He was also set to star in 9/11 drama The 11th opposite Uma Thurman, which was due to begin filming in November. [132] One of his final performances was the independent Angels in Notting Hill directed by Michael Pakleppa,[133] a fantasy film about an angel trapped in London who falls in love with a human being. "[174] He was honoured by the academy at the 88th Academy Awards on 28 February 2016 in the annual in Memoriam section. Christopher Lee died at the Chelsea and Westminister Hospital on 7 June 2015. Lee's Dracula is a force of nature: red-eyed, blood dripping from fangs, often in the grip of rage. [36] In the winter, his father fell ill with bilateral pneumonia and died on 12 March 1941. [80] CNN listed the performance third in their top 10 British villains, noting his "chilling, sonorous tone. The following is the filmography of English actor Sir Christopher Lee (27 May 1922 - 7 June 2015).. With a career spanning nearly seven decades, Lee was well known for portraying Count Dracula in a sequence of Hammer Horror films, beginning with Dracula (1958). His concern over being typecast in horror films led him to Hollywood and roles in Airport 77 and Steven Spielbergs 1941. Unrest spread and threatened to turn into mutiny. Christopher Lee Death - Obituary, Funeral, Cause Of Death Saddened to learn of the passing of Chris Lee. Legendary actor Christopher Lee, aged 93. [113][140] In 2013, Lee voiced The Earl of Earl's Court in the BBC Radio 4 radio play Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. It's terribly when you lose an old friend, and Christopher Lee was one of my oldest. [113] He provided the voice for the role of Ansem the Wise/DiZ in video games including Kingdom Hearts II. In an AMC documentary on Halloween (1978), John Carpenter states that he offered the role of Samuel Loomis to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, before Donald Pleasence took the role. He's hypnotic, physically powerful, well-spoken, but Lee also understood crucially that an important layer from Bram Stoker's novel had been missing from Lugosi's performance: sexuality. [157] Lee found the meeting of her extended family to be like something from a surrealist Luis Buuel film, and thought they were "killing me with cream. A selection of independent international reviews is given at, Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth, Symphony of Enchanted Lands II The Dark Secret, The Cold Embrace of Fear A Dark Romantic Symphony, Christopher Lee filmography Awards and nominations, Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Commander of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, "Christopher Lee's memorable movie roles: 'I dreamed of being a character actor', "Biography Christopher Lee Official Website", "Christopher Lee honoured by UCD Law Society", "Sir Christopher Lee: 'Crown Prince of Terror' whose work with Hammer Horror led the postwar revival of Gothic fantasy", "Christopher Leen tavannut elokuvapomo: Hnell oli erityinen suhde Suomeen", "Sotakuvien seasta paljastui yllttv lyt: Keskell talvisodan koettelemaa Helsinki seisoo mies, joka saattaa olla nyttelijsuuruus Christopher Lee", "Fangs for the memories: The A-Z of vampires", "Why Christopher Lee's Dracula didn't suck", "The Screening Room's Top 10 British Villains", "The good, the bad and the Christopher Lee", "Sir Christopher Lee interview: 'I'm softer than people think', "Christopher Lee on the making of legends", "Burnt Offerings: The Cult of the Wicker Man 1/4", "The author who inspired The Wicker Man", "Sir Christopher Lee: Vampire, wizard, jedi and heavy metal musician", "All 24 Movies Featuring Christopher Lee & Peter Cushing", "Stuck on you. [72] Meanwhile, Lee co-starred with Bette Davis in the Disney film Return from Witch Mountain (1978). Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE CStJ (27 May 1922 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. Christopher Lee's weight was around 80 kg (176 lbs). [74] Lee's role has no lines, he merely hisses his way through the film. That was the single most important thing I ever did in my career, he said in the 2000 Star-Ledger interview. Category:Christopher Lee - Wikimedia Commons She understood, and they called the wedding off. Christopher Lee, The Real-Life "Most Interesting Man In - Factinate [53] At the end of July 1943, Lee received his second promotion of the year, this time to flying officer. Lee's wife inherited his wealth. Prosecutors argued that Lee, now 27, planned Corwin's death and lured her into a trap. [19] He was a "passable" racquets player and fencer and a competent cricketer but did not do well at the other sports played: hockey, football, rugby and boxing. The English-born actor, who made his name playing Dracula and Frankenstein's. Critic Leonard Maltin described it as "well-made but lacking punch". The New York Times described Lee's performance in the first, The Devil Rides Out (1967), as "suave dignity". Christopher Lee, R.I.P. - Cause of Death, Date of Death, Age and [93][72] Lee wanted to break free of his image as Dracula and take on more interesting acting roles. And I loved him for it. I was furious! So I crept along there heavily disguised in dark glasses and scarf, and found the cinema and there was my name. Christopher Lee Age, Death, Height, Weight, Wife, Net Worth & Bio Christopher Lee Watts (1985-05-16) May 16, 1985(age 37) Spring Lake, North Carolina, U.S. Christopher Lee, the British actor who mastered horror roles before his turns as a James Bond villain and the wizard Saruman in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, died Sunday, June 7, a London. Christopher Lee English actor (1922-2015) . The man who'd foiled mutinies as a member of RAF intelligence. He spent most of his life in the Cotati area where he followed his passion for music. Lee played the leader of a pagan community in his most frequently cited favorite film, The Wicker Man, an offbeat 1973 thriller set on a remote Scottish island. Below is all you want to know regarding the death of Christopher Lee and more! January 1, 2013 Christopher Marvin, drummer turned artist, dies at 60. Christopher Lee - Notednames [179], Lee was the subject of the BBC's This Is Your Life in 1974, where he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. Christopher Lee's age at the time of his death was 93 years, as Christopher Lee was born on the 27th of May, 1922 in Belgravia, London and Christopher Lee died of heart failure on the 7th of June, 2015 in Chelsea, London. [65] He retired from the RAF in 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant. He was the last of his kind - a true legend - who Im fortunate to have called a friend. [146], Lee's first contact with heavy metal music came by singing a duet with Fabio Lione, lead vocalist of the Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire on the single "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream" from their album Symphony of Enchanted Lands II The Dark Secret, although he only performs backing vocals on the album version. "[194] He was awarded the Bram Stoker Gold Medal by the Trinity College Philosophical Society, of which Stoker had been president, and a copy of Collected Ghost Stories of MR James by Trinity College's School of English.[195]. [8], Lee's parents separated when he was four and divorced two years later. Threw a bic pen into a tree in front of me. [66][67] Lee's stepfather served as a captain in the Intelligence Corps, but it is unlikely he had any influence over Lee's military career. 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). They featured, too, in separate instalments of the Star Wars films: Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin in the original film, and Lee decades later as Count Dooku. RIP." His superiors praised his initiative, and he was seconded into the British South Africa Police and was posted as a warder at Salisbury Prison. Actor Christopher Lee dies at 93 | CNN (modern), Sir Christopher Lee has died at the age of 93 after being hospitalised for respiratory problems and heart failure, The trailer of the 1958 film The Horror of Dracula starring Sir Christopher Lee, Sir Christopher Lee explains how he almost became an opera singer, Peter Bradshaws appreciation: An actor of muscular intelligence. [23], His mother separated from Rose, and Lee had to get a job, his sister already working as a secretary for the Church of England Pensions Board. [94] Shaffer read the David Pinner novel Ritual, in which a devout Christian policeman is called to investigate what appears to be the ritual murder of a young girl in a rural village, and decided that it would serve well as the source material for the project. There were lots of people behind me. Biography - A Short Wiki. Making films has never just been a job to me, it is my life, he said. "[72] He starred in two further Dracula films for Hammer in the early 1970s, both of which attempted to bring the character into the modern-day era. It was well-received by the heavy metal community and won him the spirit of metal award at the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden Gods ceremony. [167], Lee was an Anglo-Catholic Christian. [57] While spending some time on leave in Naples, Lee climbed Mount Vesuvius, which erupted three days later. He had moved to England and lived with his family in Cadogan Square, London until his death. [116], In 2011, he appeared in a Hammer film, The Resident, for the first time in 35 years. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report, Christopher Lee dies: Six of his sinister villain roles, R.I.P., Christopher Lee, actor and heavy metal hero, Troubled Thursday: Christopher Lee is among a trio of film legends to die, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Jack Nicholson returns courtside to cheer beloved Lakers to playoff win, Disney neglected it. Lee had previously appeared with Karloff in 1955 in the "At Night, All Cats are Grey" episode of the British television series Colonel March of Scotland Yard. [38] After he had passed his exams in Liverpool, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan meant that he travelled on the Reina del Pacifico to South Africa, then to his posting at Hillside, at Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia. Thinking he should "do something constructive for my keep", he applied to join RAF Intelligence. "[70] Lee liked the idea, and after assuaging his mother's protests by pointing to the successful Carandini performers in Australia (which included his great-grandmother Marie Carandini, who had been a successful opera singer), he met Nicol's friend Filippo Del Giudice, a lawyer-turned-film producer and head of Two Cities Films, part of the Rank Organisation. Leading the tributes online were his Lord of the Rings co-stars Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood, as well as Sir Roger Moore, who played 007 opposite Lee in The Man With The Golden Gun. 260 Squadron RAF as a liaison officer for the Special Operations Executive. Empire magazine's entry for Lee's portrayal of Dracula as the 7th Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time. All of this money was evidently put toward his outstanding expenses and probate (a legal process whereby a will is accepted as a legal document and the executor is given . Lee, "broadly speaking, was expected to know everything. Lee was a producer of the horror film Nothing But the Night (1972), in which he starred. [186], Lee was named 2005's 'most marketable star in the world' in a USA Today newspaper poll, after three of the films he appeared in grossed US$640million. "[84] Lee accepted a similar role in an Italian-French horror picture called Uncle Was a Vampire (1959). Lee was knighted for services to drama and charity in 2009, received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011, and received the BFI Fellowship in 2013. [52] They then moved to Malta, and, after its capture by the British Eighth Army, the Sicilian town of Pachino, before making a permanent base in Agnone Bagni. But they can do what Hannibal Lecter does, if theyre so inclined, people like Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nilsen, and for that reason, I think such films are dangerous.. [78] Karloff and Lee were London neighbours for a time in the mid-1960s.[79]. "[87] The Satanic Rites of Dracula was the last Dracula film in which Lee played the Dracula role, as he felt he had played the part too many times and that the films had deteriorated in quality. He met with screenwriter Anthony Shaffer, and they agreed to work together. Christopher Lee, Legendary Movie Villain and Horror Icon, Dies at 93 [31][33][34] Lee returned to work at United States Lines and found his work more satisfying, feeling that he was contributing. The great, always criminally underrated Sir Christopher Lee has left us. "[152] He explained: "It's light-hearted, joyful and fun At my age, the most important thing for me is to keep active by doing things that I truly enjoy. 260 Squadron RAF as an intelligence officer. The Herald Angels Sing. [7][136] In the late-1950s, Lee was engaged to Countess Henriette Ewa Agnes von Rosen, whom he had met at a nightclub in Stockholm. Shock As Dana Reeve Dies At 44 - CBS News I had to wear a crimson dinner jacket. Lee relocated to Los Angeles in the 1970s after becoming disillusioned with film roles he was being offered in Britain at the time and stated that in Hollywood "I was no longer a horror star. There didn't seem to be anything peculiar or strange. [123] He said he would have liked to have shown Saruman's corruption by Sauron,[124] but was too old to travel to New Zealand, so the production was adjusted to allow him to participate from London. Christopher Lee | Biography, Movies, & Facts | Britannica Christopher Pettiet - Wikipedia He will continue to inspire me and Im sure countless others for generations to come.. The family moved to Fulham, living next door to the actor Eric Maturin. The medical officer hesitantly diagnosed a failure of his optic nerve, and he was told he would never be allowed to fly again. A role as a one-eyed villain in director Richard Lesters The Three Musketeers (1973) led to his being cast as the ruthless assassin Francisco Scaramanga in the 1974 James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun.. Quotes By Christopher Lee Actors Height: 6'5" (196 cm ), 6'5" Males Died on: June 7, 2015 place of death: Chelsea, London, England City: London, England Cause of Death: Respiratory Problems Recommended Lists: British Celebrities British Men Tall Celebrities Tall Male Celebrities Gemini Actors Childhood & Early Life The veteran actor was best known for roles including Dracula and Saruman in the Lord of the Rings franchise. Hosting Saturday Night Live in 1978 was a professional turning point. Recorded shortly before his death, this marks Lee's final appearance on a musical record. A year later, the towering 6-foot-4 actor with a voice that has been described as a solemn, aristocratic baritone gained international fame as the blood-sucking vampire in Hammer Films Horror of Dracula.. Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten said investigators are relying on an autopsy to determine how to proceed with the investigation, whether the death was accidental or not. Born in Los Angeles in 1952, Christopher was the only son of actor Lee Marvin. In an interview in August 2013, Lee said that he was "saddened" to hear his friend Johnny Depp was considering retiring from acting, observing that he himself had no intention of doing that: There are frustrations people who lie to you, people who don't know what they are doing, films that don't turn out the way you had wanted them to so, yes, I do understand [why Depp would consider retiring]. [60] In November 1944, Lee was promoted to flight lieutenant and left the squadron in Iesi to take up a posting at Air Force HQ. In those days that was where the mackintosh brigade watched their films. [89], Lee appeared as the Comte de Rochefort in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973). (1951) as a Spanish captain. [193], In 2011, accompanied by his wife Birgit, and on the 164th anniversary of the birth of Bram Stoker, Lee was honoured with a tribute by University College Dublin, and described his honorary life membership of the UCD Law Society as "in some ways as special as the Oscars. Shaffer had a series of conversations with Hardy, and the two decided that it would be fun to make a horror film centring on "old religion," in sharp contrast to the popular Hammer films of the day.