Ian Mckellen says his fat suit prevented far worse injuries when he fell off a stage during a West End performance in June.
“I was wearing a fat suit for Falstaff,” McKellen said in an interview published Tuesday in Saga magazine, [and that] saved my ribs and other joints, so I consider myself lucky.”
McKellen portrayed John Falstaff in the stage adaptation of “Player Kings,” which merges Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” Parts 1 and 2. Set in 1403, the play focuses on the rebellious noblemen conspiring to overthrow King Henry IV. During a battle scene, the “X-Men” actor tripped on a newspaper causing his foot to get caught on a chair and stumbled offstage into the front row of the audience screaming, “Help me!”
“My chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist are not yet mended,” McKellen told the magazine. “I don’t go out because I get nervous in case someone bangs into me, and I’ve got agonizing pains in my shoulders to do with my whole frame having been jolted.”
The day after the accident, McKellen took to X, formerly Twitter, to thank fans for their overwhelming support and to announce that he had been “diagnosed and treated by a team of specialists.” While he did not provide further details about his injuries, he said doctors had “assured me that my recovery will be thorough and swift.”
The injuries, however, forced him to withdraw from the show, and he is recovering while wearing a neck brace.
“I thought it was the end of something. It was very upsetting,” the “Lord of the Rings” actor told Saga. “The end didn’t mean my death, but it felt like the end of my participation in the play.”
The “X-Men” actor said he reassured himself that age wasn’t a factor in his fall.
“I have to keep telling myself I’m not too old to act. It was just a bloody accident,” the 85-year-old actor said. “I didn’t lose consciousness, I hadn’t been dizzy, but I’ve not been able to return to the stage, and they’ve continued without me.”
In July, weeks after his accident, Mckellen made an Instagram post celebrating the final performance of “Player Kings” without him and announced that he would be attending the last show. The actor’s understudy, David Semark, had taken over the role for the national tour and final three shows.
“On the day of the 101st and final performance of Player Kings — without me — I celebrated by removing Falstaff’s hair, which has been growing for 9 months,” McKellen wrote in the caption about the character’s beard. “I will be in the audience for the matinee in Newcastle.”
