Sir Ian McKellen has revealed that the Star Wars actor Alec Guinness once “pleaded” with him to not actively campaign for gay rights. The veteran star of stage and screen, best known for his role as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings franchise, publicly came out as gay in 1988, and a year later was one of the co-founders of the LGBTQ+ lobby group Stonewall . But his role in public campaigning for gay rights was met with disdain by Guinness, he has claimed. In a new interview, McKellen said that he was taken to lunch by Guinness around the same time, where the star – who originated the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1977’s Star Wars – expressed his unease with his immersion in politics. “He took me for an Italian lunch in Pimlico, where we chatted about this and that until he brought up the real reason for his invitation,” McKellen told The Guardian .…