That individual would be Sir Christopher Lee, the actor who played Saruman. Being a huge fan of the books (he reads them all at least once a year), he was a bit star-struck when it happened. He explains his experience:
"We were sitting there talking and drinking beer, and someone said, "Oh, look who walked in." It was Professor Tolkien, and I nearly fell off my chair. I didn't even know he was alive. He was a benign looking man, smoking a pipe, walking in, an English countryman with earth under his feet. And he was a genius, a man of incredible intellectual knowledge. He knew somebody in our group. He (the man in the group) said "Oh Professor, Professor..." And he came over. And each one of us, well I knelt of course, each one of us said "how do you do?" And I just said "Ho.. How.. How...""
Of course when Lee heard about the films, he knew he had to be a part of them. He had always envisioned himself as being Gandalf, so when he read that Peter Jackson would be adapting the trilogy, he immediately called his agent. Although he didn't get the role he always wanted, it must have been a thrill to be part of something he was so passionate about.
