A selection from what others have written:
“In 1997, when Sir Ian McKellen was in Los Angeles to film Gods and Monsters, he asked his friend Keith Stern, a computer consultant, to create mckellen.com, a shaggy collection of Sir Ian’s writings and photographs that is a treasure trove of contemporary Shakespearean and sci-fi lore, and the actor’s political activism.
“In his small memorabilia-crammed office above a Thai restaurant on Sunset Blvd, Keith explained, ‘As people do in this town, whether you’re a masseur or a nanny or a yoga teacher, you get passed around. So when Brendan Fraser and Lynn Redgrave saw what I’d done for Ian, they were both very interested to have me do the same for them.’
“When Keith went to New Zealand to visit Sir Ian on the set of the Lord of the Rings films, the same thing happened again. ‘I was spending my days going from hotel room to hotel room trying to help people out in various ways, making sure Orlando Bloom and Billy Boyd got their domain names, and Sean Astin and Andy Serkis both developed Web sites with me.’ [Michael Joseph Gross, Starstruck, Bloomsbury, 2005]
“Back at the Powderhorn Hotel that evening, I arranged to meet with Keith Stern, whom Ian McKellen had introduced me to. Keith managed Ian’s website and we talked about the possibility of creating a site for me. I had never imagined having one myself, but it seemed a valuable tool to connect my past body of work with Gollum, as I would not be appearing ‘in the flesh’ on screen. I wanted people to realise that I wasn’t in fact made of pixels myself.” [Andy Serkis, Gollum, How we made movie magic, Harper Collins, 2003]
“Stern recalls, ‘Ian found out I was doing these newfangled things called websites. I’d done one for myself and one for Spinal Tap.’ Given that the proceeds from [Ian’s one man show] were going to charity, Stern donated his services to create a website for the show. ‘People came from all over the country after seeing it on the Internet. Those were early days, early 1997, and anything you put on the Internet that was of any interest or quality at all would tend to get more than its fair share of attention.’ Impressed, McKellen asked Stern to create a personal website for him” – [Kristin Thompson, The Frodo Franchise, University of California Press, 2007]
“For starting the hare that led me to the subject of this book, my thanks go first to Keith Stern. His willingness to promulgate an underground conjecture about the true identity of Harry Larkyns took my life on an unexpected swerve. I am grateful to him for his generosity in sharing his thoughts with me, and above all for pointing me towards what has ended up as a long spell of pleasure in my work.” – [Rebecca Gowers, The Scoundrel Harry Larkyns, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2019]
“Keith Stern is a rare historian, who reports his findings with wit and passion and he can be trusted.” – [Ian McKellen, Foreword to Queers in History, Benbella, 2010]
