Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (May 27, 1922 – June 7, 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimately playing the role nine times. His other film roles include Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Count Dooku in several Star Wars films (2002–2008), and Saruman in both the Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and the Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014).
Lee was knighted for services to drama and charity in 2009, received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011, and received the BFI Fellowship in 2013. He credited three films for making his name as an actor, A Tale of Two Cities (1958), in which he played the villainous marquis, and two horror films, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), and Dracula (1958). He considered his best performance to be that of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah (1998), and his best film to be the British cult film The Wicker Man (1973). He frequently appeared opposite his friend Peter Cushing in 24 films, and late in his career had roles in five Tim Burton films.
Prior to his acting career, Lee served in the Royal Air Force as an intelligence officer, attached to the No. 260 Squadron RAF as a liaison officer for the Special Operations Executive. Following his World War II service he retired from the RAF in 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant.
Known as an actor with a deep, strong voice, Lee also sang, recorded opera and musical pieces between 1986 and 1998, and the symphonic metal album Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross in 2010, after having worked with several metal bands since 2005. The heavy metal follow-up Charlemagne: The Omens of Death was released in 2013 on Lee's 91st birthday. He was honored with the "Spirit of Hammer" award at the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards ceremony.
Filmography with Hammer[]
- The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
- Dracula (1958)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
- The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
- The Mummy (1959)
- The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)
- The Terror of the Tongs (1961)
- Taste of Fear (1961)
- The Pirates of Blood River (1962)
- The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964)
- The Gorgon (1964)
- She (1965)
- Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
- Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966)
- The Devil Rides Out (1968)
- Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
- Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
- Scars of Dracula (1970)
- Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
- The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
- To the Devil...a Daughter (1976)
- The Resident (2011)
Other Notable Filmography[]
- Hamlet (1948)
- The Crimson Pirate (1952)
- Moulin Rouge (1952)
- Alexander the Great (1956)
- A Tale of Two Cities (1958)
- Corridors of Blood (1958)
- The Treasure of San Teresa (1959)
- Uncle Was a Vampire (1959)
- Too Hot to Handle (1960)
- Beat Girl (1960)
- City of the Dead (1960)
- The Hands of Orlac (1960)
- Taste of Fear (1961)
- The Devil's Daffodil (1961)
- Hercules in the Haunted World (1961)
- The Devil's Agent (1962)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
- Challenge the Devil (1963)
- The Virgin of Nuremberg (1963)
- The Whip and the Body (1963)
- Terror in the Crypt (1964)
- Castle of the Living Dead (1964)
- Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
- The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)
- The Skull (1965)
- Ten Little Indians (1965)
- Circus of Fear (1966)
- The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)
- Five Golden Dragons (1967)
- The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967)
- Night of the Big Heat (1967)
- Theatre of Death (1967)
- The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967)
- The Face of Eve (1968)
- The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968)
- Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)
- The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)
- The Oblong Box (1969)
- The Magic Christian (1969)
- Scream and Scream Again (1970)
- Eugenie… The Story of Her Journey into Perversion (1970)
- The Bloody Judge (1970)
- Count Dracula (1970)
- Julius Caesar (1970)
- One More Time (1970)
- The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
- The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
- Cuadecuc, vampir (1971)
- I, Monster (1971)
- Horror Express (1972)
- The Creeping Flesh (1973)
- The Wicker Man (1973)
- The Three Musketeers (1973)
- The Four Musketeers (1974)
- The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
- Return from Witch Mountain (1978)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)