Hello!  30 May 1998

Sir Ian has always loved houses with a view and his home for the past 18 years looks out over the Thames. Sifting on the desk is a Derby statuette of Shakespeare.

 Looking at a map of Ireland (above), Sir Ian plans a holiday he's about to take with his sister Jean and stepmother Gladys. The table by Daniel Reynolds is made partly from wood washed up on the banks of the Thames. On it rests an aeroplane made from 7 Up cans – a gift from a friend in Los Angeles. The painting of a fairground in northern England, by Alan Lowndes, reminds Sir Ian of his youth, while the power station by Antony Maitland was one of the first paintings he bought.

On the terrace are several of Sir Ian's many awards (right), including the hands which were presented by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.

The family tree above the mantelpiece was stitched by Ian's sister Jean. To the left is a portrait of his great-great-grandfather William Williamson and to the right is a photo of his mother in 1952. To the left of the Staffordshire of Milton and Shakespeare is a photo of Sir Ian with Nelson Mandela when he was in South Africa campaigning for an equality claise in the constitution.

The tapestry of LS Lowry's The Mill Gates was stitched by Sir Ian in 1994.

From the terrace outside the sitting room is a ladder down to the beach. It's a good place to hunt for treasures and Sir Ian displays the old ship's nail and a musket ball he found.

On the terrace is a bust of Shakespeare wearing sunglasses.

Considering his well deserved reputation as Britain's greatest contemporary actor, Sir Ian McKellen is a refreshingly modest and unaffected man. His list of awards is awesome and he's one of those rare actors who's never been out of work. What's more, in the ten years since he threw caution to the winds and came out publicly on a Radio 4 discussion programme, his gay credentials seem only to have enhanced his credibility.

After growing up in Burnley, where his father was a borough engineer, Sir Ian read English at Cambridge. He got his first professional part in repertory in 1961 but, despite many dazzling theatrical performances, the big screen remained elusive until he wrote the seminal screen version of Richard III while taking a break from the theatre. It won him an award for European Film Actor of the Year in 1996.

Since returning to the theatre he has received numerous tributes for his portrayal of Captain Hook in the Royal National Theatre's new version of Peter Pan and is currently appearing there in Ibsen's An Enemy Of The People.

In 1989 he became co founder of Stonewall, a lobby group campaigning to improve the position of lesbians and gay men in British society, and in 1991 was awarded a knighthood.

The 59 year old actor talked to Hello! from his beautiful l8th century home overlooking the Thames in London's Docklands, where he has lived for 18 years.

Sir Ian, did you plan to come out when you announced you were gay on Radio 4 ten years ago?

"I didn't know it was going to happen exactly the way it did but, in a sense, I'd been planning it all my life. I'd just returned from San Francisco, where gay men could be openly gay without being disadvantaged, and I found that very alluring. Then this dreadful law, Clause 28, was being discussed in Parliament and suddenly I realised that it was now appropriate for me to complete the journey of coming out."

Do you regret leaving it so long?

"Oh yes, it would have been much better to have done it earlier. But one reason I was inhibited about coming out was because I was in a relationship with the director Scan Mathias, who was then just starting out as an actor. While I was having a thriving career, he was younger than me and felt himself to be the junior partner. A lot of gay people don't come out because their partner doesn't want to be defined as being 'the friend'. So only when we split up did I feel a free agent to come out, and shortly afterwards he did too. At least that's my version Sean may remember it differently!''

Do you think spending so many years in the closet was damaging?

"No, because even though I didn't publicly come out until the late age of 49 my friends and everyone in the theatre knew about my sexuality. So I never lived a lie and I wasn't one of those people who invented girlfriends. Another reason it was difficult coming out was because there's always been this conspiracy between the press and people in public life not to talk about their sexuality, as if being gay was a shameful thing. It will only become easier for everyone if the media allows gay people, as increasingly they seem to be doing, to be open, relaxed and honest about themselves. "

What was it like growing up in a society far more repressed than it is today?

"In those days the only images you got of homosexuality were negative ones. Oscar Wilde had been sent to prison and Lord Montague had been found guilty of having a gay relationship. No one pointed to the positive private life of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears or the fact that Angus Wilson was the first openly gay man to be knighted. And it wasn't until the mid Sixties, by which time I'd been sexually active for some time, that it was legal for gay men over 21 to make love to each other."

Did growing up unable to express your sexuality cause you deep unhappiness?

"It made me confused rather than unhappy. I thought it was a great misfortune to be 'queer' but I didn't turn to alcohol or anything like that. No, it was a secret which I kept until I found others who shared the same secret. One reason I became an actor was because I knew it was a world I could feel safe and relaxed in."

Did you tell your family?

"My mother died when I was 13 and my father when I was 24. 1 still deeply regret that I was never able to talk to them about it, but I was brought up in a Christian family who believed you had a duty to society. My parents and grandparents were pacifists who got involved in politics and believed in making the world a better place, so in that sense leading a secretive life would have been very at odds with their attitude."

How did losing your mother affect you?

"I missed her enormously, of course, and it's still a deep regret that a living relationship wasn't constantly there for me. But life wasn't intolerable, just very different. It wasn't as if all love went out of my life. I had a very concerned father and within a couple of years a stepmother with whom I immediately got on well."

You come from a strongly religious family. Do you still hold any of their religious beliefs?

"Not in a formal nature I'd describe myself as a humanist. My stepmother is a Quaker and I definitely warm to that form of worship, which has very little ritual and no leaders telling you what to do."

In the past, you've described yourself as shy. Is this still true?

"I'm less shy than I was. I used to dread going to parties where I might be expected to have a point of view or speak up. That was all to do with confidence. One of the great benefits of coming out has been that I no longer care what people think. I can speak out for myself now."

Why do you think it's so hard for movie stars to come out in Hollywood?

"It's still very difficult to be openly gay in most professions. As far as acting is concerned, Britain is unusual in that there are so many openly gay actors. In Hollywood the received 'wisdom' is that saying you're gay will adversely affect your career and you won't be able to play straight leads any more. There is, of course, the exception of Anne Heche, partner of Ellen DeGeneres, who continues to have a career playing romantic leads.

"My point is that coming out doesn't mean the end of your film career. I wish all actors would agree with Anthony Sher when he was asked how being gay would affect his film career and he said it wouldn't because he didn't want to work with people who didn't want to work with him because he was gay. Who on earth would want to have a career based on a lie like Rock Hudson did?"

How are you regarded by Hollywood?

"They think I'm that crazy British theatre actor who sometimes does movies and who talks about his sexuality. I may be a bit of an embarrassment to them but I'm a foreigner so it's all right!"

Have you personally ever been faced with blatant discrimination?

"I've been told I wasn't given a part in the film of Pinter's Betrayal because the producer didn't want a gay and the same thing may have happened on other occasions. Privately, I've had verbal abuse and I still get some hate mail. I have to weigh this occasional correspondence against a hefty postbag from people who are very supportive and write to thank me because they find it eases their situation in some way."

How has AIDS affected you ?

"I've known people who have died and I've also helped in a marginal way by raising money for places like London lighthouse, but AIDS hasn't overwhelmed my life as it has so many people in New York and San Francisco."

Has being famous gone to your head?

"No, because I'm not in that world where people are hanging on my every word. In the theatre, actors come quite far down the pecking order compared to directors and producers. I occasionally act as leader of the group, but that's only a minor version of what parents feel when surrounded by children who need guiding and looking after."

Do you regret not having children?

"Not really, because I've always felt I was child enough in my own life. Also, having no one dependent on me has meant I've been able to pursue my career in the way I've wanted."

You've been single for several years. Would you like to share your home with someone again?

"Some days I think it would be so much nicer to share, and other times I'm very contented on my own. I did, of course, live here for quite a few years with Sean Mathias and the design of the place still very much reflects his taste. I'm colour blind and didn't have an idea in my head about what would be appropriate to do with the shell of this 18th century building. Nowadays when he comes round he thinks it's more eccentric than ever."

An Enemy Of The People is about a maverick scientist who tries to warn the town about its polluted water. It clearly has contemporary relevance...

"Even if you've rigorously tried not to portray the complexities of our own times, the play becomes about modern life because actors and directors have to filter the text through their own experience of life. Anyone who has a passing interest in public affairs will be intrigued by Enemy, which tells a story about government, press and the public through the very domestic situation of sibling rivalry."

What are you doing next?

"I'm going to Los Angeles for two months to do Enemy there and, after that, I'll probably do some more work in the theatre away from London."

Why did you take a five year break from the theatre?

"I was exhausted from the world tour of Richard III. But during my time off I wrote the first draft of the screenplay for the film. If I have one ambition left, it's to make more films."

Was Richard III your first big film?

"It was my first successful big film. A career in films was more or less on offer to me in the Sixties, but it didn't happen because none of the films I made was a hit. But I have no regrets because I love the theatre. I have two films coming out in America this autumn Apt Pupil, directed by Bryan Singer who did The Usual Suspects, is a nasty tale, very expertly told, about the peculiar friendship of an old Nazi and a teenage boy; and Gods And Monsters is about James Whale, a gay English director who lived in Hollywood in the Thirties."

Have you ever had quiet periods in your acting career?

"No, I've been very lucky, but that's partly because after university I took a lot of jobs others wouldn't. It was a long apprenticeship and I did it for very little money because I wanted to learn certain things. Two years ago for the first time I took six months off, which I thoroughly enjoyed."

Have you ever suffered from nerves or star fright?

"Only once, after I overheard a couple of actors talk about one of my performances. The next night I went on stage and was convinced everyone thought as little of me as they did. I found it impossible to speak, but luckily Judi Dench helped me through. It took me the rest of the run to regain my confidence."

How do you intend to celebrate your 60th birthday next year?

"When I was 50 1 went to a health farm in Spain all alone. It was a crazy notion and I had a really dreadful day, so this time I'll make sure I'm with friends although, knowing me, I'll be working. Sixty is a good year to have a big celebration because hopefully you've still got all your faculties."

INTERVIEW: MARINA CANTACLIZINO, PHOTOS: GUGLIELMO GALVIN