Jean McKellen is the sister of iconic actor Ian McKellen. Jean McKellen’s brother is noted for his roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He achieved worldwide fame for his film roles, including the titular King in Richard III, James Whale in Gods and Monsters, Magneto in the X-Men films, and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.

Jean McKellen: Bio Summary

Who is Ian McKellen’s sister?

Jean Lois Jones formerly McKellen was born in 1944 in England, United Kingdom. She is the daughter of Denis Murray McKellen and Margery Lois (Sutcliffe) McKellen and also the sister of Ian McKellen. Jean is the first child of the couple, followed by her younger brother Ian. Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, her family moved to Wigan.

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They lived there until Jean was sixteen years old, before relocating to Bolton in 1951 after their father who was a civil engineer and lay preacher had been promoted. Her father was of Protestant Irish and Scottish descent. Both of Jane McKellen’s grandfathers were preachers, and her great-great-grandfather, James McKellen, was a “strict, evangelical Protestant minister” in Ballymena, County Antrim.

When he was 16, his mother died of breast cancer; his father died when he was 30. Talking of their mother’s death her brother- “If I could rewrite my life(,) it would be that, a) my mother didn’t die when I was 12, because if so she might even be alive now …”

After their mother passed away, Jean McKellen’s father got married for the second time to Gladys Irene (Abraham) McKellen. Her brother came out as Gay to their Stepmother who was a Quaker, he said, “Not only was she not fazed, but as a member of a society which declared its indifference to people’s sexuality years back, I think she was just glad for my sake that I wasn’t lying any more“.

Ian McKellen’s sister Jean McKellen was also an actress

Jean McKellen took her brother to his first Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night, by the amateurs of Wigan’s Little Theatre, shortly followed by their Macbeth and Wigan High School for Girls’ production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with music by Mendelssohn, with the role of Bottom played by Jean McKellen, who continued to act, direct, and produce amateur theatre until her death. Jean was deputy head at a Colchester school per BBC’s report.

ALSO, READ; Margery Lois Sutcliffe: What happened to Ian McKellen’s mother?

What happened to Ian McKellen’s sister?

Ian McKellen’s sister Jean passed away in November 2003, she was 69 years old at the time of her death. Jean McKellen had been a resident of Nayland, on the Essex-Suffolk border, for 17 years. In 2004, the actor, who is best known for his recent role as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, organized a show in memory of his sister, which was an invitation-only event.

Sir Ian McKellen who missed his sister’s funeral because of filming commitments appeared in the production which he initiated to honor his sister. The cause of Jean’s death has not been revealed by the family. Jenny Smith, who was a close friend of Mrs Jones, told BBC Essex the evening would be a fitting tribute to a woman who had been a member of the Village Players.

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