Sir Ian McKellen first appeared in the role of Gandalf in the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He returned to reprise the role for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, although he almost quit the project on the first day of filming, as he had to film scenes on his own, with just pictures of characters placed around the set.

Ian McKellen plays Gandalf
McKellen told Seventeen magazine, "This is my first day of shooting. I don't know who they are. I can't hear what's being said. I don't know who's speaking to me. I don't know what they're looking at. I'm acting in a vacuum."
He previously explained, "I cried, actually. I cried. Then I said out loud, 'This is not why I became an actor'. Unfortunately the microphone was on and the whole studio heard."

Ian McKellen as Gandalf
Sir Ian McKellen will next be seen in the role of Gandalf in the upcoming movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which will hit the big screen on December 13 in both the US and the UK. Check out the trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug below.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug trailer