Gandalf lonely and tearful filming 'The Hobbit'

Sir Ian McKellen, 73, has revealed that he was so overcome with loneliness while playing the wizard Gandalf in Peter Jackson's fantasy adventure film of 'The Hobbit', that he burst into tears.

"I had to be filmed separately so I could appear taller than the hobbits and dwarves and I don't like doing that," he explains. "I just started crying because that isn't what I came into the business to do."

The revelations come in a new DVD, 'British Legends of Stage and Screen', featuring interviews with McKellen, Michael Gambon and Dame Diana Rigg ('The Avengers').