Sir Ian McKellen is British and old ? therefore, he was offered the chance to play Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film franchise after the original Dumbledore, Richard Harris, passed away following Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. By the time Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban came out, McKellen was already playing another wizard: Gandalf the Grey in The Lord of the Rings. That?s one reason he turned the part down. The other reason Mckellen said, ?I worked out what they were thinking, and I couldn?t? I couldn?t take over the part from an actor who I?d known didn?t approve of me.? Harris called McKellen, ?technically brilliant, but passionless.? That comment stuck with McKellen, and he passed on the role.
