As the man who brought one of the world’s canniest characters to life on screen, it’s no surprise that actor Ian McKellen is full of his own wisdom.

In a Q&A for The Guardian that was published last week, the “Lord of the Rings” legend weighed in on the “worst piece of advice” he’d ever received, and why, like the wizard Gandalf, he decided to remain steadfast to his principles.

According to McKellen, English acting luminary Alec Guinness once urged him to cease his LGBTQ+ advocacy. McKellen recalled a lunch he once shared with the “Star Wars” icon in London in the late 1980s, and said the pair had casually “chatted about this and that” before Guinness “brought up the real reason for his invitation.”

McKellen founded the LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall shortly after coming out as gay in 1988. As the group lobbied against discriminatory laws put in place by the U.K.’s Conservative-led government, McKellen recalled how Guinness had said it was “somewhat unseemly for an actor to dabble in public or political affairs and advised me, sort of pleaded with me, to withdraw.”

McKellen said he regarded Guinness’ guidance as “advice from an older generation,” which he “didn’t follow.”

Looking back on the interaction decades later, McKellen wondered if Guinness’ apprehension may have been due to a “latent bisexuality” that he said was hinted at in the one-man play, “Two Halves of Guinness.”

McKellen described the same conversation in 2014 during a Pride Month gala in London. Remembering how Guinness had told him not to sully himself with politics, “especially anything as dirty as homosexuality,” McKellen chalked Guinness’ comments up to “self-hatred.”

Guinness, who made an indelible mark on pop culture as “Star Wars” Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, did not publicly identify as bisexual during his lifetime, but the detail came to light in biographies published after his 2000 death.

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