Ian McKellen has been thought of as one of the world’s great actors for more than half his life.  But in the last decade, he has also transformed himself from a strict stage thespian – highly rated, seen by very few – into a big screen star.

He combines high art and mass appeal once more next year when filming beings on The Hobbit, a fourth movie adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, in which he will again appear as the great wizard Gandalf.

McKellen claims no great strategy for combining critical and commercial success.  “How am I expected to make sense of a career which has basically been about me enjoying myself and hoping people would come to see me too?”

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