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 briefly played Death opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charles Dance.