Ian McKellan
Ian McKellan has admitted that he is glad major movie success came later on in his career - so he never got distracted.
McKellan has enjoyed a stellar theatre career before landing major movie roles in the likes of X-Men, The Lord of the Rings and The Da Vinci Code, and the actor is glad things worked out that way.
Speaking to The Guardian the actor said: "If I had become a well-known film actor and thought, now I must have a film career, that's a very difficult thing to organise."
"Theatre is relatively easy if you're British - you're living in the theatre capital of the world, London, there are so many places you can work, still.
"If I had begun to think of myself as a film actor I think I would have got distracted.
"I'm much happier... it has all worked out wonderfully well. I was way into my 60s so my head was not likely to get swollen.
"I was just glad to be recognised as being an actor who was succeeding. I liked that side of the acclaim, if that's what you call it. To be a star. That's never appealed to me really."
McKellan is currently filming The Hobbit in New Zealand, where he is reprising the role of Gandalf.
Tagged in Sir Ian McKellen