Rank Ian McKellen's performances from best to worst

Cats
Gus The Theatre Cat
2019 The Good Liar
Roy Courtnay
2018 All Is True
Earl of Southampton
2018 National Theatre Live: King Lear
King Lear
2017 Animal Crackers
Horatio P. Huntington (voice)
2017/I Beauty and the Beast
Cogsworth
2016 Look Back in Anger
Colonel
2015 Mr. Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
2014 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Gandalf
2014 X-Men: Days of Future Past
Magneto
2014 Miss in Her Teens
The Prologue
2013 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Gandalf
2013 The Wolverine
Magneto (uncredited)
2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Gandalf
2007 The Golden Compass
Iorek Byrnison (voice)
2007 Stardust
Narrator (voice)
2006 Displaced (voice)
2006 Flushed Away
The Toad (voice)
2006 X-Men: The Last Stand
Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
2006 The Da Vinci Code
Sir Leigh Teabing
2006 Doogal
Zebedee (voice)
2005 Eighteen
Jason Anders (voice)
2005 Neverwas
Gabriel Finch
2005 Asylum
Dr. Peter Cleave
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Gandalf
2003 Emile
Emile
2003 X2
Eric Lehnsherr / Magneto
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Gandalf
2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Gandalf
2000 X-Men
Eric Lensherr / Magneto
1998 Apt Pupil
Kurt Dussander
1998 Gods and Monsters
James Whale
1997 Swept from the Sea
Dr. James Kennedy
1997 Bent
Uncle Freddie
1995 Restoration
Will Gates
1995 Richard III
Richard III - Duke of Gloucester
1995 Jack & Sarah
William
1994 To Die For
Quilt Documentary Narrator (voice)
1994 The Shadow
Reinhardt Lane
1994 I'll Do Anything
John Earl McAlpine
1993 Six Degrees of Separation
Geoffrey
1993 The Ballad of Little Jo
Percy Corcoran
1993 Last Action Hero
Death (as Sir Ian McKellan)
1989 Scandal
John Profumo
1985 Zina
Kronfeld
1985 Plenty
Sir Andrew Charleson
1983 The Keep
Dr. Theodore Cuza
1981 Priest of Love
D.H. Lawrence
1969 The Promise
Leonidik
1969/I Alfred the Great
Roger
1969 A Touch of Love
George