Sir Ian McKellen has recorded an amazing birthday video for his good pal Sir Patrick Stewart as the Star Trek icon turned 80 yesterday - and yes, it really is as wonderful as it sounds.
The two legends are well known for their beautiful friendship, having first bonded on the set of 2000's X-Men, when they had adjoining trailers.
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Stewart told Wired earlier this year: "On those kind of movies, you spend more time sitting in your trailer than you do in front of the camera.
"So, Ian and I hung out together, drinking tea - and maybe in the afternoon, something a little stronger - and we got to know one another. And the charm of it was that we found that we had so much in common."
Since then they've become seemingly inseparable, regularly appearing on red carpets together or photographed hanging out at the pub. Hell, McKellen even performed the marriage ceremony for Stewart and his wife Sunny Ozell back in 2013.
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In the latest display of love, 81-year-old McKellen decided to recite a sonnet for his good friend, who has been sharing virtual #SonnetADay readings via Twitter each day during lockdown.
Sharing McKellen's efforts, Stewart wrote: "Sunny and my team took over for my birthday, and arranged this gift for today's reading: Sonnet 81 by @IanMcKellen. Thank you, dear Ian. #ASonnetADay."
After finishing the sonnet, McKellen looked into the camera with a smile and said: "And a very happy birthday, dear Patrick. Lots of love, Ian."
Stewart, who was part of the Royal Shakespeare Company for more than 15 years, embarked on his #SonnetADay series back in March, pledging to give fans a daily Shakespeare sonnet while much of the world remained locked down.
After being heaped with praise from his first video, when sharing a second the next day, Stewart said: "I was delighted by the response to yesterday's posting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, and it has led me to undertake what follows...
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"When I was a child in the 1940s, my mother would cut up slices of fruit for me (there wasn't much) and as she put it in front of me she would say, 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away.' How about, 'A sonnet a day keeps the doctor away'? So... here we go: Sonnet 1."
If you want to catch up with Sir Patrick's sonnets, you can find them all on his Twitter or Instagram feeds.
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