British actor Ian McKellen, known for his role as the wizard Gandalf in the Lord of the Ringssuffered a heavy fall, in the middle of a show, Monday evening in London.
Ian McKellen played the character John Falstaff in the play Player Kings, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV. And he was in the middle of a battle scene when he lost his footing and fell off the stage. Witnesses described hearing the actor scream in pain. He was quickly attended to by theater staff and then taken by ambulance to hospital.
“Good morale”
A spokesperson for the theater said Ian McKellen was in “good morale” and that doctors who examined him assured him he would “make a full and speedy recovery”. Tuesday’s performance was canceled, but the actor could return to the stage this Wednesday.
World star
A specialist in Shakespeare, which he has performed numerous times in the theater, Ian McKellen became a world star in the 2000s by playing Magneto, a mutant capable of manipulating metal in X-Menthen the long-bearded magician Gandalf, in the trilogy of Lord of the Rings. He is also known for his commitment to defending LGBT+ people in the United Kingdom.
