Ian McKellen Explains Why He's Not Considering Retirement At Age 84

Ian McKellen is the latest star to open up about retiring from acting, and from his perspective, has no intention of giving it up.

The 84-year-old actor spoke to Variety in a new feature, revealing that he’s quite content staying on in his job.

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“Retire to do what?” he responded when asked if he had any plans to do so.

Ian went on, explaining why he’s not considering it: “I’ve never been out of work, but I’m aware that any minute now something could happen to me which could prevent me from ever working again. But while the knees hold up and the memory remains intact, why shouldn’t I carry on? I really feel I’m quite good at this acting thing now.”

He does admit though, that the topic of his retirement has come up a lot lately, and recalled one critic who posed the thought after Ian forgot a line during previews of stage play, “Frank and Percy.”

“Instead of understanding that this happens from time to time, this critic says it was evidence that it was time for Ian McKellen to stop acting,” Ian said. “Maybe I should challenge this man to a podcast where we could debate it.”

However, he says that it might not be “a wise thing to do. It might just draw more attention to it. After all, I’ve long ago made my peace with critics.”

Steve Martin and Woody Allen have also both addressed retirement recently.