Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was perhaps the only actor of his generation to have starred in so many films. Although most notable for personifying bloodsucking vampire, Dracula, on screen, he portrayed other varied characters on screen, most of which were villains, whether it be Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film, El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974), or Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episodio II - El ataque de los clones(2002), or as the title monster in the Hammer Horror film, La momia (1959).
Lee was born in 1922 in London, England, where he and his older sister Xandra were raised by their parents, Contessa Estelle Marie (Carandini di Sarzano) and Geoffrey Trollope Lee, a professional soldier, until their divorce in 1926. Later, while Lee was still a child, his mother married (and later divorced) Harcourt George St.-Croix (nicknamed Ingle), who was a banker. Lee's maternal great-grandfather was an Italian political refugee, while Lee's great-grandmother was English opera singer Marie (Burgess) Carandini.
After attending Wellington College from age 14 to 17, Lee worked as an office clerk in a couple of London shipping companies until 1941 when he enlisted in the Royal Air Force during World War II. Following his release from military service, Lee joined the Rank Organisation in 1947, training as an actor in their "Charm School" and playing a number of bit parts in such films as La extraña cita (1948). He made a brief appearance in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), in which his future partner-in-horror Peter Cushing also appeared. Both actors also appeared later in Moulin Rouge (1952) but did not meet until their horror films together.
Lee had numerous parts in film and television throughout the 1950s. He struggled initially in his new career because he was discriminated as being taller than the leading male actors of his time and being too foreign-looking. However, playing the monster in the Hammer film La maldición de Frankenstein (1957) proved to be a blessing in disguise, since the was successful, leading to him being signed on for future roles in Hammer Film Productions. Lee's association with Hammer Film Productions brought him into contact with Peter Cushing, and they became good friends. Lee and Cushing often than not played contrasting roles in Hammer films, where Cushing was the protagonist and Lee the villain, whether it be Van Helsing and Dracula respectively in Drácula (1958), or John Banning and Kharis the Mummy respectively in La momia (1959).
Lee continued his role as "Dracula" in a number of Hammer sequels throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s. During this time, he co-starred in El perro de Baskervilles(1959), and made numerous appearances as Fu Manchu, most notably in the first of the series El regreso de Fu-Manchú (1965), and also appeared in a number of films in Europe. With his own production company, Charlemagne Productions, Ltd., Lee made Noche infernal (1973) and La monja poseída (1976). By the mid-1970s, Lee was tiring of his horror image and tried to widen his appeal by participating in several mainstream films, such as La vida privada de Sherlock Holmes (1970), Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973), Los cuatro mosqueteros (La venganza de Milady) (1974), and the James Bond film El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974).
The success of these films prompted him in the late 1970s to move to Hollywood, where he remained a busy actor but made mostly unremarkable film and television appearances, and eventually moved back to England. The beginning of the new millennium relaunched his career to some degree, during which he has played Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episodio II - El ataque de los clones (2002) and as Saruman the White in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lee played Count Dooku again in Star Wars: Episodio III - La venganza de los Sith (2005) and as Johnny Depp's character's father in the Tim Burton film, Charlie y la fábrica de chocolate (2005).
On 16 June 2001, he was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to drama. He was created a Knight Bachelor on 13 June 2009 in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama and charity. In addition he was made a Commander of the Order of St John on 16 January 1997.
Lee died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 7 June 2015 at 8:30 am after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure, shortly after celebrating his 93rd birthday there. His wife delayed the public announcement until 11 June, in order to break the news to their family - IMDb Mini Biography By: Lyn Hammond and Sidhartha Shankar
Trade Mark
Deeply melodic basso voice
Frequently plays imposing, menacing villains
Roles in Hammer Horror films
More often than not sports a beard. Especially in recent years
Towering height and slender frame
Trivia
Turned down Donald Pleasence's role as Dr. Sam Loomis in La noche de Halloween (1978) (He later remarked that this was his biggest mistake).
Classically trained singer.
One of the few actors who has portrayed three different Sherlock Holmes characters: Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes and Sir Henry Baskerville.
A distant cousin and frequent golfing partner of Bond creator Ian Fleming, Lee was the author's personal pick for the role of Agente 007 contra el doctor No (1962) in the first 007 film. The role, of course, went to actor Joseph Wiseman, who was brilliant. However, fans of the literary Bond might want to check out Lee's portrayal of Chinese master criminal Fu Manchu, for an idea of how Ian Fleming himself envisioned Dr. No.
Uncle of Harriet Walter.
Vincent Price and Christopher Lee were born on the same day (27th May) and Peter Cushing was born on the 26th.
Was one of the judges for the 1995 Miss World beauty pageant.
The blooddripping fangs worn by Lee in many of his vampire films were created by Irish dental technician Sean Mulhall.
Is listed as the Center of the Hollywood Universe by the Oracle of Kevin Bacon website at the University of Virginia, because he can be linked to any one in Hollywood on average in 2.59 steps. That is less than either Charlton Heston or Kevin Bacon himself.
In a radio interview in South Africa, Lee claimed that he held the record for number of film roles by an actor.
He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.
Appears on the cover of Paul McCartney's 1973 album "Band on the Run".
Served in the British Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from 1941 to 1946. During that time, he was an active member of the Special Forces.
Has appeared in a scene from La maldición de Frankenstein (1957) on screen during the drive-in sequence in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962).
The white coffin used in one of his Dracula films was later used in Bananarama's music video "Venus".
One of Lee's maternal great-grandfathers was Italian. Through him, Lee is of noble Italian ancestry (from the Carandini family).
From an acting dynasty, his great-grandparents founded the first Australian opera company.
He made his stage debut in school as the demonic lead in "Rumpelstiltskin", a sign of things to come.
A stunt double performed the stunts and lightsaber fights in Star Wars: Episodio II - El ataque de los clones (2002). Lee's face was imposed on the double's body. Lee mentioned that in the last 40 years, he has done more swordfights than any other actor, but "not anymore".
Speaks very good French, good enough to understand questions and give long replies in a press conference.
Is an honorary member of three stuntmen's unions.
His stepfather (his mother's second husband) was the maternal uncle of writer Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame). Lee and Fleming are therefore stepcousins.
Was voted No. 31 on the recent British televised poll "The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time" above the likes of John Wayne, Michael Caine and Humphrey Bogart.
Sustained an injury to his hand while filming a swordfight with a slightly drunk Errol Flynnfor The Dark Avenger (1955).
Both he and his fellow "Star Wars" Sith Lord, David Prowse, have played Frankenstein's Monster opposite Peter Cushing: Lee in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957) and Prowse in Frankenstein y el monstruo del infierno (1974).
Was originally offered the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in La guerra de las galaxias (1977). He turned down the role which eventually went to his good friend Peter Cushing.
Since his feature film debut in La extraña cita (1948), he has had at least one film role every year except for 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2006.
At 6 feet 5 inches, he is entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as "The Tallest Leading Actor".
He struggled to get work early in his career as a supporting actor because almost all the male stars were shorter than he.
Was upset about the deletion of his death scene in the theatrical version of El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003). However, the scene was put back into the Extended Edition which is seen as the definitive version.
One of the most prolific actors of all time, he has acted in nearly 230 films, although he later admitted that his film work was not always chosen on quality but often on whether they could support his family. His peak years of productivity were 1955 and 1970, as Lee starred in nine films in both years.
As Darth Tyranus, he plays the first Sith apprentice to act in both body and voice.
Although he has been in well over 200 films, he has very rarely played a hero, having been a villain in perhaps about 85% of his films (even his bit parts lean towards the unsympathetic).
He was awarded Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by French culture minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon on December 11, 2002.
One of his favorite bands is the Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody, and he has also appeared on one of their album (listen to the speech in the intro on the song "Unholy Warcry" on the album "The Dark Secret"). Lee also appears on the Rhapsody single "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream", where he does a duet with Rhapsody vocalist Fabio Leoni in English, German, Italian and French versions of the song.
On July 21, 2004, he was given the honorary citizenship of the Italian city of Casina (Province of Reggio Emilia) where Sarzano, the castle of his ancestors is situated. He gave his speech of thanks in Italian.
Was the Center of the Hollywood Universe, according to data at the Movie Oracle, http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/center.html, but is now second to Rod Steiger.
Two of his roles have been as leaders of a separatist movement. The first was Jinnah(1998), about Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan. The second was in the Star Wars series as Count Dooku, the former mentor of Qui-Gon Jinn.
In a bonding of two generations of Frankenstein's monsters, Lee and his wife were good friends with Boris Karloff and his wife. This friendship was not as a result of them working together (they made two films together: Pasillos de sangre (1958) and La maldición del Altar Rojo (1968)) but by the coincidence that they lived next door to each other in England.
Has one child, Christina Erika Lee (b. November 23, 1963) with his wife Birgit Kroencke Lee (Gitte Lee).
During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force and in British Intelligence.
In 1972, he founded Charlemagne Productions Ltd.
He studied at Summerfield Preparatory School and attended Wellington College.
His daughter, Christina Erika Lee, was born with her legs severely deformed. They were bent at such a severe angle that they were almost backwards. She spent her first two years in splints. She eventually learned how to walk after the age of three and no longer needed splints.
According to his official website: He speaks French, German, Italian and Spanish and can "get along" in Greek, Russian and Swedish.
When he arrived in the recording studio to do the voice-over for King Haggard in the original animated version of El último unicornio (1982), he came armed with his own copy of the book with certain excerpts marked pertaining to parts of the book that he felt should not have been omitted.
Like his Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson, he has appeared in films with three generations of Astins.
Wanted to attend the Heavy Metal Festival Earthshaker Fest in 2005 to support his favorite bands, the Italian band Rhapsody and the American band Manowar, but had to cancel at the last moment because of an important filming appointment. He recorded a message to the fans in advance, which was shown right before Rhapsody appeared on-stage.
According to his friend Norman Lloyd, he has a somewhat eccentric hobby: he is fascinated by public executioners and knows the names of every official executioner England has had since the middle of the 15th century.
In his role as the title character, La momia (1959), in which he co-starred with Peter Cushing, Lee got severely injured in the course of the filming. All that smashing through real glass windows and doors had dislocated his shoulder and pulled his neck muscles, especially when he had to carry an actress with arms fully extended across a swamp, walking as much as 87 yards, which damaged his shoulders considerably.
In Drácula (1958), Lee in the title role had to drop a woman into a grave, but when he carried her, she was unexpectedly heavy and in trying to drop her into the grave, Lee also fell in with her.
Has appeared in three different films in which he had either known or met the (late) author of the original work: Gormenghast (2000) (Mervyn Peake), The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien) and El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974) (Ian Fleming, his cousin).
Shot all his scenes for Star Wars: Episodio III - La venganza de los Sith (2005) in one day.
He is the tallest of the many actors who have played Count Dracula.
He was one of the few people to volunteer to fight on the Finnish side in the Russo-Finnish winter war in 1939-1940, though he and his fellow British volunteers were in Finland only for about two weeks and were kept well away from direct combat.
Although he and Peter Cushing were often mortal enemies on-screen, off-screen they were inseparable friends.
His films have made more money than any other actor's in history. As of May 2006, five of his films (the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the two Star Wars films in which he played Count Dooku) had total grosses in excess of $4.4 billion. Even without considering Lee's other appearances dating back to 1948, his totals considerably surpass the figures of #3 billion and #3.8 billion claimed by Harrison Ford and Samuel L. Jackson, respectively.
As a veritable J.R.R. Tolkien expert and the only member of the cast who had met Tolkien himself, he often visited the Production department on the sets of the various Lord of the Rings movies to give advice and tips on the various attributes of the films.
Released the music album "Christopher Lee: Revelation" in the United Kingdom in October 2006. It includes songs like "The Toreador March", "O Sole Mio", "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "My Way".
Has worked with three different Gollums. The first Gollum, Brother Theodore, provided a voice in El último unicornio (1982). The second, Peter Woodthorpe, appeared with him in La odisea (1997). The last, Andy Serkis, appeared with him in the Lord of the Rings films.
Has played a staggering amount of Victorian characters. He played Count Dracula ten times, Dr. Fu Manchu five times, Sherlock Holmes three times, Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's brother) once and Sir Henry Baskerville (a friend of Holmes) once. He also appeared in Las dos caras del Dr. Jekyll (1960) and El monstruo (1971), adaptations of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", among others.
He is possibly the only actor in cinematic history to have achieved a unique trifecta. He has played a Star Wars villain (Count Dooku), a James Bond villain (Francisco Scaramanga), and a classic horror movie monster (Dracula, the Mummy and Frankenstein's Monster).
Has worked with three James Bonds: Roger Moore in El hombre de la pistola de oro(1974), Pierce Brosnan in La vuelta al mundo en 80 días (1989), and Daniel Craig in La brújula dorada (2007).
He was cast as a ballad soloist called The Gentleman Ghost in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", but his role was cut when the ballad numbers were omitted. However, he never filmed the scenes and was present for the recording session.
In 2008, he received a lifetime achievement award at Pula Film Festival (Croatia).
In various interviews over the years has referred to all three actors to play James Bond that he has worked with - Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig - as the best and most close to Ian Fleming's intentions. However, he has also criticized Fleming's weak characters when discussing his own Bond film, El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974) and described the screen adaptation as considerably better written.
Along with Patrick Macnee, he is one of only two surviving cast members of Sir Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948).
He was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama and charity. The ceremony took place at Buckingham Palace on October 30, 2009, and was carried out by HRH 'Prince Charles', The Prince of Wales.
He was awarded Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John in 1997.
At age 77, he confirmed that he has lost an inch of height and is now 6' 4".
Was offered the role of King Balor in Hellboy II. El ejército dorado (2008), but had to turn it down due to other commitments.
Once declared himself an unconditional fan of Gene Hackman.
He learned how to speak German by listening to Richard Wagner records.
Had dubbed King Haggard in the German version of El último unicornio (1982) for no fee, out of love for the film.
Has said that his favorite director is Tim Burton, whom he frequently collaborated with on several of Burton's films.
Was very good friends with Josip Broz Tito, a partisan leader and a president of a former country of Yugoslavia.
Lee's friend, Jean Paul Getty, lent him and wife Gitte his Sutton Place home for their honeymoon in 1961.
He was awarded Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand in 2011.
Read the Lord of the Rings trilogy once a year for decades, long before the film series ever got started.
Wore an eyepatch to play the role of Rochefort in Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973), Los cuatro mosqueteros (La venganza de Milady) (1974) and El regreso de los mosqueteros (1989), one of few films, if not the only film, to be based on "Twenty Years After". His interpretation of the character was so popular that many subsequent adaptations of the story; such as Disney's Los tres mosqueteros (1993) and Los tres mosqueteros (2011), have continued to portray Rochefort as wearing an eyepatch, despite the fact that Alexandre Dumas père never described the character as wearing one.
Early in his career, Lee dubbed foreign films into English and other languages including Jacques Tat's "Mr. Hulot's Holiday". Sometimes he dubbed all the voices including women's parts. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., recalled that Lee could do any kind of accent: "foreign, domestic, North, South, Middle, young, old, everything. He's a great character actor".
Has also done a few small roles that only require his voice, such as the priest in La novia cadáver (2005), and the Jabberwocky in Alicia en el país de las maravillas (2010).
Around 1988, Lee agreed to play a vampire once more in an unproduced Dutch/Belgian comedy that was to be called "Blooper". The script, written by 'Frank van Laecke', was commissioned because of the physical resemblance between Lee and Dutch opera singer Marco Bakker, as noted by Bakker's wife, actress Willeke van Ammelrooy. Lee, a great lover of opera, got along well with both of them. The story concerned an opera singer called Billy Blooper (Bakker) who learns his father (Lee) is a vampire who's teeth had gone rotten after eating too many sweets. Now whenever he bites anyone, instead of turning into a vampire, they became half-human, half-chicken.
His mother was a contessa of the Italian Carandini family related through marriage across the centuries to the Borgias.
He got started in films when his cousin Count Nicolò Carandini, Italy's first post war ambassador to Britain introduced him to Filipo Del Guidice of Two Cities Film.
His godfather was Prince Alexander of Battenberg, a grandson of Queen Victoria, who later adopted the title of Lord Carisbrooke.
After preparatory school, he passed the entrance exam for Eton but his parents could not afford the fees. He went to Wellington, but had to be taken out when their financial situation worsened. He took a job as an office boy in a shipping company in the City at £1 a week.
Lee got along well with Eddie Powell, his longtime stunt double at Hammer Film Productions. Powell married Hammer wardrobe mistress Rosemary Burrowes, who jokingly referred to Lee as "Nasty" and sometimes "Green Mould".
Did not start acting until he was 25 years old.
Christopher Lee was married to his wife Gitte just before production on Das Geheimnis der gelben Narzissen (1961) began. They had no time for a full honeymoon as they only had a weekend before filming began on Mondy. They spent it in Brighton and resolved to have a serial honeymoon spread out over the next year between picture commitments. Unfortunately it rained most of the weekend.
He considers Billy Wilder to be the greatest director he worked for.
In his autobiography, he relates his first meeting with Peter Cushing during production of La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), in which he played the monster. Lee stormed into a dressing room where Cushing was sitting and angrily yelled "I haven't got any lines!" Cushing replied, "You're lucky; I've read the script.".
He worked with Bernard Lee in La batalla del Río de la Plata (1956), Doctor Terror (1965) and El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974) and his grandson Jonny Lee Miller in Sombras tenebrosas (2012).
He had no lines in Hamlet (1948), La maldición de Frankenstein (1957) or Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas (1966).
His character seduced Barbara Shelley in both Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas (1966) and Rasputín (1966).
He made nine films with Michael Ripper: La momia (1959), The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), The Pirates of Blood River (1962), Los piratas del diablo (1964), Rasputín(1966), Drácula vuelve de la tumba (1968), El poder de la sangre de Drácula (1970), Las cicatrices de Drácula (1970) and El esqueleto prehistórico (1973).
He appeared in 12 films directed by Terence Fisher: A Song for Tomorrow (1948), La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), Drácula (1958), El perro de Baskervilles (1959), La momia (1959), The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), Las dos caras del Dr. Jekyll(1960), El collar de la muerte (1962), La Medusa (1964), Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas(1966), Radiaciones en la noche (1967) and La novia del diablo (1968).
He made seven films with Oliver Reed: Las dos caras del Dr. Jekyll (1960), Beat Girl(1960), The Pirates of Blood River (1962), Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973), Los cuatro mosqueteros (La venganza de Milady) (1974), El regreso de los mosqueteros (1989) and La isla del tesoro (1990).
He made seven films with Francis De Wolff: Trottie True (1949), Moulin Rouge (1952), Pasillos de sangre (1958), El perro de Baskervilles (1959), The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), Las dos caras del Dr. Jekyll (1960) and Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973).
He made five films with Miles Malleson: One Night with You (1948), Matrimonio de estado(1948), Private's Progress (1956), Drácula (1958) and El perro de Baskervilles (1959).
He starred in two adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde": Las dos caras del Dr. Jekyll (1960) and El monstruo(1971).
He was the last surviving cast member of Scott of the Antarctic (1948).
He appeared in three films with Suzan Farmer: Los piratas del diablo (1964), Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas (1966) and Rasputín (1966).
In both The Pirates of Blood River (1962) and Los piratas del diablo (1964), he played the captain of a pirate crew which included Michael Ripper and Michael Peake.
He has three roles in common with his Pasillos de sangre (1958) and La maldición del Altar Rojo (1968) co-star Boris Karloff: (1) Karloff played Frankenstein's Monster in El doctor Frankenstein (1931), La novia de Frankenstein (1935) and El hijo de Frankenstein(1939) while Lee played him in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), (2) Karloff played the Mummy in La momia (1932) while Lee played him in La momia (1959) and (3) Karloff played Dr. Fu Manchu in La máscara de Fu-Manchú (1932) while Lee played him in El regreso de Fu-Manchú (1965), Las novias de Fu-Manchú (1966), La venganza de Fu-Manchú (1967), Fu Manchú y el beso de la muerte (1968) and El castillo de Fu-Manchu(1969).
He has two roles in common with Marc Warren: (1) Lee played Count Dracula in ten films from Drácula (1958) to Dracula padre e hijo (1976) while Warren played him in Dracula(2006) and (2) Lee played the Comte de Rochfort in Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973), Los cuatro mosqueteros (La venganza de Milady) (1974) and El regreso de los mosqueteros (1989) while Warren played him in Los mosqueteros (2014).
He appeared in a total of 24 films with his close friend Peter Cushing: Hamlet (1948), Moulin Rouge (1952), Alejandro Magno (1956), La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), Drácula (1958), El perro de Baskervilles (1959), La momia (1959), El agente del diablo(1962), La Medusa (1964), Doctor Terror (1965), La diosa de fuego (1965), La maldición de la calavera (1965), Radiaciones en la noche (1967), La carrera de la muerte (1970), One More Time (1970), La mansión de los crímenes (1971), El monstruo (1971), Drácula 73 (1972), Pánico en el Transiberiano (1972), Noche infernal (1973), El esqueleto prehistórico (1973), Los ritos satánicos de Drácula (1973), Alfombras mágicas (1979) and La casa de las sombras del pasado (1983).
He has made six films with Johnny Depp: Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie y la fábrica de chocolate (2005), La novia cadáver (2005), Alicia en el país de las maravillas (2010), La invención de Hugo (2011) and Sombras tenebrosas (2012).
He has made four films with Marton Csokas: El señor de los anillos: La comunidad del anillo (2001), Star Wars: Episodio II - El ataque de los clones (2002), El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003) and Alicia en el país de las maravillas (2010).
He has made four films with Helena Bonham Carter: Charlie y la fábrica de chocolate(2005), La novia cadáver (2005), Alicia en el país de las maravillas (2010) and Sombras tenebrosas (2012).
He made four films with Patrick Troughton: Hamlet (1948), La Medusa (1964), Las cicatrices de Drácula (1970), and Frankenstein y el monstruo del infierno (1974). Coincidentally, Peter Cushing appeared in all of them except Scars of Dracula.
He played Count Dracula in ten films: Drácula (1958), Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas(1966), Drácula vuelve de la tumba (1968), El conde Drácula (1970), One More Time(1970), El poder de la sangre de Drácula (1970), Las cicatrices de Drácula (1970), Drácula 73 (1972), Los ritos satánicos de Drácula (1973) and Dracula padre e hijo(1976).
He worked with Klaus Kinski in Das Geheimnis der gelben Narzissen (1961), Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee (1962), Circus of Fear (1966), Cinco dragones de oro (1967) and El conde Drácula (1970) and his daughter Nastassja Kinski in La monja poseída (1976).
He starred in two Hammer adaptations of novels by Dennis Wheatley: La novia del diablo(1968) and La monja poseída (1976).
He has two roles in common with Bela Lugosi: (1) Lugosi played Count Dracula in Drácula(1931) and Abbott y Costello contra los fantasmas (1948) while Lee played him in ten films from Drácula (1958) to Dracula padre e hijo (1976) and (2) Lugosi played Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein y el Hombre Lobo (1943) while Lee played him in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957).
He has three roles in common with Lon Chaney Jr.: (1) Chaney played Frankenstein's Monster in El fantasma de Frankenstein (1942) while Lee played him in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), (2) Chaney played Kharis the Mummy in La tumba de la momia(1942), El fantasma de la momia (1944) and La maldición de la momia (1944) while Lee played him in La momia (1959) and (3) Chaney played Count Dracula in El hijo de Drácula(1943) while Lee played him in ten films from Drácula (1958) to Dracula padre e hijo(1976).
He appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: Hamlet (1948) and El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003). He is the only actor to appear in two films which were released more than 50 years apart and both won Best Picture.
He has appeared in three films with Lee Pace: La víctima perfecta (2011), El Hobbit: Un viaje inesperado (2012) and El Hobbit: La batalla de los cinco ejércitos (2014).
He has two roles in common with Frank Langella, Richard Roxburgh and Anthony D.P. Mann: (1) Lee played Count Dracula in ten films from Drácula (1958) to Dracula padre e hijo (1976), Langella played him in Dracula (1979), Roxburgh played him in Van Helsing(2004) and Mann played him in Canucula! (Dracula in Canada) (2008) and Terror of Dracula (2012) and (2) Lee played Sherlock Holmes in El collar de la muerte (1962), Sherlock Holmes y la prima donna (1991) and Incidente en las Cataratas Victoria (1992), Langella played him in Standing Room Only: Sherlock Holmes (1981), Roxburgh played him in The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002) and Mann played him in Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow Watchers (2011).
Before he was persuaded to return as Count Dracula in Las cicatrices de Drácula (1970), John Forbes-Robertson was considered for the role. Forbes-Robertson later played the character in Kung Fu contra los siete vampiros de oro (1974), making him the only actor other than Lee to play Dracula in the Hammer "Dracula" film series.
He made four films with Charlton Heston: Asesinato de Julio César (1970), Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973), Los cuatro mosqueteros (La venganza de Milady) (1974) and La isla del tesoro (1990).
He made six films with Michael Goodliffe: El hidalgo de los mares: Capitan Horacio Hornblower (1951), La batalla del Río de la Plata (1956), Fortune Is a Woman (1957), La Medusa (1964), El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974) and La monja poseída (1976).
He has two roles in common with Tom Baker: (1) Lee played Sherlock Holmes in El collar de la muerte (1962), Sherlock Holmes y la prima donna (1991) and Incidente en las Cataratas Victoria (1992) while Baker played him in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1982) and (2) Lee played Grigory Rasputin in Rasputín (1966) while Baker played him in Nicolás y Alejandra (1971).
He made six films with Desmond Llewelyn: Hamlet (1948), They Were Not Divided(1950), Pasillos de sangre (1958), The Pirates of Blood River (1962) and El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974).
He made cameo appearances in the final instalments of two prequel trilogies: Star Wars: Episodio III - La venganza de los Sith (2005) and El Hobbit: La batalla de los cinco ejércitos (2014).
His voice in the Italian versions of El señor de los anillos: La comunidad del anillo (2001), El señor de los anillos: Las dos torres (2002), El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey(2003) and Star Wars: Episodio III - La venganza de los Sith (2005) was dubbed by Omero Antonutti.
He was killed by Francis Matthews in both Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas (1966) and Rasputín (1966).
He was offered the role of Justinian in The Viking Queen (1967) but he turned it down. Don Murray was eventually cast.
He made ten films with Michael Gough: Matrimonio de estado (1948), Emboscada nocturna (1957), Drácula (1958), Doctor Terror (1965), La maldición de la calavera(1965), La maldición del Altar Rojo (1968), Asesinato de Julio César (1970), Sleepy Hollow (1999), La novia cadáver (2005) and Alicia en el país de las maravillas (2010).
He has two roles in common with his La novia cadáver (2005) co-star Richard E. Grant: (1) Lee played Sherlock Holmes in El collar de la muerte (1962), Sherlock Holmes y la prima donna (1991) and Incidente en las Cataratas Victoria (1992) while Grant played him in The Other Side (1992) and (2) Lee played Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in La vida privada de Sherlock Holmes (1970) while Grant played him in Sherlock (2002).
He played Frankenstein's Monster in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957) while his niece Harriet Walter played Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of "Frankenstein" author Mary Shelley, in Frankenstein: Birth of a Monster (2003).
He has two roles in common with his Evil Stalks This House (1981) co-star Jack Palance: (1) Lee played Count Dracula in ten films from Drácula (1958) to Dracula padre e hijo(1976) while Palance played him in Dracula (1974) and (2) Palance played Dr. Edward Hyde / Mr. Henry Jekyll in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968) while Lee played renamed versions of the character(s), Dr. Charles Marlowe and Mr. Edward Blake, in El monstruo (1971).
He appeared in six films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Hamlet (1948), Moulin Rouge (1952), El señor de los anillos: La comunidad del anillo (2001), El señor de los anillos: Las dos torres (2002), El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003) and La invención de Hugo (2011). Of those, Hamlet (1948) and El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003) are winners in the category.
According to the Multimedia Encyclopedia "Cinemania 95", he died on March 31, 1993. But he was alive in that time.
As he played a Bond villain, he has worked with the most fellow Bond villain actors in films: Robert Shaw, Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas, Charles Gray, Curd Jürgens, Michael Lonsdale, Julian Glover, Sean Bean, Christopher Walken etc.
With his death on June 7, 2015, Patrick Macnee is the last surviving cast member of Hamlet (1948).
His date of death, June 7, is also the birthday of Liam Neeson, who played his apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn in the Star Wars films.
He died only one day after his El hidalgo de los mares: Capitan Horacio Hornblower(1951), Asesinato de Julio César (1970) and La isla del tesoro (1990) co-star Richard Johnson.
Classically trained singer.
One of the few actors who has portrayed three different Sherlock Holmes characters: Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes and Sir Henry Baskerville.
A distant cousin and frequent golfing partner of Bond creator Ian Fleming, Lee was the author's personal pick for the role of Agente 007 contra el doctor No (1962) in the first 007 film. The role, of course, went to actor Joseph Wiseman, who was brilliant. However, fans of the literary Bond might want to check out Lee's portrayal of Chinese master criminal Fu Manchu, for an idea of how Ian Fleming himself envisioned Dr. No.
Uncle of Harriet Walter.
Vincent Price and Christopher Lee were born on the same day (27th May) and Peter Cushing was born on the 26th.
Was one of the judges for the 1995 Miss World beauty pageant.
The blooddripping fangs worn by Lee in many of his vampire films were created by Irish dental technician Sean Mulhall.
Is listed as the Center of the Hollywood Universe by the Oracle of Kevin Bacon website at the University of Virginia, because he can be linked to any one in Hollywood on average in 2.59 steps. That is less than either Charlton Heston or Kevin Bacon himself.
In a radio interview in South Africa, Lee claimed that he held the record for number of film roles by an actor.
He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.
Appears on the cover of Paul McCartney's 1973 album "Band on the Run".
Served in the British Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from 1941 to 1946. During that time, he was an active member of the Special Forces.
Has appeared in a scene from La maldición de Frankenstein (1957) on screen during the drive-in sequence in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962).
The white coffin used in one of his Dracula films was later used in Bananarama's music video "Venus".
One of Lee's maternal great-grandfathers was Italian. Through him, Lee is of noble Italian ancestry (from the Carandini family).
From an acting dynasty, his great-grandparents founded the first Australian opera company.
He made his stage debut in school as the demonic lead in "Rumpelstiltskin", a sign of things to come.
A stunt double performed the stunts and lightsaber fights in Star Wars: Episodio II - El ataque de los clones (2002). Lee's face was imposed on the double's body. Lee mentioned that in the last 40 years, he has done more swordfights than any other actor, but "not anymore".
Speaks very good French, good enough to understand questions and give long replies in a press conference.
Is an honorary member of three stuntmen's unions.
His stepfather (his mother's second husband) was the maternal uncle of writer Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame). Lee and Fleming are therefore stepcousins.
Was voted No. 31 on the recent British televised poll "The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time" above the likes of John Wayne, Michael Caine and Humphrey Bogart.
Sustained an injury to his hand while filming a swordfight with a slightly drunk Errol Flynnfor The Dark Avenger (1955).
Both he and his fellow "Star Wars" Sith Lord, David Prowse, have played Frankenstein's Monster opposite Peter Cushing: Lee in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957) and Prowse in Frankenstein y el monstruo del infierno (1974).
Was originally offered the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in La guerra de las galaxias (1977). He turned down the role which eventually went to his good friend Peter Cushing.
Since his feature film debut in La extraña cita (1948), he has had at least one film role every year except for 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2006.
At 6 feet 5 inches, he is entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as "The Tallest Leading Actor".
He struggled to get work early in his career as a supporting actor because almost all the male stars were shorter than he.
Was upset about the deletion of his death scene in the theatrical version of El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003). However, the scene was put back into the Extended Edition which is seen as the definitive version.
One of the most prolific actors of all time, he has acted in nearly 230 films, although he later admitted that his film work was not always chosen on quality but often on whether they could support his family. His peak years of productivity were 1955 and 1970, as Lee starred in nine films in both years.
As Darth Tyranus, he plays the first Sith apprentice to act in both body and voice.
Although he has been in well over 200 films, he has very rarely played a hero, having been a villain in perhaps about 85% of his films (even his bit parts lean towards the unsympathetic).
He was awarded Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by French culture minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon on December 11, 2002.
One of his favorite bands is the Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody, and he has also appeared on one of their album (listen to the speech in the intro on the song "Unholy Warcry" on the album "The Dark Secret"). Lee also appears on the Rhapsody single "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream", where he does a duet with Rhapsody vocalist Fabio Leoni in English, German, Italian and French versions of the song.
On July 21, 2004, he was given the honorary citizenship of the Italian city of Casina (Province of Reggio Emilia) where Sarzano, the castle of his ancestors is situated. He gave his speech of thanks in Italian.
Was the Center of the Hollywood Universe, according to data at the Movie Oracle, http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/center.html, but is now second to Rod Steiger.
Two of his roles have been as leaders of a separatist movement. The first was Jinnah(1998), about Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan. The second was in the Star Wars series as Count Dooku, the former mentor of Qui-Gon Jinn.
In a bonding of two generations of Frankenstein's monsters, Lee and his wife were good friends with Boris Karloff and his wife. This friendship was not as a result of them working together (they made two films together: Pasillos de sangre (1958) and La maldición del Altar Rojo (1968)) but by the coincidence that they lived next door to each other in England.
Has one child, Christina Erika Lee (b. November 23, 1963) with his wife Birgit Kroencke Lee (Gitte Lee).
During World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force and in British Intelligence.
In 1972, he founded Charlemagne Productions Ltd.
He studied at Summerfield Preparatory School and attended Wellington College.
His daughter, Christina Erika Lee, was born with her legs severely deformed. They were bent at such a severe angle that they were almost backwards. She spent her first two years in splints. She eventually learned how to walk after the age of three and no longer needed splints.
According to his official website: He speaks French, German, Italian and Spanish and can "get along" in Greek, Russian and Swedish.
When he arrived in the recording studio to do the voice-over for King Haggard in the original animated version of El último unicornio (1982), he came armed with his own copy of the book with certain excerpts marked pertaining to parts of the book that he felt should not have been omitted.
Like his Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson, he has appeared in films with three generations of Astins.
Wanted to attend the Heavy Metal Festival Earthshaker Fest in 2005 to support his favorite bands, the Italian band Rhapsody and the American band Manowar, but had to cancel at the last moment because of an important filming appointment. He recorded a message to the fans in advance, which was shown right before Rhapsody appeared on-stage.
According to his friend Norman Lloyd, he has a somewhat eccentric hobby: he is fascinated by public executioners and knows the names of every official executioner England has had since the middle of the 15th century.
In his role as the title character, La momia (1959), in which he co-starred with Peter Cushing, Lee got severely injured in the course of the filming. All that smashing through real glass windows and doors had dislocated his shoulder and pulled his neck muscles, especially when he had to carry an actress with arms fully extended across a swamp, walking as much as 87 yards, which damaged his shoulders considerably.
In Drácula (1958), Lee in the title role had to drop a woman into a grave, but when he carried her, she was unexpectedly heavy and in trying to drop her into the grave, Lee also fell in with her.
Has appeared in three different films in which he had either known or met the (late) author of the original work: Gormenghast (2000) (Mervyn Peake), The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien) and El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974) (Ian Fleming, his cousin).
Shot all his scenes for Star Wars: Episodio III - La venganza de los Sith (2005) in one day.
He is the tallest of the many actors who have played Count Dracula.
He was one of the few people to volunteer to fight on the Finnish side in the Russo-Finnish winter war in 1939-1940, though he and his fellow British volunteers were in Finland only for about two weeks and were kept well away from direct combat.
Although he and Peter Cushing were often mortal enemies on-screen, off-screen they were inseparable friends.
His films have made more money than any other actor's in history. As of May 2006, five of his films (the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the two Star Wars films in which he played Count Dooku) had total grosses in excess of $4.4 billion. Even without considering Lee's other appearances dating back to 1948, his totals considerably surpass the figures of #3 billion and #3.8 billion claimed by Harrison Ford and Samuel L. Jackson, respectively.
As a veritable J.R.R. Tolkien expert and the only member of the cast who had met Tolkien himself, he often visited the Production department on the sets of the various Lord of the Rings movies to give advice and tips on the various attributes of the films.
Released the music album "Christopher Lee: Revelation" in the United Kingdom in October 2006. It includes songs like "The Toreador March", "O Sole Mio", "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "My Way".
Has worked with three different Gollums. The first Gollum, Brother Theodore, provided a voice in El último unicornio (1982). The second, Peter Woodthorpe, appeared with him in La odisea (1997). The last, Andy Serkis, appeared with him in the Lord of the Rings films.
Has played a staggering amount of Victorian characters. He played Count Dracula ten times, Dr. Fu Manchu five times, Sherlock Holmes three times, Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's brother) once and Sir Henry Baskerville (a friend of Holmes) once. He also appeared in Las dos caras del Dr. Jekyll (1960) and El monstruo (1971), adaptations of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", among others.
He is possibly the only actor in cinematic history to have achieved a unique trifecta. He has played a Star Wars villain (Count Dooku), a James Bond villain (Francisco Scaramanga), and a classic horror movie monster (Dracula, the Mummy and Frankenstein's Monster).
Has worked with three James Bonds: Roger Moore in El hombre de la pistola de oro(1974), Pierce Brosnan in La vuelta al mundo en 80 días (1989), and Daniel Craig in La brújula dorada (2007).
He was cast as a ballad soloist called The Gentleman Ghost in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", but his role was cut when the ballad numbers were omitted. However, he never filmed the scenes and was present for the recording session.
In 2008, he received a lifetime achievement award at Pula Film Festival (Croatia).
In various interviews over the years has referred to all three actors to play James Bond that he has worked with - Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig - as the best and most close to Ian Fleming's intentions. However, he has also criticized Fleming's weak characters when discussing his own Bond film, El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974) and described the screen adaptation as considerably better written.
Along with Patrick Macnee, he is one of only two surviving cast members of Sir Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948).
He was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama and charity. The ceremony took place at Buckingham Palace on October 30, 2009, and was carried out by HRH 'Prince Charles', The Prince of Wales.
He was awarded Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John in 1997.
At age 77, he confirmed that he has lost an inch of height and is now 6' 4".
Was offered the role of King Balor in Hellboy II. El ejército dorado (2008), but had to turn it down due to other commitments.
Once declared himself an unconditional fan of Gene Hackman.
He learned how to speak German by listening to Richard Wagner records.
Had dubbed King Haggard in the German version of El último unicornio (1982) for no fee, out of love for the film.
Has said that his favorite director is Tim Burton, whom he frequently collaborated with on several of Burton's films.
Was very good friends with Josip Broz Tito, a partisan leader and a president of a former country of Yugoslavia.
Lee's friend, Jean Paul Getty, lent him and wife Gitte his Sutton Place home for their honeymoon in 1961.
He was awarded Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand in 2011.
Read the Lord of the Rings trilogy once a year for decades, long before the film series ever got started.
Wore an eyepatch to play the role of Rochefort in Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973), Los cuatro mosqueteros (La venganza de Milady) (1974) and El regreso de los mosqueteros (1989), one of few films, if not the only film, to be based on "Twenty Years After". His interpretation of the character was so popular that many subsequent adaptations of the story; such as Disney's Los tres mosqueteros (1993) and Los tres mosqueteros (2011), have continued to portray Rochefort as wearing an eyepatch, despite the fact that Alexandre Dumas père never described the character as wearing one.
Early in his career, Lee dubbed foreign films into English and other languages including Jacques Tat's "Mr. Hulot's Holiday". Sometimes he dubbed all the voices including women's parts. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., recalled that Lee could do any kind of accent: "foreign, domestic, North, South, Middle, young, old, everything. He's a great character actor".
Has also done a few small roles that only require his voice, such as the priest in La novia cadáver (2005), and the Jabberwocky in Alicia en el país de las maravillas (2010).
Around 1988, Lee agreed to play a vampire once more in an unproduced Dutch/Belgian comedy that was to be called "Blooper". The script, written by 'Frank van Laecke', was commissioned because of the physical resemblance between Lee and Dutch opera singer Marco Bakker, as noted by Bakker's wife, actress Willeke van Ammelrooy. Lee, a great lover of opera, got along well with both of them. The story concerned an opera singer called Billy Blooper (Bakker) who learns his father (Lee) is a vampire who's teeth had gone rotten after eating too many sweets. Now whenever he bites anyone, instead of turning into a vampire, they became half-human, half-chicken.
His mother was a contessa of the Italian Carandini family related through marriage across the centuries to the Borgias.
He got started in films when his cousin Count Nicolò Carandini, Italy's first post war ambassador to Britain introduced him to Filipo Del Guidice of Two Cities Film.
His godfather was Prince Alexander of Battenberg, a grandson of Queen Victoria, who later adopted the title of Lord Carisbrooke.
After preparatory school, he passed the entrance exam for Eton but his parents could not afford the fees. He went to Wellington, but had to be taken out when their financial situation worsened. He took a job as an office boy in a shipping company in the City at £1 a week.
Lee got along well with Eddie Powell, his longtime stunt double at Hammer Film Productions. Powell married Hammer wardrobe mistress Rosemary Burrowes, who jokingly referred to Lee as "Nasty" and sometimes "Green Mould".
Did not start acting until he was 25 years old.
Christopher Lee was married to his wife Gitte just before production on Das Geheimnis der gelben Narzissen (1961) began. They had no time for a full honeymoon as they only had a weekend before filming began on Mondy. They spent it in Brighton and resolved to have a serial honeymoon spread out over the next year between picture commitments. Unfortunately it rained most of the weekend.
He considers Billy Wilder to be the greatest director he worked for.
In his autobiography, he relates his first meeting with Peter Cushing during production of La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), in which he played the monster. Lee stormed into a dressing room where Cushing was sitting and angrily yelled "I haven't got any lines!" Cushing replied, "You're lucky; I've read the script.".
He worked with Bernard Lee in La batalla del Río de la Plata (1956), Doctor Terror (1965) and El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974) and his grandson Jonny Lee Miller in Sombras tenebrosas (2012).
He had no lines in Hamlet (1948), La maldición de Frankenstein (1957) or Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas (1966).
His character seduced Barbara Shelley in both Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas (1966) and Rasputín (1966).
He made nine films with Michael Ripper: La momia (1959), The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), The Pirates of Blood River (1962), Los piratas del diablo (1964), Rasputín(1966), Drácula vuelve de la tumba (1968), El poder de la sangre de Drácula (1970), Las cicatrices de Drácula (1970) and El esqueleto prehistórico (1973).
He appeared in 12 films directed by Terence Fisher: A Song for Tomorrow (1948), La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), Drácula (1958), El perro de Baskervilles (1959), La momia (1959), The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), Las dos caras del Dr. Jekyll(1960), El collar de la muerte (1962), La Medusa (1964), Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas(1966), Radiaciones en la noche (1967) and La novia del diablo (1968).
He made seven films with Oliver Reed: Las dos caras del Dr. Jekyll (1960), Beat Girl(1960), The Pirates of Blood River (1962), Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973), Los cuatro mosqueteros (La venganza de Milady) (1974), El regreso de los mosqueteros (1989) and La isla del tesoro (1990).
He made seven films with Francis De Wolff: Trottie True (1949), Moulin Rouge (1952), Pasillos de sangre (1958), El perro de Baskervilles (1959), The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), Las dos caras del Dr. Jekyll (1960) and Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973).
He made five films with Miles Malleson: One Night with You (1948), Matrimonio de estado(1948), Private's Progress (1956), Drácula (1958) and El perro de Baskervilles (1959).
He starred in two adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde": Las dos caras del Dr. Jekyll (1960) and El monstruo(1971).
He was the last surviving cast member of Scott of the Antarctic (1948).
He appeared in three films with Suzan Farmer: Los piratas del diablo (1964), Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas (1966) and Rasputín (1966).
In both The Pirates of Blood River (1962) and Los piratas del diablo (1964), he played the captain of a pirate crew which included Michael Ripper and Michael Peake.
He has three roles in common with his Pasillos de sangre (1958) and La maldición del Altar Rojo (1968) co-star Boris Karloff: (1) Karloff played Frankenstein's Monster in El doctor Frankenstein (1931), La novia de Frankenstein (1935) and El hijo de Frankenstein(1939) while Lee played him in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), (2) Karloff played the Mummy in La momia (1932) while Lee played him in La momia (1959) and (3) Karloff played Dr. Fu Manchu in La máscara de Fu-Manchú (1932) while Lee played him in El regreso de Fu-Manchú (1965), Las novias de Fu-Manchú (1966), La venganza de Fu-Manchú (1967), Fu Manchú y el beso de la muerte (1968) and El castillo de Fu-Manchu(1969).
He has two roles in common with Marc Warren: (1) Lee played Count Dracula in ten films from Drácula (1958) to Dracula padre e hijo (1976) while Warren played him in Dracula(2006) and (2) Lee played the Comte de Rochfort in Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973), Los cuatro mosqueteros (La venganza de Milady) (1974) and El regreso de los mosqueteros (1989) while Warren played him in Los mosqueteros (2014).
He appeared in a total of 24 films with his close friend Peter Cushing: Hamlet (1948), Moulin Rouge (1952), Alejandro Magno (1956), La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), Drácula (1958), El perro de Baskervilles (1959), La momia (1959), El agente del diablo(1962), La Medusa (1964), Doctor Terror (1965), La diosa de fuego (1965), La maldición de la calavera (1965), Radiaciones en la noche (1967), La carrera de la muerte (1970), One More Time (1970), La mansión de los crímenes (1971), El monstruo (1971), Drácula 73 (1972), Pánico en el Transiberiano (1972), Noche infernal (1973), El esqueleto prehistórico (1973), Los ritos satánicos de Drácula (1973), Alfombras mágicas (1979) and La casa de las sombras del pasado (1983).
He has made six films with Johnny Depp: Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie y la fábrica de chocolate (2005), La novia cadáver (2005), Alicia en el país de las maravillas (2010), La invención de Hugo (2011) and Sombras tenebrosas (2012).
He has made four films with Marton Csokas: El señor de los anillos: La comunidad del anillo (2001), Star Wars: Episodio II - El ataque de los clones (2002), El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003) and Alicia en el país de las maravillas (2010).
He has made four films with Helena Bonham Carter: Charlie y la fábrica de chocolate(2005), La novia cadáver (2005), Alicia en el país de las maravillas (2010) and Sombras tenebrosas (2012).
He made four films with Patrick Troughton: Hamlet (1948), La Medusa (1964), Las cicatrices de Drácula (1970), and Frankenstein y el monstruo del infierno (1974). Coincidentally, Peter Cushing appeared in all of them except Scars of Dracula.
He played Count Dracula in ten films: Drácula (1958), Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas(1966), Drácula vuelve de la tumba (1968), El conde Drácula (1970), One More Time(1970), El poder de la sangre de Drácula (1970), Las cicatrices de Drácula (1970), Drácula 73 (1972), Los ritos satánicos de Drácula (1973) and Dracula padre e hijo(1976).
He worked with Klaus Kinski in Das Geheimnis der gelben Narzissen (1961), Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee (1962), Circus of Fear (1966), Cinco dragones de oro (1967) and El conde Drácula (1970) and his daughter Nastassja Kinski in La monja poseída (1976).
He starred in two Hammer adaptations of novels by Dennis Wheatley: La novia del diablo(1968) and La monja poseída (1976).
He has two roles in common with Bela Lugosi: (1) Lugosi played Count Dracula in Drácula(1931) and Abbott y Costello contra los fantasmas (1948) while Lee played him in ten films from Drácula (1958) to Dracula padre e hijo (1976) and (2) Lugosi played Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein y el Hombre Lobo (1943) while Lee played him in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957).
He has three roles in common with Lon Chaney Jr.: (1) Chaney played Frankenstein's Monster in El fantasma de Frankenstein (1942) while Lee played him in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), (2) Chaney played Kharis the Mummy in La tumba de la momia(1942), El fantasma de la momia (1944) and La maldición de la momia (1944) while Lee played him in La momia (1959) and (3) Chaney played Count Dracula in El hijo de Drácula(1943) while Lee played him in ten films from Drácula (1958) to Dracula padre e hijo(1976).
He appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: Hamlet (1948) and El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003). He is the only actor to appear in two films which were released more than 50 years apart and both won Best Picture.
He has appeared in three films with Lee Pace: La víctima perfecta (2011), El Hobbit: Un viaje inesperado (2012) and El Hobbit: La batalla de los cinco ejércitos (2014).
He has two roles in common with Frank Langella, Richard Roxburgh and Anthony D.P. Mann: (1) Lee played Count Dracula in ten films from Drácula (1958) to Dracula padre e hijo (1976), Langella played him in Dracula (1979), Roxburgh played him in Van Helsing(2004) and Mann played him in Canucula! (Dracula in Canada) (2008) and Terror of Dracula (2012) and (2) Lee played Sherlock Holmes in El collar de la muerte (1962), Sherlock Holmes y la prima donna (1991) and Incidente en las Cataratas Victoria (1992), Langella played him in Standing Room Only: Sherlock Holmes (1981), Roxburgh played him in The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002) and Mann played him in Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow Watchers (2011).
Before he was persuaded to return as Count Dracula in Las cicatrices de Drácula (1970), John Forbes-Robertson was considered for the role. Forbes-Robertson later played the character in Kung Fu contra los siete vampiros de oro (1974), making him the only actor other than Lee to play Dracula in the Hammer "Dracula" film series.
He made four films with Charlton Heston: Asesinato de Julio César (1970), Los tres mosqueteros (Los diamantes de la reina) (1973), Los cuatro mosqueteros (La venganza de Milady) (1974) and La isla del tesoro (1990).
He made six films with Michael Goodliffe: El hidalgo de los mares: Capitan Horacio Hornblower (1951), La batalla del Río de la Plata (1956), Fortune Is a Woman (1957), La Medusa (1964), El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974) and La monja poseída (1976).
He has two roles in common with Tom Baker: (1) Lee played Sherlock Holmes in El collar de la muerte (1962), Sherlock Holmes y la prima donna (1991) and Incidente en las Cataratas Victoria (1992) while Baker played him in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1982) and (2) Lee played Grigory Rasputin in Rasputín (1966) while Baker played him in Nicolás y Alejandra (1971).
He made six films with Desmond Llewelyn: Hamlet (1948), They Were Not Divided(1950), Pasillos de sangre (1958), The Pirates of Blood River (1962) and El hombre de la pistola de oro (1974).
He made cameo appearances in the final instalments of two prequel trilogies: Star Wars: Episodio III - La venganza de los Sith (2005) and El Hobbit: La batalla de los cinco ejércitos (2014).
His voice in the Italian versions of El señor de los anillos: La comunidad del anillo (2001), El señor de los anillos: Las dos torres (2002), El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey(2003) and Star Wars: Episodio III - La venganza de los Sith (2005) was dubbed by Omero Antonutti.
He was killed by Francis Matthews in both Drácula, príncipe de las tinieblas (1966) and Rasputín (1966).
He was offered the role of Justinian in The Viking Queen (1967) but he turned it down. Don Murray was eventually cast.
He made ten films with Michael Gough: Matrimonio de estado (1948), Emboscada nocturna (1957), Drácula (1958), Doctor Terror (1965), La maldición de la calavera(1965), La maldición del Altar Rojo (1968), Asesinato de Julio César (1970), Sleepy Hollow (1999), La novia cadáver (2005) and Alicia en el país de las maravillas (2010).
He has two roles in common with his La novia cadáver (2005) co-star Richard E. Grant: (1) Lee played Sherlock Holmes in El collar de la muerte (1962), Sherlock Holmes y la prima donna (1991) and Incidente en las Cataratas Victoria (1992) while Grant played him in The Other Side (1992) and (2) Lee played Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in La vida privada de Sherlock Holmes (1970) while Grant played him in Sherlock (2002).
He played Frankenstein's Monster in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957) while his niece Harriet Walter played Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of "Frankenstein" author Mary Shelley, in Frankenstein: Birth of a Monster (2003).
He has two roles in common with his Evil Stalks This House (1981) co-star Jack Palance: (1) Lee played Count Dracula in ten films from Drácula (1958) to Dracula padre e hijo(1976) while Palance played him in Dracula (1974) and (2) Palance played Dr. Edward Hyde / Mr. Henry Jekyll in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968) while Lee played renamed versions of the character(s), Dr. Charles Marlowe and Mr. Edward Blake, in El monstruo (1971).
He appeared in six films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Hamlet (1948), Moulin Rouge (1952), El señor de los anillos: La comunidad del anillo (2001), El señor de los anillos: Las dos torres (2002), El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003) and La invención de Hugo (2011). Of those, Hamlet (1948) and El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003) are winners in the category.
According to the Multimedia Encyclopedia "Cinemania 95", he died on March 31, 1993. But he was alive in that time.
As he played a Bond villain, he has worked with the most fellow Bond villain actors in films: Robert Shaw, Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas, Charles Gray, Curd Jürgens, Michael Lonsdale, Julian Glover, Sean Bean, Christopher Walken etc.
With his death on June 7, 2015, Patrick Macnee is the last surviving cast member of Hamlet (1948).
His date of death, June 7, is also the birthday of Liam Neeson, who played his apprentice Qui-Gon Jinn in the Star Wars films.
He died only one day after his El hidalgo de los mares: Capitan Horacio Hornblower(1951), Asesinato de Julio César (1970) and La isla del tesoro (1990) co-star Richard Johnson.
Personal Quotes
I stopped appearing as Dracula in 1972 because in my opinion the presentation of the character had deteriorated to such an extent, particularly bringing him into the contemporary day and age, that it really no longer had any meaning.
Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff didn't like the word "horror". They, like I, went for the French description: "the theatre of the fantastique".
There are many vampires in the world today - you only have to think of the film business.
In Britain, any degree of success is met with envy and resentment.
(on his friendship with Peter Cushing) I don't want to sound gloomy, but, at some point of your lives, every one of you will notice that you have in your life one person, one friend whom you love and care for very much. That person is so close to you that you are able to share some things only with him. For example, you can call that friend, and from the very first maniacal laugh or some other joke you will know who is at the other end of that line. We used to do that with him so often. And then when that person is gone, there will be nothing like that in your life ever again.
[on doing Military Intelligence in World War II] When people say to me, you know, were you in this? Were you in that? Did you work in this? Did you work in that? I always used to say "Can you keep a secret?". And they would say "Yes, yes" and I would say "So can I".
Some of the films I've been in I regret making. I got conned into making these pictures in almost every case by people who lied to me. Some years ago, I got a call from my producers saying that they were sending me a script and that five very distinguished American actors were also going to be in the film. Actors like José Ferrer, Dean Jaggerand John Carradine. So I thought, "Well, that's alright by me." But it turned out it was a complete lie. Appropriately, the film was called El último día del mundo (1977).
I've seen many men die right in front of me - so many in fact that I've become almost hardened to it. Having seen the worst that human beings can do to each other, the results of torture, mutilation and seeing someone blown to pieces by a bomb, you develop a kind of shell. But you had to. You had to. Otherwise, we would never have won.
When you're involved in a war it's the old saying "If your name's written on the bullet, there's nothing you can do about it." So you just banished it from your mind. Of course I was scared on some occasions and anyone who says they aren't scared during an operation probably isn't telling the truth. I know about six people who had no fear. Literally none. Whether that was due to a lack of imagination or because they'd conquered it, I don't know. In fact, one was Iain Duncan Smith's father, who was one of my closest friends. But during a war, people are taught to kill and they have the blessings of the authorities to do so, so if it's your life or somebody else's, you want to be quite sure it's not yours.
[on the Rhapsody DVD documentary special edition of "The Dark Secret"] One should try anything he can in his career, except folkdance and incest.
[Criticizing Hollywood's obsession with youth]: The problem today, and I think it's a very dangerous one for the people concerned, is that there are quite large numbers of very young men and women from 18 to 30, and they are playing very large parts in huge films and they simply, through no fault of their own, don't have the background and the experience and the knowledge to pull if off. And it's dangerous for them because if they are in one failure after another, sooner or later people are going to say, "Well, he may have a pretty face but he's not bringing the public in." So many of these good-looking - sometimes even pretty - boys and girls are getting these good roles and it's not fair on them. At some point, it's going to catch up.
In my opinion--and I think I know as much if not more about Bond than anyone, particularly about the characters on whom [Ian Fleming] told me Bond was based--Pierce Brosnan was by far the best and closest to the character.
I've always acknowledged my debt to Hammer. I've always said I'm very grateful to them. They gave me this great opportunity, made me a well-known face all over the world for which I am profoundly grateful.
(on the technology used to film Star Wars: Episodio III - La venganza de los Sith (2005)): The advances have been phenomenal. There is a monitor on the camera there that is static, a monitor on the crane, and all these monitors scattered all over the place. What he's seeing is what you will see when you see the movie.
I was once asked what I thought was the most disquieting thing you could see on the screen and I said, "An open door."
Acting is like a snowstorm or perhaps a large empty vacuum. I'm not deluded by the fact that I'm getting all these offers for work, I'm very happy about it, but I know also that there is the other side and who knows, next year, they may not offer me anything. You never know.
I think acting is a mixture of instinct, imagination and inventiveness. All you can learn as an actor is basic technique.
[on how he was cast as the monster in La maldición de Frankenstein (1957)] I was asked to play the creature chiefly because of my size and height which had effectively kept me out of many pictures I might have appeared in during the preceding ten years. Most British stars flatly refused to have me anywhere near them in a film, because I was easily the tallest man around.
[on Peter Cushing] He really was the most gentle and generous of men. I have often said he died because he was too good for this world.
(on Vincent Price and Peter Cushing) They were both grand masters of their art but more importantly as human beings... wonderful people, wonderful actors and I miss them very very much.
Anthony Hopkins used to say, "I don't play villains, I play people," and it's a quote I use all the time. There's not much attractive about Hannibal Lecter though, although he's obviously charming and there's a side to him that's like Scaramanga (a Bond villain played by Lee), although far, far worse. He was quite stomach-churning.
(2003) I vote Conservative, and I think Michael Howard is the ideal person to lead the party. When the last election was won by Labour, I said to my wife, "The man we need is Michael Howard", and I've said it ever since. He is an honourable man and his power lies in the fact that he is a splendid debater. Ann Widdecombe's comment (that Howard had "something of the night" about him) is meaningless, as far as I'm concerned.
I will play no more monsters. Dracula is different; he is such an exciting person.
A real actor has to have an awful lot of imagination, and I do have a great deal.
You can never be a proper actor without good instincts.
I would rather have been an opera singer than anything else.
I prefer to watch the old movies. The film stars of today, in my opinion, don't compare with their predecessors. The best are very good, but the last giant of cinema, I think, was Bette Davis. One actor I admire, who could become a giant, is Johnny Depp. He has elements that other actors don't possess.
I think that - apart from the fields of science and medicine - we live in an age of decline. Look at the world. There is decline in morals, ideals, manners, respect, truthfulness: just about everything, in fact.
[on Johnny Depp's hints at retiring from acting] Johnny is a star - and that's not a term I ever use lightly. There are not a lot of them around today. It makes me sad that such a genuinely talented person is considering giving it all up.
[from an interview in 2011] Please don't describe me as a "horror legend." I moved on from that.
I hate being idle. As dear Boris [Boris Karloff] used to say, when I die I want to die with my boots on.
"Good" people ... being persistently noble can become rather uninteresting. There is a dark side in all of us. And for us "bad" people, the bad side dominates. I think there is a great sadness in villains, and I have tried to put that across. We cannot stop ourselves doing what we are doing.
When the Second World War finished I was 23 and already I had seen enough horror to last me a lifetime. I'd seen dreadful, dreadful things, without saying a word. Seeing horror depicted on film doesn't affect me much.
To be a legend, you've either got to be dead or excessively old.
Of course, you can be ... disappointed at times. I've done movies which are remarkably horrid. I've been wildly miscast in others. I've given some truly lackluster performances in still others. But, it's all part of your training.
One day, I hope somebody will sum up my career thus: "He was different." That would satisfy me.
It doesn't bother me to be remembered as Dracula. Why should it? What does bother me is when people say, "Ah yes, there goes Dracula," or "There goes the horror king." It simply isn't true. I'm quite annoyed when people don't acknowledge that I've done anything else.
Such is the power of the screen that people are sometimes apt to confuse the public image with the private individual. When I meet people socially, I'm occasionally greeted with reactions along the lines of "You mean you read books? You enjoy music? You play golf?" It's very strange. People expect me to behave off-screen as I do on. Of course, they don't expect to find me slaughtering people in all directions, but, for instance, their reaction is "I don't believe it! You're an actor! You're not supposed to sing!" And most people expect me to behave in a certain way socially. Children are the shrewdest of my fans. No child has ever drawn back from me in real life. They sense that my roles are fairy tales, morality plays.
If you're playing a heroic character, it's very hard not to make him a total bore. But, with a villainous character, there are many, many levels in which you can present him. He can be amusing. He can be lonely. He can be mad, childish, naive, futuristic. You can't play heroes like that. It's impossible. You just can't imbue them with all those characteristics. But, when you toy with the dark side of the soul, imagination comes into the forefront. You can enjoy it more and, hence, communicate that joy to the audience.
[from a 1983 magazine interview] Quite frankly, I'm grateful to Dracula. If people today remember me in the role and still enjoy it, I'm flattered. If, through some strange twist of fate, I was able to take a character some 25 years ago and create an impact where by I suddenly became known throughout the world, how can I complain?
Most people find my villains memorable because I try to make them as unconventional as possible. They are not overt monsters. It's easy to play a "heavy" straight down the middle, 100%, but it's boring. I don't think I've ever played a villain who didn't have some unusual, humanizing trait. When I look back at my men with the black hats, they've always had something else going for them, whether it be a sardonic sense of humor or a feeling of desolation. I always try to throw as many curves the audience's way as possible. That's probably why people enjoy my villainy.
I try to describe acting as a combination of the three D's and the three I's. Discipline, dedication, devotion. Imagination, instinct, intelligence. Even if all my films haven't pleased everybody, I'd like people to realize that I've always given each film my all. I would like to think that I've shown integrity and dedication in every one of my roles. I always do my best and, you know, I really do love what I do.
Whenever I take a role, I try to find an element in the character which appeals to me and then go to work. Occasionally, you have doubts about how the finished film will look after it's been edited, but that's a chance you always take. I play every part for what it's worth -- for it's merits, no matter how big or small. What's that old cliché? "There are no small roles, only small actors." It's true.
People sometimes come up to me, and they say, 'I've seen all your films, Mr Lee,' and I say, 'Oh no you haven't'.
(Gifs and photos: source_Tumblr and google) birthdays
