Ian McKellen says fat suit saved him from more serious injury in stage fall, but he's still in 'agonizing pain'

Two months after falling off the stage during a performance of Player Kings at the Noël Coward Theatre in London, Ian McKellen says his injuries would have been worse if not for his wardrobe.

"I was wearing a fat suit for Falstaff," McKellen said of the character he portrayed in the play during an interview with the U.K.'s Saga Magazine published Tuesday, "and that saved my ribs and other joints."

He went on to explain that he's very much still affected by the accident in the production, which is a new version of Shakespeare's Henry IV.

"My chipped vertebrae and fractured wrist are not yet mended," the 85-year-old revealed. "I don't go out because I get nervous in case someone bangs into me, and I've got agonizing pains in my shoulders to do with my whole frame having been jolted."

McKellen detailed exactly how the fall happened: "It was in the battle scene. My foot got caught in a chair, and trying to shake it off I started to slide on some newspaper that was scattered over the stage, like I was on a skateboard. The more I tried to get rid of it, the faster I proceeded down a step, onto the forestage, and then on to the lap of someone in the front row."

That's when he panicked.

"I started screaming, 'Help me!' and then 'I'm sorry! I don't do this!' Extraordinary things. I thought it was the end of something. It was very upsetting."

Producers announced on July 1 that McKellen had dropped out of the show on the advice of his medical team. His understudy, David Semark, took his place in the final three shows left of a 12-week run in London and on the national tour that followed.

The actor has a long history with the theater, specifically with Shakespeare, whose works he has often performed. Among other roles, the Lord of the Rings actor played Richard III in the 1995 film adaptation of the character's story, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA.

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