Gandalf star Sir Ian lands wizard £3million windfall

THE Lord Of The Rings star Sir Ian McKellen has given himself a £3.22 million pay day.

The 77-year-old actor treated himself to the huge windfall after closing down his company called Barrow Bridge. It’s not clear why he’s closing the business, but documents show he received payments totalling £3.22million in three tranches over the last year.

The company is named after the small village on the outskirts of Bolton where he was brought up. McKellen, one of the country’s best Shakespearean actors, is known around the world for his role as Gandalf the wizard in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Barrow Bridge was wound up by liquidator Michael Finch, who also said the company had paid a £324,545 corporation tax bill in full.

But despite winding the company up McKellen still runs one business, Kirikiri Ltd, which showed profits of almost £9 million last year.