Ian McKellen left This Morning hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard stunned during Monday’s show when he revealed how he thought he was dying after his horror fall.
The legendary actor, 85, who was wearing a fat suit, lost his footing during a fight scene in Player King on June 17 at the Noel Coward Theatre in London.
He suffered a chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist after falling into the shocked audience, where he landed on a woman.
Recalling the accident during the programme, Ian told of how he thought he had broken his neck.
He said: ‘I had a bit of an accident that luckily wasn’t too bad physically because I was wearing a fat suit.’
Ian McKellen left This Morning hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard stunned during Monday’s show when he revealed how he thought he was dying after his horror fall
The legendary actor, 85, who was wearing a fat suit, lost his footing during a fight scene in Player King on June 17 at the Noel Coward Theatre in London
‘I don’t remember exactly what happened. But I finally found out who she was, the lady I fell on, and have been in touch.
‘Physically I am ok but when I fell I was shouting, “I’ve broken my neck, I’m dying!”
‘I don’t remember saying it, but I did. So I must have felt it and I think that is in my head somewhere so I’m not going to work until that thought has gone.’
Ian, who played John Falstaff in the play, a production adapted by Robert Icke from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, parts one and two, also revealed that the incident could have been worse had it not been for his costume.
In a previous interview with Saga magazine on August 20, Sir Ian revealed that the fat suit ‘saved’ his ‘ribs and other joints’ during the fall.
He said: ‘I’ve relived that fall I don’t know how many times. It was horrible. It was in the battle scene. My foot got caught in a chair, and trying to shake it off I started to slide on some newspaper that was scattered over the stage, like I was on a skateboard.
‘The more I tried to get rid of it, the faster I proceeded down a step, onto the forestage, and then on to the lap of someone in the front row.
‘I started screaming, ‘Help me!’ and then ‘I’m sorry! I don’t do this!’. Extraordinary things. I thought it was the end of something. It was very upsetting.’
He suffered a chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist after falling into the shocked audience, where he landed on a woman (Ambulances rushed to the West End, pictured)
Recalling the accident during the programme, Ian told of how he thought he had broken his neck.
‘The end’, he clarifies, did not mean ‘my death. It was my participation in the play. I have to keep assuring myself that I’m not too old to act and it was just a bloody accident.
‘I didn’t lose consciousness, I hadn’t been dizzy, but I’ve not been able to go back and they still played without me.
‘I don’t feel guilty, but the accident has let down the whole production,’ he said. ‘I feel such shame. I was hoping to be able to rejoin the play on the tour, but I couldn’t.’
Speaking about his injuries he said: ‘My chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist are not yet mended.
‘I don’t go out because I get nervous in case someone bangs into me, and I’ve got agonising pains in my shoulders to do with my whole frame having been jolted.
‘But I was wearing a fat suit for Falstaff and that saved my ribs and other joints.’
Sir Ian also said he was being looked after by his neighbours and joked that he what he is missing the most at the moment is the pub quiz at The Grapes, the pub he part-owns in East London.
The interior of the Noel Coward Theatre in London showing the stage from which Sir Ian fell
Sir Ian’s understudy, David Semark, stepped in to finish the run in the West End, and continued to play the role during the national tour.
Sir Ian was unable to return due to his injuries and told Saga magazine that ‘there are suggestions we’ll do (the play) again, but we’ll see’.
His career has spanned more than six decades and seen the actor perform at theatres around the country.
Away from Lord of the Rings, he is also known on screen for playing Magneto in the X-Men films.
