40 Celebrities We Need To Keep Safe From 2016

LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 28: Sir Ian McKellan speaks during a Q A session after a screening of Richard III as part of BFI Presents: Shakespeare on Film at BFI Southbank on April 28, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images)

 6. Ian McKellen

Some things just get better and better with age. Ian McKellen is one of them. The man is an old school LBGT activist, a Shakespearean actor with credits from here to the moon, and one of the best actors of his generation. And most importantly: he’s fun. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, and he’s not the type of snooty actor who pooh-poohs doing X-Men movies, or Lord of the Rings.

But McKellen is getting on in years. He allowed audiences to see just how aged he really has become in his latest film Mr. Holmes. And there’s definitely times when it feels like this is a man taking a victory lap in his twilight years. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But I’m just not ready to give the man up yet. Especially when a man of his stature an prominence in popular culture is willing to do readings and events like this one, where he read aloud from Shakespeare’s unfinished work on Sir Thomas More.

Please, in dark times like these, we need him.

-Ani

Next: Nichelle Nichols