Ian McKellen shares ‘ghostly’ encounter while waiting for train in London

Ian McKellen shares ghostly encounter while waiting for train in LondonSource: The Graham Norton Show, BBC

Transcript

00:00 Something odd happened to me. It's not very funny, but odd happened to me last week.

00:03 But I'll just put it in context.

00:05 You remember the late lamented Michael Gambon?

00:08 Oh, yes. Who played the other wizard, you know, Dumbledore.

00:11 Yes. And I played Gandalf.

00:14 And we were often mistaken for each other.

00:17 And I think he based his make-up and beard on mine, actually.

00:21 Anyway, one day, I was going to see him in a show, and afterwards,

00:24 I said, "Do you ever get mistaken for me?" He said, "No, the whole time."

00:27 And I said, "Well, what do you do?" He said, "Oh, they bring me their wretched

00:30 "ten-by-eights of you as Gandalf." I said, "What do you do?"

00:33 He said, "I just sign your name."

00:35 But that's in the back of your mind.

00:39 Last week, I was waiting for the Docklands Light Railway

00:43 to take me back from the West End to home, and the voice behind me said,

00:47 "Excuse me." I turned round, there were two young women in their 20s,

00:51 and one of them said, "Are you Michael Gambon?"

00:55 And I said, "Michael Gambon is dead."

00:58 And he said, "Yes, I know, but are you Michael Gambon?"

01:02 LAUGHTER

01:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]