Dr. Sir Ian McKellen was given an honorary doctorate from his alma mater - University of Cambridge. The 75-year-old Lord of the Rings star studied English Literature at the prominent academic institution.
"I am now an honorary Doctor of Letters at the Cambridge University, U.K. My old college - St Catharine's - celebrated by flying the rainbow flag," McKellen tweeted.
A photo posted on Twitter shows the acclaimed theatre and film actor standing outside St Catharine's in a summer sweater, wearing a string of beads (pink and maroon) and a Panama hat. In the background, an LGBT rainbow flag, soaring in the sky, could be seen.
This is not the first honorary award for McKellen. The University of Ulster in Ireland awarded the title last year.
The Tony award winning actor has been a part of many prominent shows including "Waiting for Godot", "No Man's Land" along with Sir Patrick Stewart, "The Promise", "Amadeus", "Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare", "Wild Honey", "Ian McKellen: A Knight Out at the Lyceum" and "Dance of Death" among others.
McKellen's films like "The Lord of the Rings," "The Hobbit" and "X-Men" have received Oscar nominations.
Besides McKellen, six notable individuals were given Honorary Degrees. They were Catherine Cesarsky - astronomer and former President of the International Astronomical Union (Doctor of Science), Yusuf Hamied - pharmaceutical chemist and Chairman of Cipla Limited, Honorary Fellow of Christ's College (Doctor of Science), Dan McKenzie - geophysicist, Fellow of King's College and Royal Society Professor of Earth Sciences Emeritus (Doctor of Science), Martin Rees - Lord Rees of Ludlow, Astronomer Royal, former Master of Trinity College and Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics Emeritus (Doctor of Science), Albie Sachs - lawyer, campaigner against apartheid and retired Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa (Doctor of Law) and Mitsuko Uchida - pianist and winner of the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society (Doctor of Music).
