Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen want people to be able to ‘live authentically as themselves’
Tea With Judi Dench featuring Ian McKellen. (Sky Arts)
Screen legend Dame Judi Dench highlighted the importance of people living “authentically as themselves” in a new interview with Sir Ian McKellen.
In an era of famous actors engaging in anti-LGBTQ+ debate, it’s uplifting to see the 91-year-old actress and 87-year-old actor have an honest conversation about letting people live their truth.
Dench is best known for Philomena and for starring in the Bond franchise as M. Though you’ll also recognise her for hilariously confessing she’s only been to the club once, at a famous queer bar.
McKellen has starred in Richard III, played Magneto in the X-Men films, and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. The gay actor came out in 1988 and has long championed LGBTQ+ rights. Also, McKellen is a co-founder of the UK’s Stonewall and a patron of LGBT History Month and Pride London.
Dench and McKellen’s conversation will appear in an upcoming episode of Tea With Judi Dench. The pair have been friends for over 50 years, and worked together in numerous stage performances. Most notably, their legendary 1976 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Macbeth.
Ahead of the show’s release, Dench teased the nature of their conversation with The Standard. They’re set to discuss how McKellen came out and his regrets about not telling his parents that he is gay.
Speaking about the potential impact of their discussion, Dench remarked: “It’s a private matter, but nobody should ever feel that they can’t intrinsically be themselves, but also nobody should be made to feel that they have to declare anything about themselves, sexuality, religion, their age, nothing.
‘Nobody should ever feel that they can’t intrinsically be themselves’
“It’s not about what we do but as long as people can live authentically as themselves, I feel that that is quite important.”
During the episode, McKellen will talk about fighting against Section 28, a law introduced that prohibited the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality.
He also noted: “We should always be alert to the possibility that established rights can be removed. So telling younger people how their freedoms were fought for may one day, regrettably, come in handy.”
Dench also added: “We don’t really sit and think about the impact our history and our stories have on other people; it’s just the way our careers have unfolded and how lucky we’ve been.”
Dench said it was a “great privilege to continue these conversations and capture moments of great friendship”.
The episode was shot at Dench’s home in Surrey. Their wider conversation includes “Shakespeare, stage fright and the insecurities of acting in such popular franchises as Bond and Lord Of The Rings.”
Tea With Judi Dench will air on August 31 on Sky Arts and Now.
