Ian McKellen To Be Honored by The Shakespeare Theatre Company

Sir Ian McKellen is confirmed to be the 2009 recipient of the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre.  He will be honored The Shakespeare Theatre Company at its annual gala on October 25th at the Harman Center for the Arts.

The annual award honors an artist whose accomplishments have made a lasting contribution to the field of classical theater and widened the appreciation of Shakespeare across the world. The gala will also feature classical music, dance, and theater performances that use themes from A Midsummer Night's Dream. A deserving recipient, McKellen most recently starred in America in the tile role of King Lear, and received an Emmy Award nomination for its telecast. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is known to many for roles such as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and as Magneto in the X-Men films.
He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1979, and knighted in the 1991 New Year Honours for his outstanding work and contributions to the theatre. In the 2008 New Year Honours he was made a Companion of Honour (CH) for services to drama and to equality. 

For more information, visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.