The day Sir Ian McKellen missed his entrance on stage in Coventry in ‘inglorious’ first role

Acting legend Sir Ian McKellen has shared a memory of his first ever role on stage in Coventry 65 years ago – and he jokingly admitted his first foray into the industry was ‘inglorious’.

Sir Ian’s first acting role was at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry on September 5, 1961, 65 years ago today. On his Facebook page he described how he missed his entrance for his second appearance – and his colleagues had to improvise on stage to cover his absence.

The veteran actor reminisced how he had been so overwhelmed by the excitement of the first scene that he missed the entrance to the second entirely.

He wrote: “My acting career is 65 years old today. It began at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, which then had a year-round company of actors presenting a new production every two weeks. My first, fresh from my graduation from Cambridge University, was a revival of “A Man for All Seasons”, Robert Bolt’s popular re-telling of Thomas More’s fatal political battle with King Henry 8th. My part was the hero’s son-in-law young Will Roper.

“My début was inglorious. After the excitement of my first scene, I went upstairs to my dressing-room to recover, only to hear the stage manager’s urgent message on the backstage tannoy system: “Mr. McKellen you are off”, meaning I had missed my entrance for Roper’s second appearance. I made it down to the stage level only to discover that my colleagues had completed the scene, effortlessly covering my absence with an imrovisation or two.

“I sat disconsolate in the green room after the show. The leading lady Sheila Keith approached the dejected, newest member of the troupe: “Don’t worry, dear. A professional actor is off only once in their career. Aren’t you lucky to have got it over with, so early?””

The Belgrade Theatre is, of course, still going strong today and is currently preparing for the Christmas Pantomime which, this year, is Beauty and the Beast. It runs from November 18 to January 2 and tickets are on sale now.

You can see what else is on here.

CoventryLive has a number of newsletters to help you keep up to date with what’s important.

There’s a Coventry newsletter that goes out twice a day, morning and evening, with all the latest headlines.

Plus we have a dedicated Warwickshire newsletter which goes out once a day. And there’s a crime and courts newsletter you can also sign up for – this goes out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can sign up to receive these free to your email inbox here . Keep up to date with events, restaurant openings, family attractions and more with our What’s On newsletter here.