Sir Ian McKellen hit headlines this week after he fell off the stage during a performance at London’s Noel Coward Theatre.
The iconic Lord of the Rings star, 85, was starring in Player Kings, with his character John Falstaff engaged in a fight scene with the Prince of Wales and Henry Percy. But the star lost his footing during the choreography and fell off stage – with audience members claiming he “cried out in pain”.
Sir Ian was rushed to hospital as the theatre lights came up, with medical personnel rushing to help the thespian. The rest of the show was cancelled – but thankfully Ian is set to make a “speedy recovery”.
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A statement from a Player Kings representative said: “Thank you to our audience and the general public for their well wishes following Ian’s fall during this evening’s performance of Player Kings. Following a scan, the brilliant NHS team have assured us that he will make a speedy and full recovery and Ian is in good spirits.
(Image: Getty Images)
“The production has made the decision to cancel the performance on Tuesday, June 18 so Ian can rest. Those affected will be contacted by their point of purchase as soon as possible tomorrow.” It’s not the first health concern the actor has raised – in the past, he’s battled prostate cancer and memory issues.
Memory loss
In 2022, Ian opened up about how ageing is affecting his craft when he reprised the lead role in Hamlet, 50 years on after his first stint in the role. He struggled with memory at the time, confessing to RadioTimes: “We all have limitations, don’t we, however old we are. But there are times in life when the memory really does get worse and the mind doesn’t work as it should.
“And if you were to get to the stage where you couldn’t remember anything at all, well, that would be very distressing. Fortunately, I’m not there yet.” The Golden Globe winner said it took him six months to learn lines for a two-hour televised play, joking: “Age should come with a health warning.”
Death worries
(Image: PA Wire)
When starring in Hamlet in 2022, Sir Ian confessed he thinks about death “every day”, admitting: “I’m well past the age when people start dying. But I don’t find it depressing talking about death.
“I think about it every day of my life. At my age, you can’t avoid it. When you’re younger and someone dies, it’s a big, shattering event. But now it’s more like people have gone on a long holiday.”
He sadly lost his mother to breast cancer when he was just 12 years old, with his father passing away 12 years later in a car crash – just three weeks after Ian’s West End acting debut. He said of his mum Margery: “I wish I’d know her as an adult, rather than as a little boy – to whom she was very loving. I have increasing regrets that I couldn’t ask my parents about their lives.”
Cancer battle
In 2012, Ian revealed he’d been diagnosed with prostate cancer – but said he hadn’t undergone any treatment. The actor told The Mirror: “When you have got it you monitor it and you have to be careful it doesn’t spread. But if it is contained in the prostate it’s no big deal.
“Many, many men die from it but it’s one of the cancers that is totally treatable so I have ‘waitful watching’. I am examined regularly and it’s just contained, it’s not spreading. I’ve not had any treatment.”
He added: “You do gulp when you hear the news. It’s like when you go for an HIV test, you go ‘arghhh is this the end of the road?’ I have heard of people dying from prostate cancer, and they are the unlucky ones, the people who didn’t know they had got it and it went on the rampage. But at my age, if it is diagnosed it’s not life-threatening.”
Injury
(Image: PA Archive)
In 2018, Sir Ian was forced to cancel a performance of King Lear after sustaining a leg injury while running to catch a train. Instead, the actor thankfully treated fans to a candid Q&A session instead – as well as acting out several scenes from Shakespeare “off the top of his head”. The actor explained: “I hadn’t long been up before I set off for yesterday’s matinee of King Lear.
“At the underground station I galloped up 45 steps to catch the train above. Once on it, I skipped along the carriage and my left leg gave way. A strained calf muscle was diagnosed and was painfully pummelled back into life.
“With a walking stick, I managed the evening performance but not the afternoon one. Instead, I chatted onstage to the audience while they waited for their money back and I tried out a few new routines and some old ones. […] Sitting down was fine but I just couldn’t have managed kneeling in the rain-storm nor risked carrying Cordelia’s corpse on my back.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
