Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart Have Been Friends for Over 50 Years, and Here Are 20 of the Best Moments From Their Bromance

It may seem difficult to make friends in adulthood, however, this iconic bromance of 2 legendary actors is a great exception to that sentiment. And even now, decades later, the whole world adores their close friendship as they watch them have fun at red carpet events, throw house parties, and mock each other on Twitter.

Here at Bright Side, we’ve collected some of the coolest, silliest pics that capture the essence of their precious bond. Scroll down and enjoy!

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Many people probably recognize both of these legendary actors from the X-Men franchise, where Patrick Stewart played Professor Xavier and Ian McKellen played Erik Lehnsherr, also known as Magneto. As they’ve shared, it was while shooting the film in the 2000s that their close friendship began to blossom.

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Stewart shared that on a movie set, you spend more time in a trailer than in front of the camera, and both his and McKellen’s trailers were nearby, so they killed time together drinking tea.

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Though the 2 actors met each other in the 1970s in the Royal Shakespeare Company, they didn’t become friends or stay in touch over many of the following years. At the time, Stewart was so impressed by McKellen’s success that he felt intimidated by him as he was already an established actor.

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In addition to their slightly similar appearances, mirrored careers, and their knighthood given to them by Queen Elizabeth II for their acting services, these men have yet one more thing in common — their main reason for getting into acting. In an interview, the long-time friends confessed that they made such a choice as an escape. For Stewart, it helped him get away from his abusive father and for McKellen, acting helped him in his struggles as a closeted gay man.

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The friendship of these 2 actors is so strong that in 2013, Stewart asked McKellen to become an ordained minister and officiate his wedding to his fiancée, Sunny Oznell. So McKellen actually got the official documents that gave him permission to marry people.

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Later, McKellen started getting a lot of letters asking him to officiate other people’s weddings for big money. McKellen could’ve turned it into a real money-maker, but he didn’t. In fact, he’s only done it once for his close friend, which Stewart found deeply touching.

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A few years ago, McKellen and Stewart starred together at the Cort Theatre on Broadway in Harold Pinter’s comedy, No Mans Land and Samuel Beckett’s classic, Waiting for Godot. As McKellen explained in an interview back then, he broke into tears when the production of Waiting for Godot came to an end as he knew he would miss working with his close friend.

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Today, the 2 actors are literally inseparable, from starring on Broadway and walking the red carpet together to celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving with one another, not to mention just casually visiting and “hanging out” with each other, which fans can see pictures of on both McKellen and Stewart’s Twitter accounts.

Do you have a best friend? We’d be happy to hear your friendship story and see your best moments in the comment section below!