 McKellen had taken film roles throughout his career — beginning in 1969 with his role of George Matthews in A Touch of Love , and his first leading role was in 1980 as D. H. Lawrence in Priest of Love , but it was not until the 1990s that he became more widely recognised in this medium after several roles in blockbuster Hollywood films . In 1993 he had a supporting role as a South African tycoon in the critically acclaimed Six Degrees of Separation , in which he starred with Stockard Channing , Donald Sutherland , and Will Smith . In the same year , he appeared in minor roles in the television miniseries Tales of the City , based on the novel by his friend Armistead Maupin , and the film Last Action Hero , in which he played Death . 
