“I did have a fall the other day. I was running for the river bus and it was a bit slippy. I went down, just the day before we started rehearsing. Does that mean I’m going to be in a sling? Have I broken a bone? Things like that. I have got prostate cancer and I have to keep monitoring that. It’s no problem, it’s under control and I’m very cool about it but other people are dying from it. And the memory – will the time come when I can’t remember the lines? So yes, I’m always talking about age.”

*

I wonder how he copes with the adoration. “Adored?” he says, sounding just surprised enough to make me think he means it. “Am I?” He’s a national treasure! He laughs and looks pleased. “It’s lovely when someone comes up and says: ‘My husband and I saw you in a play, in fact it was our first date,’ and I’ve been a part of their lives without knowing it and they’ve got a sentimental attachment [to me], as we all do to actors. But I’m only an actor. I’m not a writer. I’m not going to leave any legacy.” He pauses. “All I’ve ever done is learn the lines and say them.”

Ian McKellen intr-un minunat interviu in The Guardian