Sir Ian McKellen laughs as he sums up the state of his health. 
 
 “You are going to write ‘Ian McKellen is decrepit. He can’t see, he can’t hear he can’t pee, he’s having his teeth done’,” he says with an impish glint in his eye. 
 
 The 73-year-old’s broad grin shows his hearty approach to the onset of old age. 
 
 But in his most candid interview, he reveals that along with his hearing problems and cataract, he also has prostate cancer. 
 
 The Lord of the Rings and X Men star is matter of fact about living with the disease. 
 
 “I’ve had prostate cancer for six or seven years,” he says. “When you have got it you monitor it and you have to be careful it doesn’t spread. But if it is contained in the prostate it’s no big deal. 
 
 “Many, many men die from it but it’s one of the cancers that is totally treatable so I have ‘waitful watching’. I am examined regularly and it’s just contained, it’s not spreading. I’ve not had any treatment.” Sir Ian is refreshingly honest about his condition, which is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men. 
 
 He admits at first he feared the worst but now he happily lives with the disease, undergoing frequent check-ups. 
 
 © 2012 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Heroic: Sir Ian Gandalf the Grey 
 
 The star – looking tanned and healthy in his suite at Claridges ahead of tomorrow’s premiere of The Hobbit – admitted: “You do gulp when you hear the news. It’s like when you go for an HIV test, you go ‘arghhh is this the end of the road?’ 
 
 “They come and say you have cancer of the prostate and then they say you can have it zapped, you can have it snipped but you are not a candidate for that. You are waitful watching. 
 
 “I have heard of people dying from prostate cancer, and they are the unlucky ones, the people who didn’t know they had got it and it went on the rampage. But at my age if it is diagnosed its not life threatening.” 
 
 The actor realised something was wrong when he had to go to the toilet repeatedly in the night and decided to get himself checked out. 
 
 Despite his GP’s reluctance, a biopsy discovered cancerous cells. 
 
 “You are told what the situation is: you can have an operation but there is no point me having an operation because there is no need for it. 
 
 “What they are concerned about is the cancer going to spread outside the prostate? If it doesn’t you are fine. 
 
 “How do you know if it is spreading? You keep being tested.” 
 
 Crush: A young Ian McKellen 
 
 The veteran campaigner for gay rights has nothing but praise for the NHS which, he admits, he has been using rather a lot recently. When I say he is looking very fit and healthy for his age, and ask if he has felt the onset of his years, he pauses and appraises me with a Gandalf-like quizzical eye and addresses me with a tinge of his native Bolton accent. 
 
 “I just got hearing aids, I am going to have a cataract removed from my eyes, I am having an implant in my mouth, I am dealing with the prostate…I am absolutely fine thank you very much! 
 
 “I am lucky, I don’t have aches and pains. I do pilates regularly which is a series of stretching exercises and I recommend it to anyone of my age because the temptation is not to exercise when you get older. Well you should. 
 
 “I always walk up the escalator on the tube and I live in a house with a lot of stairs and that’s good exercise but you need more than that. 
 
 “The wonderful thing about modern medicine is that so many of these complaints that used to signify old age and decline can be coped with. 
 
 “I look at these little hearing aids I got, from the NHS, and I said how much would that cost if I went private and they said five or six thousand pounds. 
 
 “It is really, really wonderful that in your old age you are protected by specialists who understand your problems and sort them out for you. Well, isn’t that what we all need?” 
 
 Work, today, is promoting his return as Gandalf the wizard in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Set before The Lord of the Rings, it tells of how hobbit Bilbo Baggins sets off on an adventure with a band of dwarves to steal back a hoard of gold guarded by a dragon. 
 
 ITV Dream come true: On Corrie 
 
 The production, which will see two more films released, was mired in delays and the veteran actor, who became a worldwide star for his performance as the wizard in the Rings trilogy, nearly decided not to play him again. 
 
 He said: “I was in two minds about it. So I made a mental list of the pros and cons. Cons included do I want to live in New Zealand for 18 months? I love it but do I want to go there for that long? And at my age, do I want to go back to a part I’ve already played when I could be doing something else? 
 
 “The film was on and off for so long, more than two years. I was adjusting to the fact it might not happen. Then finally they said they were going to make it and I thought ‘oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.’ 
 
 “An actress friend said to me ‘all the kids are not going to worry about you going away to New Zealand, they just want you to do the film. You are going to have to do it for them. And I thought oh yes of course.” 
 
 A mischievous grin plays across his face again: “Plus the fact, which was there all along, I didn’t want anyone else to play Gandalf. It’s mine,” he roars. 
 
 Sir Ian rattles off a long list of jobs coming up to keep him busy. After fulfilling a life-long wish to appear in Coronation Street, he has just started rehearsals for his first sitcom, with Sir Derek Jacobi, where they playing a bickering elderly gay couple. 
 
 The pair are pals from university, and Sir Ian admits he fell for his friend. 
 
 “He denies having a crush on me but I certainly had a crush on him. He was a very attractive young man. If things had been different maybe we would be the couple in the sitcom.” 
 
 But another role has been filling his time, that of publican. Along with former partner, theatre director Sean Mathias, he has taken over the historic Grapes pub near home in Limehouse, East London. 
 
 But dealing with prima donna Hollywood stars and directors with volcanic tempers did nothing to prepare him dealing with…chefs. 
 
 “We have a manager in but I get to hear about the problems. Thank god I don’t have to deal with them. 
 
 “We’ve had some hair raising tales. Chefs are worse than any other group, from temperamental actors to directors. It’s as if they’ve all been watching reruns of Gordon Ramsay. F**k this, f**k that. 
 
 “But the pub is a delight.” 
 
 So expect to see this grand knight of the stage and screen in his next great role, pulling a pint. ||||| Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images 
 
 A report that Sir Ian McKellen has had prostate cancer for the past six or seven years has been denied by the actor's agent, who said that McKellen is in fine health. 
 
 Chris Andrews told ABCNews.com today that the actor, 73, does not have prostate cancer, as reported by the U.K. tabloid The Sun. 
 
 "No, he does not have prostate cancer. … That was taken out of context and from an interview from years ago," Andrews said. 
 
 Andrews pointed to McKellen's appearance at the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" in New Zealand on Nov. 28 as evidence of the actor's health. 
 
 CLD Communications, which represents McKellen in the U.K., also confirmed that the story "was taken out of context." 
 
 The Sun had quoted McKellen as saying, "You do gulp when you hear the news. … It's like when you go for an HIV test - you go 'Argh, is this the end of the road?' You monitor it and you have to be careful it doesn't spread." 
 
 McKellen is expected to attend the premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" Wednesday night in London's Leicester Square. ||||| The 72-year-old actor revealed the Batman Forever star has been secretly battling the same disease he was diagnosed with six years ago 
 
 MICHAEL Douglas has claimed his former co-star Val Kilmer is battling cancer – and that “things don’t look good for him.” 
 
 The 72-year-old actor revealed the Batman Forever star has been secretly suffering with the same disease he was diagnosed with six years ago. 
 
 Getty Images 7 Michael Douglas has claimed his former co-star Val Kilmer is battling cancer 
 
 7 He revealed the news during a Q&A and said ‘things don’t look too good for him’, despite Val (above) denying he had the disease last year 
 
 He revealed the news during a Q&A with Jonathan Ross at An Evening with Michael Douglas at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane this evening, where he talked about shooting The Ghost in the Darkness with Val in 1996. 
 
 He said: “The picture didn’t turn out as well as I hoped but I had a wonderful time. Val was a wonderful guy who is dealing with exactly what I had, and things don’t look too good for him. 
 
 “My prayers are with him. That’s why you haven’t heard too much from Val lately.” 
 
 Val, 56, denied having cancer last year after being hospitalised in January 2015 for bleeding from the throat. 
 
 7 Val, pictured above while playing Jim Morrison, denied having cancer last year after being hospitalised in January 2015 for bleeding from the throat 
 
 In June last year he wrote on his Facebook page: “I am perfectly well folks. Thank you for all your love and support. I am having a grand time. And I should mention I do not have cancer or a tumor.(sic)” 
 
 Four months later Val once again denied he was unwell, but was later seen with a tracheostomy tube in his neck. 
 
 The Sun has reached out to Val’s representatives for a comment. 
 
 Michael originally announced he was battling throat cancer in 2010 and later underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment, being given the all-clear the following year. 
 
 Getty Images 7 Michael Douglas battled tongue cancer in 2010 and was given the all-clear the following year 
 
 In 2013, Michael revealed he had actually suffered from tongue cancer, but had been told by a physician it was unwise to clarify he had cancer of the tongue due to the potential for disfigurement. 
 
 On his own battle, he said this evening: “I had to deal with chemo, radiation, which is a seven week period, and a bunch of weeks either side. 
 
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 “My kids were pretty good about it. I was really honest about it and you just progressively as you take the chemo and radiation, you get weaker and not moving around. 
 
 “I had a very nice couch in my den, which I lived on. You know, there’s not a lot of choices really. 
 
 That’s what you go through. They were wonderfully supportive, Catherine (Zeta-Jones) was too. 
 
 7 Michael Douglas with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones 
 
 “There was a period where they were taking about if it doesn’t work in my particular situation with the throat, that they have to do surgery you’re probably not going to have much of a film career with that. 
 
 “It’s all going through your mind but I went with it and stuck with the attitude, let’s just do this whole thing and we’ll deal with it afterwards. 
 
 “They’ll test me afterwards and we’ll see if it’s successful. If we are great, if not we’ll have to look at what the alternatives are.” 
 
 His first film after being given the all-clear was 2013’s Behind the Candelabra, in which he played US megastar Liberace. 
 
 7 Michael (right) is known for his portrayal for Liberace (left) 
 
 He recalled: “Six months after, they sent me this script. It was spectacular. This wonderful script. 
 
 They said, ‘Matt Damon wants you to play the other part.’ I said, ‘Wow.’ So I was so excited. I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ 
 
 “We started warming up and the the director Stephen (Soderbergh) said, you know, ‘I’ve got a scheduling conflict so I really can’t do it now. And Matt does too, so we’re going to have to put this off for a while until next year.’ 
 
 “My heart sunk. I thought, this is never going to happen again. 
 
 Emmys 2013: Michael Douglas thanks wife 
 
 "The truth was, me, I'm just happy to be alive. Forget the fact I look like I just came out of a concentration camp. They're both looking at each other saying he doesn't look too good. So they made an excuse - they did that to save me. 
 
 "I wasn't ready and they were right. I wasn't. But as a result of that, having an additional year, to practice the piano and work on the accent. It made it that much better. I'm really grateful to them."
– Gossip outlets were abuzz this week with the news that Ian McKellen, aka Gandalf and/or Magneto, has prostate cancer—but now his agent says that isn't so. McKellen apparently told the Daily Mirror, in an article published Monday, that he's had the disease "for six or seven years," adding that "if it is contained in the prostate it's no big deal." But his agent tells ABC News the actor doesn't actually have prostate cancer, and says the report "was taken out of context and from an interview from years ago." A rep for McKellen tells the Huffington Post the actor will release a statement on Twitter this afternoon to clear up the "many different versions of the story out there."