performers today. 

The actor has long been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and has frequently encouraged others in the public eye to come out, arguing that greater visibility helps drive social change.