# Sir Ian McKellen has performed the impossible.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-ian-mckellen-has-performed-the-impossible/177112>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 23, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-ian-mckellen-has-performed-the-impossible/177112 "2003-05-23T21:03:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-ian-mckellen-has-performed-the-impossible/177112/61 "2003-05-28T19:10:10Z")

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Ian Holm _always_ rocks the house. What is it with British actors named Ian? 😉

(Holm is also wonderful in Branagh’s _Henry V,_ in which he plays the garrulous Welsh captain Fluellen, and the adaptation of LotR BBC Radio did in the 1970s, in which he plays Frodo. I highly recommend both of these, and neither one is that hard to find. ;))

**Chronos** – point taken, although it does go to show that people today and people in Shakespeare’s day aren’t _always_ entertained by the same things…

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**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-ian-mckellen-has-performed-the-impossible/177112/62 "2003-05-28T19:44:15Z")

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**jsc1953** : Now I remember! “You wouldn’t part an old man from his staff, would you?” ::wink, wink::

I _adore_ Ian Holm! Loved him as Ash the android in _Alien_; as the unscrupulous bastard rival restaurateur in _Big Night_; as the strong-willed doctor in _The Madness Of King George_; and of course as Bilbo. Out of all the marvellously cast people in that LotR ensemble, I liked the casting of Bilbo best of all. I’ll certainly look into that _King Lear_ production.

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-ian-mckellen-has-performed-the-impossible/177112/63 "2003-05-28T19:52:19Z")

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Small important note. Just because it was written some 400 year ago, don’t think Richard III is anything close to history the 'way it was". It was a propaganda hit piece to justify the Tudors. RIII, although certainly a man of his times, was not hunchbacked, and asfar as we know, both arms were sound. Nor did he perform most of the atrocities attributed to him. Likely, he didn’t cause the death of the"Princes in the Tower", either. They were likely murdered on the order of the first Tudor monarch.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-ian-mckellen-has-performed-the-impossible/177112/64 "2003-05-28T20:28:12Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Likely, he didn’t cause the death of the"Princes in the Tower", either. They were likely murdered on the order of the first Tudor monarch.

I agree with most of what you say, certainly - but as to this last, there have been other recent threads about it. It seems quite possible he IS responsible for the death of the princes. I’m not a historian, but the evidence I saw here seemed pretty compelling. Not that anything could change my enjoyment of Sir Ian’s performance. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-ian-mckellen-has-performed-the-impossible/177112/65 "2003-05-28T21:28:32Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by DrDeth_  
> Likely, he didn’t cause the death of the"Princes in the Tower", either. They were likely murdered on the order of the first Tudor monarch.

Like **Marley** said, that much is still very much [under debate](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=184973&highlight=richard+shakespeare)

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**Author:** ![FairyDust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@FairyDust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyDust)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sir-ian-mckellen-has-performed-the-impossible/177112/66 "2003-06-20T22:21:57Z")

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I viewed the X-Men videotape again. Remember the scene where Sabertooth unsuccessfully tries to pull up Senator Kelly from the ledge, so then Magneto waves his hand and the cell bars go up and Sabertooth is stuck outside on the ledge?

I could hear in my mind Magneto muttering to himself, “Fool of a Tooth!”

😃

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