UPDATE
Aug 21, 2024 7:54 AM CDT
Ian McKellen is crediting the fat suit he was wearing for saving him from a worse fate when he fell off the stage during a June theater performance in London. In a Tuesday interview with Saga magazine, the 85-year-old explains that healing has been slow in the wake of the fall, which happened during a fight scene when "my foot got caught in a chair, and trying to shake it off I started to slide on some newspaper that was scattered over the stage, like I was on a skateboard." McKellen says "my chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist are not yet healed. I avoid going out because I'm nervous someone might bump into me, and I've been dealing with agonizing pains in my shoulders due to the jolt my body took. But the fat suit I wore ... saved my ribs and other joints, so I consider myself lucky."
Jun 18, 2024 1:30 AM CDT
Don't worry, folks: Beloved actor Ian McKellen is expected to be just fine after a scary incident during a London performance Monday night. McKellen was in the middle of a battle scene in Player Kings at the Noël Coward Theatre when he lost his footing and fell off the stage, crying out in pain after landing, the BBC reports. The show was halted and the theater emptied, with Tuesday evening's performance also canceled so the actor can rest. But the theater later said McKellen, 85, was "in good spirits" and expected to make "a speedy and full recovery"—so speedy that he's expected to return for Wednesday's matinee, the Guardian reports.
McKellen, who starred as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies and Magneto in multiple X-Men movies, is starring as John Falstaff in the show, a reimagining of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts One and Two. Its 12-week run in the West End began in April. A theatergoer said it was a "shock" seeing the venerated actor fall "directly in front of the audience," noting, "Sir Ian seemed to trip as he moved downstage to take a more active part in the scene." In its statement, the theater thanked two medical professionals who were in the audience and came to help. (More Ian McKellen stories.)
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