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Christopher Lee

, Actor
Christopher Lee
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  • Born: 27 May 1922
  • Birthplace: London, England
  • Best Known As: Saruman in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy

Name at birth: Christopher Frank Caradini Lee

After a long and distinguished career as one of the biggest movie stars of horror and fantasy, Christopher Lee is now known to film audiences as Saruman the White in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and as Darth Tyranus in the Star Wars epics Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). Lee has been making movies since 1947, and over the years he has played mostly villains and monsters, thanks in part to a long association with the United Kingdom's Hammer Films. His remarkable filmography includes more than 250 films, including: Dracula (1958); The Mummy (1959); The Hands of Orlac (1961); The Gorgon (1964); The Face of Fu Manchu (1962); The Devil Rides Out (1968); The Wicker Man (1973); The Three Musketeers (1973, co-starring Faye Dunaway); The Man With The Golden Gun (1974, with Roger Moore); Airport '77 (1977, starring Jack Lemmon); and Sleepy Hollow (1999, with Johnny Depp).

Lee made nearly two dozen movies with his friend and fellow horror star Peter Cushing... In 1977 he published his autobiography, Tall, Dark and Gruesome.

 
 
Actor:

Christopher Lee

  • Born: May 27, 1922 in Belgravia, London, England, UK
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '50s-'90s
  • Major Genres: Horror, Drama
  • Career Highlights: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Devil Rides Out, The Hound of the Baskervilles
  • First Major Screen Credit: Moulin Rouge (1952)

Biography

After several years in secondary film roles, the skeletal, menacing Christopher Lee achieved horror-flick stardom as the Monster in 1958's The Curse of Frankenstein, the second of his 21 Hammer Studios films. Contrary to popular belief, Lee and Peter Cushing did not first appear together in The Curse of Frankenstein. In Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), in which Cushing plays the minor role of Osric, Lee appears as the cadaverous candle-bearer in the "frighted with false fires" scene, one of his first film roles. In 1958, Lee made his inaugural appearance as "the Count" in The Horror of Dracula, with Cushing as Van Helsing. It would remain the favorite of Lee's Dracula films; the actor later noted that he was grateful to be allowed to convey "the sadness of the character. The terrible sentence, the doom of immortality...."

Three years after Curse, Lee added another legendary figure to his gallery of characters: Sherlock Holmes, the protagonist of Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes. With the release eight years later of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Lee became the first actor ever to portray both Holmes and Holmes' brother, Mycroft, onscreen. Other Lee roles of note include the title characters in 1959's The Mummy and the Fu Manchu series of the '60s, and the villainous Scaramanga in the 1974 James Bond effort The Man With the Golden Gun. In one brilliant casting coup, the actor was co-starred with fellow movie bogeymen Cushing, Vincent Price, and John Carradine in the otherwise unmemorable House of Long Shadows (1982). Established as a legend in his own right, Lee continued working steadily throughout the '80s and '90s, appearing in films ranging from Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) to Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999).

In 2001, after appearing in nearly 300 film and television productions and being listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the international star with the most screen credits to his name, the 79-year-old actor undertook the role of Saruman, chief of all wizards, in director Peter Jackson's eagerly anticipated screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Thought by many to be the millennial predecessor to George Lucas' Star Wars franchise, audiences thrilled to the wondrous battle between Saruman and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) atop the wizard's ominous tower, though Lee didn't play favorites between the franchises when Lucas shot back with the continuing saga of Anakin Skywalker's journey to the dark side in mid-2002. Wielding a lightsaber against one of the most powerful adversaries in the Star Wars canon, Lee proved that even at 80 he still had what it takes to be a compelling and demanding screen presence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

 
Filmography: Christopher Lee

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones

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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

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The Mummy

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In the Beginning

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Gormenghast

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Tale of the Mummy

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Sleepy Hollow

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Ivanhoe

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The Stupids

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Moses

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A Century of Science Fiction

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Strictly Supernatural: Seance

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100 Years of Horror

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Police Academy: Mission to Moscow

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Funny Man

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Errol Flynn: Portrait of a Swashbuckler

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Detonator

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Double Vision

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Innocent Blood

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Journey of Honor

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Sherlock Holmes and the Incident at Victoria Falls

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Curse 3: Blood Sacrifice

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Gremlins 2: The New Batch

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Honeymoon Academy

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The Rainbow Thief

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Murder Story

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The Return of the Musketeers

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Treasure Island

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Jocks

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Mio in the Land of Faraway

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The Girl

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Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf

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The Far Pavilions

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The Rosebud Beach Hotel

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The Return of Captain Invincible

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House of the Long Shadows

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The Last Unicorn

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Desperate Moves

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An Eye for an Eye

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Bear Island

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The Serial

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1941

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Captain America

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Jaguar Lives!

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Nutcracker Fantasy

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Alien Encounter

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Circle of Iron

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Return from Witch Mountain

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Caravans

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Airport '77

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The End of the World

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Der Flüsternde Tod

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To the Devil, a Daughter

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Dracula Père et Fils

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The Four Musketeers

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Killer Force

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The Man with the Golden Gun

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The Wicker Man

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Dark Places

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The Three Musketeers

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Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride

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The Creeping Flesh

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The Devil's Undead

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Horror Express

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Dracula A.D. 1972

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Hannie Caulder

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The House That Dripped Blood

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In Search of Dracula

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Strictly Supernatural: Tarot

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Julius Caesar

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The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

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The Scars of Dracula

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Scream and Scream Again

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Taste the Blood of Dracula

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El Conde Dracula

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The Magic Christian

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The Oblong Box

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Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

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The Blood of Fu Manchu

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The Devil Rides Out

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The Vengeance of Fu Manchu

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Theatre of Death

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Castle of the Walking Dead

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Circus of Fear

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The Brides of Fu Manchu

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Dracula - Prince of Darkness

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Rasputin, the Mad Monk

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Dr. Terror's House of Horrors

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The Skull

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The Face of Fu Manchu

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She

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The Gorgon

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The Longest Day

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Scream of Fear

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Beat Girl

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Les Mains D'Orlac

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Horror Hotel

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Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll

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Corridors of Blood

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The Hound of the Baskervilles

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The Mummy

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Too Hot to Handle

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The Horror of Dracula

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A Tale of Two Cities

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The Curse of Frankenstein

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Ill Met by Moonlight

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Moby Dick

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A Private's Progress

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The Crimson Pirate

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Moulin Rouge

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Captain Horatio Hornblower

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Hamlet

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Scott of the Antarctic

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Corridor of Mirrors

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Wikipedia: Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Christopher_Lee.jpg
Lee during a break in filming for The Heavy, June 2007
Birth name Christopher Frank Carandini Lee
Born May 27 1922 (1922--) (age 85)
Flag of EnglandBelgravia, London, England
Years active 1948 - present
Spouse(s) Birgit Kroencke
Official site ChristopherLeeWeb.com

Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE (born May 27, 1922) is an English actor known for his professional longevity and his distinctive basso delivery.

Lee is best known for his portrayals of villains; he became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films. Other notable roles include Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man, Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequel trilogy as well as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Lee's most important role, according to him, was his portrayal of Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah. His most recent film is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where he plays Willy Wonka's candy-hating dentist father.[1] Despite a critically acclaimed career that spans over seven decades, Lee has never been nominated for an Academy Award.

At six feet five inches (195.6cm), Lee is listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest leading actor, a record he shares with Vince Vaughn, just beating Stephen Fry (Wilde) by ½ an inch.[2]

Biography

Early life

Lee was born in Belgravia, London, England in 1922, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Trollope Lee of the 60th King's Royal Rifle Corps, and the Italian Marchesina Estelle Marie Carandini di Sarzano, whose grandfather had been an Italian political refugee who had sought refuge in Australia. Lee's mother was a famous Edwardian beauty who was painted by Sir John Lavery, as well as Oswald Birley and Olive Snell, and was sculpted by Clare Sheridan, a cousin of Winston Churchill.

His parents separated when he was very young and his mother took him and his sister Xandra to Switzerland. Here Lee's family fell upon relatively hard times and there were rumours that he had to work on a fondue stand to make extra cash for his family. After enrolling in Miss Fisher's Academy in Wengen, he played his first villainous role as Rumpelstiltskin. The family returned to London where Christopher attended Wagner's private school. His mother then married Harcourt 'Ingle' Rose, a banker and uncle of the James Bond author Ian Fleming. Lee then attended Wellington College where he won scholarships in classics. He volunteered to fight for the Finnish forces during the Winter War against the Soviet Union in 1939; however, as Lee admits in his autobiography, he and his fellow British volunteers were in Finland only a fortnight and kept well away from the Russian forces the whole time. He went on to serve in the Royal Air Force and intelligence services during World War II. He trained in South Africa as a pilot but eyesight problems forced him to drop out. He eventually ended up in North Africa as Cipher Officer for No. 260 Squadron RAF and was with it through Sicily and Italy. Additionally, he has mentioned serving in Special Operations Executive. Lee retired from the RAF after the end of the War with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

Career as an actor

Christopher Lee in his signature role, as Dracula (1958)
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Christopher Lee in his signature role, as Dracula (1958)

In 1946, Lee gained a seven-year contract with Rank Organisation after discussing his interest in acting with his mother's second cousin Nicolò Carandini, the Italian Ambassador. Carandini related to Lee that performance was in his blood as his great-grandmother Marie Carandini had been a successful opera singer in Australia, a fact of which Lee was unaware. He made his film debut in Terence Young's Gothic romance, Corridor of Mirrors, in 1948.

Signing in as Jonathan Blair at a Spanish riviera In Penny And The Pownall Case (1948)
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Signing in as Jonathan Blair at a Spanish riviera In Penny And The Pownall Case (1948)

In 1948, Lee made an uncredited appearance in Sir