Age: 87
male
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an British and American actor. He has played roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards. McKellen made his stage debut in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre as a member of its repertory company, and in 1965 made his first West End appearance. In 1969, he was invited to join the Prospect Theatre Company to play the lead parts in Shakespeare's Richard II and Marlowe's Edward II. In the 1970s, McKellen became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain. He has earned five Olivier Awards for his roles in Pillars of the Community (1977), The Alchemist (1978), Bent (1979), Wild Honey (1984), and Richard III (1995). McKellen made his Broadway debut in The Promise (1965). He received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1980). He was further nominated for Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare (1984). He returned to Broadway in Wild Honey(1986), Dance of Death (1990), No Man's Land (2013), and Waiting for Godot (2013), the latter two being a joint production with Patrick Stewart. McKellen achieved worldwide fame for his film roles, including the titular King in Richard III(1995), James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998), Magneto in the X-Men films, Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) trilogies. Other notable film roles include A Touch of Love (1969), Plenty (1985), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Restoration (1995), Flushed Away (2006), Mr. Holmes (2015), and The Good Liar (2019). McKellen came out as gay in 1988, and has since championed LGBT social movements worldwide. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in October 2014. McKellen is a cofounder of Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom, named after the Stonewall riots. He is also patron of LGBT History Month, Pride London, Oxford Pride, GayGlos, LGBT Foundation and FFLAG. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ian McKellen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
A supervillain named Gru has his pride injured when an unknown villain steals the Great Pyramid of Giza. With the assistance of his sidekick Dr. Nefario and his Minions, Gru resolves to one-up his mysterious rival by shrinking and stealing the Moon. Knowing this is extremely costly, Gru seeks a loan from the Bank of Evil. Mr. Perkins - the bank president - is impressed by the plan, but he will approve the loan only if Gru can obtain the necessary shrink ray first. Upon learning that an up-and-coming villain known as Vector was responsible for the Pyramid theft, Gru starts a rivalry with him. Gru and the Minions steal the shrink ray from a secret base in East Asia, but Vector intercepts them and steals it for himself. Gru attempts to break into Vector's impregnable fortress to recover the shrink ray, only to be defeated by numerous kinds of traps. As nothing seems to work, he notices three orphan girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, who are able to easily enter the base because they are selling cookies. Gru disguises himself and adopts the girls, planning to use them to infiltrate Vector's base. However, Gru has trouble nurturing them properly due to their stubbornness, their ballet classes and his own ineptitude as a parent. Eventually, Gru and the girls arrive at Vector's base, and Gru successfully steals the shrink ray. The girls then suggest a day at a theme park. Gru agrees, believing he can abandon the girls there, but instead he has fun with them. Later, Gru contacts Perkins via video chat, stating that he finally has the shrink ray. Margo, Edith, and Agnes interrupt the meeting, and Perkins announces that he has lost confidence in Gru and will no longer fund his operations. As Gru tells the Minions he can no longer pay them for their services, the girls offer the contents of their piggy bank. Inspired, Gru sells parts of his lair and the items he stole over the years to construct a spacecraft. Gru plans to steal the Moon when it is nearest to the Earth, but this is ironically the same day as the girls' ballet recital. As Gru becomes puzzled, Dr. Nefario arranges for the girls to be returned to the orphanage, thinking the recital may ruin the plan. At the same time, Perkins informs his son - Vector - of Gru's possession of the shrink ray and the adoption of the three girls, encouraging Vector to take action. Gru successfully shrinks and steals the Moon. He rushes back to Earth to attend the recital, only to find a ransom note from Vector, who has kidnapped the girls. After arriving at Vector's base, Gru surrenders the Moon. However, Vector reneges on the deal, flying off with the girls and the Moon. Meanwhile, Dr. Nefario has discovered that the effects of the shrink ray are temporary. The bigger the object is, the faster it recovers its original size. Gru, Dr. Nefario, and the Minions execute a daring mid-air rescue of the girls, just before the Moon explodes Vector's spaceship and launches itself back into orbit, along with Vector on it. Sometime later, Gru has returned the Great Pyramid and re-adopted the girls, writing them a bedtime storybook based on his own experience. The film ends with the girls performing their ballet recital for Gru, his mother Marlena, Dr. Nefario, and the Minions.
