Ian McKellen: First TV Show Found
BBC News reports: Footage of actor Sir Ian McKellen in his first TV role has been found in the US decades after it was thought lost. The veteran actor played a character named Plowden in the 1964 BBC period drama “The Tomb of His Ancestors.” The program, based on a short story by “Jungle Book” author Rudyard Kipling, was no longer thought to exist. (The story is set in the vintage days of the British Raj.) It used to be BBC policy to wipe recordings to recycle expensive tape stock, so only two of the original 25-part series were known to exist. McKellen was not immediately informed of the discovery because, according to a BBC spokesman, he was probably “too busy filming ‘The Hobbit.'” Can’t wait till “Tomb” shows up on YouTube.
