Stage and screen legend Ian McKellen certainly knows how to bring his audience to its feet.

On February 4, the Tony winner visited The Late Show With Stephen Colbert for an extended conversation, including a harsh rebuke against the dehumanization of immigrants. In the nearly 30-minute long conversation, McKellen discussed one of his rarely cited yet most important credits: he is one of the only living actors to have originated a Shakespearean role. Hardly a simple feat, since the bard died more than four centuries ago.

"Shakespeare wrote many plays, 37 of them by himself, but he also contributed to other people's shows. And one of the speeches he wrote, for a play called Sir Thomas More has been preserved, and it's the only sample of his actual handwriting of some of the words of a play by him," McKellen explains, invigorated. "The play was never performed during Shakespeare's lifetime, because it was thought to be a bit seditious. It had its actual premiere on stage in 1964, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, and I played Thomas More, so you are looking at a man who created a part by William Shakespeare."

As the audience bursts into applause, McKellen laughs. "It's a speech you probably don't know, but you ought to because it's a wonderful speech." With some mild cajoling, McKellen agrees to perform the speech live, 62 years after first delivering it Nottingham Playhouse.

"It's all happening 400 years ago. In London, there's a riot happening. There's a mob out in the streets and they're complaining about the presence of strangers in London, by which they mean immigrants who've arrived there. And they're shouting and complaining and saying that the immigrants should be sent back home, wherever they came from. And the authorities send out this young lawyer, Thomas More, to put down the riot, which he does in two ways. One, by saying that 'you can't riot like this. It's against the law. So, shut up, be quiet'. And also, being by Shakespeare, with an appeal to their humanity."

With that brief dramaturgy lesson, McKellen rises, delivering the speech with fiery intent, his gaze fierce as he stares down the barrel of the camera. By the end, the audience is uproariously on its feet as Colbert embraces McKellen with unshed tears in his eyes.

To witness the full interview, as well as the performance, check out the video below.