Ian McKellen Reveals Alec Guinness Urged Him to Stay Quiet on Gay Rights

Guinness allegedly told McKellen to "withdraw" his support for the U.K. gay rights lobby group Stonewall, which at the time was fighting for government protections to ensure gay citizens were treated equally under the law, reports 'Variety'.

He told 'The Guardian', "He took me for an Italian lunch in Pimlico, where we chatted about this and that until he brought up the real reason for his invitation. He had heard about my work to establish Stonewall, a lobby group to present to the government and the world at large the case for treating U.K. lesbians and gays equally under the law with the rest of the population".

He further mentioned, "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. Advice from an older generation, which I didn't follow".

As per 'Variety', the veteran said he was recently reminded about his encounter with McKellen after watching the touring play 'Two Halves of Guinness', a solo show that stars Zeb Soanes as the 'Star Wars' actor and, Ian McKellen said, "hints at Sir Alec's latent bisexuality in a way that would have upset him, I suppose".

'Lord of the Rings' and 'X-Men' icon McKellen publicly came out as gay in 1988 at 48 years old during a radio interview on BBC.

He told The Times of London last year that he feels sorry for fellow actors who feel like they can't come out as gay and encouraged closeted stars to reconsider.

The veteran actor observed at the time that there's never been an openly gay Oscar winner for best actor, nor has there been an openly gay U.K. Prime Minister or Premier League player.

- IANS