McKellen felt that Guinness’ discouragement was “advice from an older generation, which I didn’t follow.”

Ian McKellen says *Star Wars *star Alec Guinness thought supporting gay rights was ‘unseemly’

McKellen felt that Guinness' discouragement was "advice from an older generation, which I didn't follow."

By Sharareh Drury

May 11, 2026 3:14 p.m. ET

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Ian McKellen at 'The Christophers' premiere in London in April 2026; Alec Guinness in 'Star Wars: A New Hope'. Credit:

Jeff Spicer/Getty; Lucasfilm

- Ian McKellen reflected on being a cofounder of Stonewall UK in 1989 and Alec Guinness' disapproval of his activism.

- The *Star Wars *actor allegedly told McKellen that his support for the gay rights organization was "unseemly."

- McKellen came out in 1988, which he has said changed his life for the better.**

Ian McKellen gained prominence as an LGBTQ+ activist when he cofounded the influential gay rights organization Stonewall UK in 1989. Looking back on his early advocacy in a recent interview, the* X-Men* star says a fellow actor wasn't too fond of his support for the queer community.

During a BBC Radio interview, McKellen said that when he came out "almost overnight everything in my life changed for the better — my relationships with people and my whole attitude toward acting changed."**

Asked what was the worst advice he'd ever been given, the actor revealed in a recent interview with *The Guardian** *that *Star Wars *star Alec Guinness allegedly told him to withdraw his support for Stonewall. The organization had been formed by 14 activists, including McKellen, and was aimed at fighting the United Kingdom's section 28 ban, which prohibited the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities and in schools. The ban was repealed in Scotland in 2001, and in England and Wales in 2003.

"After a 1979 performance of Martin Sherman’s *Bent*—the drama that educated the world about the ill-treatment of gays in the Nazi labor camps of the Third Reich—one of Britain’s best-known and respected actors came backstage," McKellen told *The Guardian.*

"Alec Guinness sat rather primly in my dressing room, enthusing about the play before inviting me out to supper. I stupidly declined, but a decade later was given a second chance to meet up with the great man," he said.

"He took me for an Italian lunch in Pimlico, where we chatted about this and that until he brought up the real reason for his invitation. He had heard about my work to establish Stonewall — a lobby group to present to the government and the world at large the case for treating U.K. lesbians and gays equally under the law with the rest of the population," McKellen continued.**

Ian McKellen at the 2026 Olivier Awards.

Ian West/PA Images via Getty

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The *Lord of the Rings* star shared how Guinness "thought it somewhat unseemly" for McKellen to "dabble in public or political affairs." The actor continued to urge him to cease participating in Stonewall UK, which McKellen said was "advice from an older generation, which I didn’t follow."

McKellen said he recently recalled their conversation after having watched a production of* Two Halves of Guinness*. The play features Zeb Soanes as Guinness and, per McKellen, "hints at Sir Alec’s latent bisexuality in a way that would have upset him, I suppose."

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Since coming out in 1988, McKellen has strongly supported LGBTQ+ social movements and organizations while also being open about his own journey to be open and honest with his identity.

"People who are not gay just simply don’t know how it damages you to be lying about what you are and ashamed of yourself,” McKellen told *Variety** *in 2023. "I was brought up at a time when it was illegal for me to have sex with a man. And that was not that long ago.”

During a BBC Radio interview, McKellen said that when he came out "almost overnight everything in my life changed for the better — my relationships with people and my whole attitude toward acting changed."**

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