STAGE

Noted stage and film actor Ian McKellen, 47, in Boston recently to accept an acting award, explained to the Boston Globe his recent decision to acknowledge his homosexuality and to work openly for gay and lesbian rights in his native England. Talking with a casting director, he asked if he would have a chance at a particular part if he were known to be gay: “She said, ‘Why not?’ And I said, ‘What if the director knew?’ And she said, ‘So what? He’s gay--and so is his wife.’ That was when I knew I would have no more of this hypocrisy.”