PBS tucks away Sir Ian McKellen’s full-frontal performance
”If it’s a distraction of that sort, it’s not worth the candle…. Every night, when I’d take my clothes off, you know what I used to do? Pull in my stomach. That’s pathetic. I was playing an old man. I should have let it all hang out, and I couldn’t do that.”
British actor Sir Ian McKellen remarking on his upcoming PBS performance of “King Lear” for the show “Great Performances.” McKellen, who is turning 70, performed a nude scene during live stage appearances, but the American TV network has opted not to include that particular aspect of the openly-gay actor’s talent. He is best-known for playing Magneto in the “X-Men” series and “Gandalf,” the wizard in the “Lord of the Rings” movies, but he says people often confuse him with “Dumbledore” in the “Harry Potter” series. (Times Herald Record)
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