SINGAPORE (AP) -- Award-winning actor Sir Ian McKellen said Wednesday playing the title character in one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, "King Lear," was more nerve-racking than his recent Hollywood film roles.

McKellen said being asked to play King Lear made him more nervous than assuming the role of Gandalf, the sagacious wizard from "The Lord of the Rings," and the "X-Men" mutant villain Magneto.

"I'd never read 'Lord of the Rings' until I was asked to play Gandalf, so I didn't really know it was a frightfully famous book," McKellen said in Singapore. "I had never come across the 'X-Men' comics till I was asked to play Magneto, so I just jumped into that job."

McKellen's performance as Gandalf earned him his second Academy Award nomination.

"King Lear, I've been seeing all my life. I mean, the great actors of my lifetime ... to join their company, as it were, by playing a part that's challenged them, is one of the great joys of being an actor who does the classics," McKellen said at a briefing. "Without doubt, Lear is the one I got most nervous about."

Famous actors who have played King Lear in the twentieth century include Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ian Holm.

Singapore is the first stop on the Royal Shakespeare Company's international tour of "King Lear" and "The Seagull" by Anton Chekhov.

An outspoken gay-rights activist since declaring his homosexuality in the late 1980s, McKellen also said in interviews with the local media he's followed a recent debate in the city-state over whether gay sex should be decriminalized.

Under Singapore law, gay sex is deemed "an act of gross indecency," punishable by a maximum of two years in jail. Authorities have banned gay festivals and censored gay films, saying homosexuality should not be advocated as a lifestyle choice. Despite the official ban on gay sex, there have been few prosecutions.

"Well, I feel a little bit guilty because the law you have in Singapore was one that was left behind by the British colonial forces and it's taken us an awful long time to get rid of it in Britain," The Straits Times newspaper quoted McKellen as saying. "I'm very sympathetic to the situation here."

Directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, the two productions will be staged July 19-22 in the city-state before going to Australia, New Zealand, the United States and London for performances that run till the end of the year.