Christopher Lee

Sir Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee in 2009
Born Christopher Frank Carandini Lee
27 May 1922 (1922-05-27) (age 88)[1]
Belgravia, Westminster, England
Occupation Actor, Singer
Years active 1948–present
Spouse Birgit Kroencke (1961-present)
Website
http://www.christopherleeweb.com/

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ (born 27 May 1922)[1] is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and 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 (1973), Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Count Dooku in the Star Wars series, and Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Lee considers his most important role to have been his portrayal of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah (1998).[2]

Lee has performed roles in 266 films since 1948, and was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2009.

Contents

Early life

Lee was born in Belgravia, Westminster, England, as the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Trollope Lee of the 60th King's Royal Rifle Corps and his wife Contessa Estelle Marie (née Carandini di Sarzano).[3][4] Lee's mother was a famous Edwardian beauty who was painted by Sir John Lavery as well as by Oswald Birley and Olive Snell, and sculpted by Clare F. Sheridan. Lee's maternal great-grandfather was an Italian political refugee.

His parents separated when he was very young, and his mother took him and his sister to Switzerland. After enrolling in Miss Fisher's Academy in Wengen, he played his first villainous role as Rumpelstiltskin. The family returned to London, where Lee attended Wagner's private school. His mother then married Harcourt "Ingle" Rose, a banker and stepcousin of Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels. Lee applied unsuccessfully for a scholarship to Eton although the interview was to prove portentous because of the presence of the noted ghost story author M. R. James. Lee later claimed in his autobiography that James had cut a very impressive figure; sixty years later Lee played the part of M.R. James for the BBC.[5]

"James was at that time nick-named 'Black Mouse', derived in part from his faintly sinister black cape and mortar board, and part from his habit of mewing unexpectedly at recalcitrant pupils. I cannot in all honesty say that at the time I was wholly displeased in failing to secure a scholarship; in many ways it was a relief. But I do know this: few men have created such a profound impression upon me, and I partially attribute my lifelong interest in the occult to my subsequent discovery of the horror stories penned by that most intriguing and intimidating of men."

Instead, Lee attended Wellington College, where he won scholarships in classics.

Involvement in World War II

Lee volunteered to fight for the Finnish forces during the Winter War against the Soviet Union in 1939; however, as he says 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, including serving as an Intelligence officer with the Long Range Desert Group. 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 (including in his audio commentary on the Lord of the Rings DVD) serving in Special Operations Executive. Lee retired from the RAF after the end of the War with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

Early career

In 1946, Lee gained a seven-year contract with the 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, a fact of which Lee was unaware. He made his film debut in Terence Young's Gothic romance Corridor of Mirrors in 1947.

Also in 1947, Lee made an uncredited appearance in Laurence Olivier's film version of Hamlet as a spear carrier (marking his first film with frequent co-star and close friend Peter Cushing, who played Osric). Throughout the next decade, he made nearly 30 films, playing mostly stock action characters.

Lee in City of the Dead (1960) US title: Horror Hotel

Lee's first film for Hammer was The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), in which he played Frankenstein's monster, with Cushing as the Baron. A little later, Lee co-starred with Boris Karloff in the film Corridors of Blood (1958), but Lee's own appearance as Frankenstein's monster also led to his first appearance as the Transylvanian vampire in the 1958 film Dracula (known as Horror of Dracula in the US).

Stories vary as to why Lee did not feature in the 1960 sequel The Brides of Dracula. Some state that Hammer was unwilling to pay Lee his current fee, but most tend to believe that he simply did not wish to be typecast. Lee did, however, return to the role in Hammer's Dracula: Prince of Darkness in 1965. Lee's performance is notable in that he has no lines, merely hissing his way through the film. Again, stories vary as to the reason for this: Lee states he refused to speak the poor dialogue he was given, but screenwriter Jimmy Sangster claims that the script did not contain any lines for the character. This film set the standard for most of the Dracula sequels in the sense that half the film's running time was spent on telling the story of Dracula's resurrection and the character's appearances were brief. Lee has gone on record to state that he was virtually "blackmailed" by Hammer into starring in the subsequent films; unable or unwilling to pay him his going rate, they would resort to reminding him of how many people he would put out of work if he did not take part.

His roles in the films Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1969), and Scars of Dracula (1970) all gave the Count very little to do, but were all commercially successful. Although Lee may not have liked what Hammer was doing with the character, worldwide audiences embraced the films, which are now considered classics of the genre. Lee 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. These were not commercially successful.

Lee's other work for Hammer included The Mummy (1959). This was one of Lee's best performances, despite being able to convey emotion only through his eyes for the majority of the film. Lee also portrayed Rasputin in Rasputin, the Mad Monk (Lee apparently met Rasputin's assassin Felix Yussupov when he was a child) and Sir Henry Baskerville (to Cushing's Sherlock Holmes) in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959). Lee later played Holmes himself in 1962's Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, and returned to Holmes films with Billy Wilder's British-made The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), in which he plays Sherlock's decidedly smarter brother, Mycroft.

He was responsible for bringing acclaimed occult author Dennis Wheatley to Hammer. The company made two films from Wheatley's novels, both starring Lee. The first, The Devil Rides Out (1967), is generally considered to be one of Hammer's crowning achievements. According to Lee, Wheatley was so pleased with it that he offered the actor the film rights to his remaining black magic novels free of charge. However, the second film, To the Devil a Daughter (1976), was fraught with production difficulties and was disowned by its author. Although financially successful, it was Hammer's last horror film and marked the end of Lee's long association with the studio that brought him fame.

Like Cushing, Lee also appeared in horror films for other companies during the 20-year period from 1957 to 1977. Other films in which Lee performed include the series of Fu Manchu films made between 1965 and 1969, in which he starred as the villain in heavy oriental make-up; I, Monster (1971), in which he played Jekyll and Hyde; The Creeping Flesh (1972); and his personal favourite, The Wicker Man (1973), in which he played Lord Summerisle. Lee was attracted to the latter role by screenwriter Anthony Shaffer and apparently gave his services for free, as the budget was so small. Lee also appeared in Eugenie (1970), unaware that it was softcore pornography, as the sex scenes were shot separately.

1970s to present

Since the mid 1970s, Lee has eschewed horror roles almost entirely. Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond spy novels and his stepcousin, had offered him the role of the titular antagonist in the first official Bond film Dr. No. Lee enthusiastically accepted, but the producers had already chosen Joseph Wiseman for the part. In 1974, Lee finally got to play a James Bond villain when he was cast as the deadly assassin Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun.

Because of his filming schedule in Bangkok, film director Ken Russell was unable to sign Lee to play The Specialist in Tommy (1975). That role was eventually given to Jack Nicholson. In an AMC documentary on Halloween, John Carpenter states that he offered the role of Samuel Loomis to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee before Donald Pleasence took the role. Years later, Lee met Carpenter and told him that the biggest regret of his career was not taking the role of Dr. Loomis.

In 1978, Lee surprised many people with his willingness to go along with a joke by appearing as guest host on NBC's Saturday Night Live. In 1979, he played German officer Capt. Wolfgang Von Kleinschmidt in the film 1941 directed by Steven Spielberg.

In 1982, Lee appeared in The Return of Captain Invincible. In this film, Lee plays a fascist who plans to rid America (and afterwards, the world) of all non-whites. Lee also sings on two tracks in the film ("Name Your Poison" and "Mister Midnight"), displaying a fine bass and some fine dance moves to songs written by Richard O'Brien and Richard Hartley (who had written The Rocky Horror Picture Show seven years previously).

Lee made his latest appearances to date as Sherlock Holmes in 1991's Incident at Victoria Falls and 1992's Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady.

In 1994, Lee played the character of the Russian commandant in Police Academy: Mission to Moscow.

In 1998, Lee starred in the role of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of modern Pakistan, in the film Jinnah. While talking about his favorite role in film at a press conference at Brussels Fantasy film festival, he declared that his role in Jinnah was by far his best performance.[6]

Lee was at one point considered for the role of comic book villain/hero Magneto in the screen adaptation of the popular comic book series X-Men but he lost the role to Sir Ian Mckellen.

He has had many television roles, including that of Flay in the BBC television miniseries, based on Mervyn Peake's novels, Gormenghast (2000), and Stefan Wyszyński in the CBS film John Paul the Second (2005). He played Lucas de Beaumanoir, the Grand Master of the Templar Order, in the BBC/A&E co-production of Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1997). He also played a role in the made-for-TV series La Révolution française (1989) in part 2, "Les Annees Terribles", as the executioner, Sanson, who beheaded Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Robespierre and others.

Lee at Forbidden Planet New Oxford Street, signing The Two Towers

Lee starred as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. (In the commentary he states he had a decades-long dream to play Gandalf but that he was now too old and his physical limitations prevented his being considered. The role of Saruman, by contrast, required no horseback riding and much less fighting. Gandalf was given to Ian McKellen and Lee played Saruman.) Lee had met Tolkien once (making him the only person in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy to have done so) and makes a habit of reading the novels at least once a year.[7] In addition, he performed for the album The Lord of the Rings: Songs and Poems by J. R. R. Tolkien in 2003.[8] Lee had his appearance in the third film's theatrical release cut, resulting in a frosty friendship with Peter Jackson. However, the scene was reinstated in the extended edition.

The Lord of the Rings marked the beginning of a major career revival that continued in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), in which he played Count Dooku, a name allegedly chosen to reflect his fame playing Count Dracula. His autobiography states that he did much of the swordplay himself, though a double was required for the more vigorous footwork. His good friend and frequent co-star, Peter Cushing, portrayed the equally icy Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Lee filming The Heavy in Westminster in 2007

According to the Oracle of Bacon website at the University of Virginia, Lee is ranked second (just behind Rod Steiger) as the "Center of the Hollywood Universe" due to his large number of films with a correspondingly large number of different castmates.[9]

In addition to more than a dozen feature films together for Hammer Films, Amicus Productions and other companies, Lee and Peter Cushing both appeared in Hamlet (1948) and Moulin Rouge (1952) albeit in separate scenes; and in separate installments of the Star Wars films, Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin in the original film, Lee years later as Count Dooku. The last project which united them in person was a documentary, Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994), which they jointly narrated. It was the last time they saw each other as Cushing died two months later. While they frequently played off each other as mortal enemies onscreen — Lee's Count Dracula to Cushing's Professor Van Helsing — they were close friends in real life.

Lee appeared on the cover of the 1973 Wings album Band on the Run along with other people, including chat show host Michael Parkinson, movie actor James Coburn, world boxing champion John Conteh and broadcaster Clement Freud.

Lee is one of the favorite actors of Tim Burton and has become a regular in many of Burton's films, having now worked for the director four times since 1999. He had a small role as the Burgomaster in the film Sleepy Hollow. In 2005 Lee then went on to voice the character of Pastor Galswells in Corpse Bride co-directed by Burton and Mike Johnston and play a small role in the Burton's reimagining of the classic Roald Dahl tale Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as Willy Wonka's strict dentist father Dr. Wilbur Wonka.

In 2007, Lee collaborated with Burton on Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street playing the spirit of Sweeney Todd's victims called The Gentleman Ghost alongside Anthony Head, with both singing "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", its reprises and the Epilogue. These songs were recorded, but eventually cut since director Tim Burton felt that the songs were too theatrical for the film. Lee's appearance was completely cut from the film, but Head still has an uncredited one-line cameo.[10][11]

In 2010, Lee marked their fourth collaboration by voicing the Jabberwocky in Burton's adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic book Alice in Wonderland alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway. While it only had a couple of lines, Burton said that he felt Lee to be a good match for the iconic character because he is "an iconic guy".[12] Also in 2009, Lee starred in Stephen Poliakoff's British period drama Glorious 39 with Julie Christie, Bill Nighy, Romola Garai and David Tennant, Academy Award-nominated director Danis Tanović's war film Triage with Colin Farrell and Paz Vega, and also Duncan Ward's comedy Boogie Woogie alongside Amanda Seyfried, Gillian Anderson, Stellan Skarsgård and Joanna Lumley.

2010 is also shaping up to as prolific for Lee, with roles in The Resident alongside Hilary Swank[13] and Season of the Witch starring Nicolas Cage.[14]

He is also reprising his role as Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Tree, adapted and directed by The Wicker Man director Robin Hardy from his 2006 novel Cowboys for Christ.

Lee narrated in late November 2009 the Science+Fiction Festival in Trieste, Italy.[15]

Voice work

With his classically-trained voice, Lee sings on the The Wicker Man soundtrack, performing Paul Giovanni's psych folk composition, "The Tinker of Rye".[16] He also sings the closing credits song of the 1994 horror movie Funny Man.[17] His most notable musical work on film, however, appears in the strange superhero comedy/rock musical The Return of Captain Invincible (1983) in which Lee performs with a song and dance number called "Name Your Poison", written by Richard O'Brien.

Lee reprised his role as Saruman in the video game The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth along with the other actors of the films.

Lee provided the off-camera voice of "U.N. Owen", the mysterious host who brings disparate characters together in Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians (1965). The film was produced by Harry Alan Towers, for whom Lee had worked repeatedly in the 1960s. Even though he is not credited on the film, the voice is unmistakable.

Lee appears on Peter Knight and Bob Johnson's (of Steeleye Span) 1970s concept album The King of Elfland's Daughter. Lee also provided the voices for the roles of DiZ (Ansem the Wise) in the video games Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, but was replaced by veteran voice actor Corey Burton for Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.

He contributed his voice as Death in the animated versions of Terry Pratchett's Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters and reprised the role in the Sky1 live action adaptation The Colour of Magic, taking over the role from the late Ian Richardson.

He is fluent in Italian, French, Spanish and German, and moderately proficient in Swedish, Russian and Greek.[18] He was the original voice of Thor in the German dubs in the Danish 1986 animated movie Valhalla, and of King Haggard in both the English and German dubs of the 1982 animated adaptation of The Last Unicorn.[19][20]

Lee bridged two disparate genres of music by performing a heavy metal variation of the Toreador Song from the opera Carmen with the band Inner Terrestrials.[21] Lee narrated and sang for the Danish musical group The Tolkien Ensemble, taking the role of Treebeard, King Théoden and others in the readings or singing of their respective poems or songs.[22] Lee also appeared as a narrator for Italian symphonic fantasy power metal band Rhapsody of Fire, playing the Wizard King in the latest three albums, Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret, Triumph or Agony and The Frozen Tears of Angels. He narrates several tracks on the albums, as well as singing a duet with lead vocalist Fabio Lione in the single "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream" from the Symphony of Enchanted Lands II album. Lee was the voice of Lucan D'Lere in the trailers for Everquest II.

Some thirty years after playing Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, Lee provided the voice of Scaramanga in the video game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.[23]

In 2005 Lee provided the voice of the Pastor Galswells in The Corpse Bride co-directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnston. He also served as the narrator on The Nightmare Before Christmas's poem written by Tim Burton as well.

In 2007, Lee voiced the transcript of The Children of Húrin, by J. R. R. Tolkien for the audiobook version of the novel.

Lee reprised his role of Count Dooku in the animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars but did not appear in the TV series. Corey Burton takes his place for Count Dooku.

Lee has been signed by Falcon Picture Group to host the syndicated radio series "Mystery Theater", a nightly two-hour program featuring classic radio mystery shows. The program is distributed by Syndication Networks Corporation with a launch date of 2 March 2009.

In the video game adaption of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, although Count Dooku is mainly played by Christopher Lee's audio double Corey Burton, in a cut scene of the game, Christopher Lee reprised his role as Count Dooku, saying the line "Just because there are two of you, do not assume that you have the advantage".

Lee has also recently collaborated again with Tim Burton, this time by voicing the Jabberwocky in Burton's adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic book Alice in Wonderland.

Lee has provided the vocals for a symphonic metal concept album called Charlemagne.[24] It was released on 15 March 2010.[25]

Honours

In 2001, Lee was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II[26] and was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2009 by Prince Charles.[27][28][29] 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$640 million.[30]

Personal life

Lee with his wife, the former Danish model Birgit Kroencke Lee

The Carandinis, Lee's maternal ancestors, were given the right to bear the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Cinemareview cites: "Cardinal Consalvi was Papal Secretary of State at the time of Napoleon and is buried at the Pantheon in Rome next to the painter Raphael. His painting, by Lawrence, hangs in Windsor Castle".[18][31]

Through the Carandinis, Lee claims to be a descendant of Charlemagne.[32]

Lee is a step-cousin of Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond spy novels. It’s thought that some of Lee’s real life experiences may have helped inspired Flemings novels, and Lee was even suggested by Fleming to play James Bond.

He has been married to the Danish model Birgit "Gitte" Kroencke Lee since 1961. They have a daughter named Christina Erika Carandini Lee (b. 23 November 1963).[31] He is also the uncle of the British actress Harriet Walter.[18]

Lee has a longstanding personal interest in the occult, maintaining a library of over 12,000 books which is largely devoted to the topic. This is discussed in his autobiography, Tall, Dark and Gruesome.

Lee is a supporter of the British Conservative Party.[33]

In 1999, Lee confirmed he has lost an inch in height and is now 6' 4" (1.93 m)

Books authored

Filmography

Albums

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 12:49 PM. "Biography - Christopher Lee - Official Website". Christopherleeweb.com. http://christopherleeweb.com/content/biography. Retrieved 2009-08-05. 
  2. ↑ Christopher Lee talks about his favorite role, YouTube video
  3. ↑ Christopher Lee Biography (1922-)
  4. ↑ "Merchant of menace". The Daily Telegraph (London). 19 May 2002. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2002/05/19/do1910.xml. Retrieved 30 April 2010. 
  5. ↑ Christopher Lee playing M.R. James for the BBC in 2000, YouTube video
  6. ↑ "Christopher Lee talks about his favorite role". YouTube. 2007-06-27. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE_1ofnBFos&feature=related. Retrieved 2009-08-05. 
  7. ↑ Peter Jackson. (2002). Cameras in Middle-earth (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Special Extended Edition documentary). [DVD]. New Line Cinema. 
  8. ↑ Lord of the Rings: At Dawn in Rivendell at Amazon
  9. ↑ UVA Computer Science: Who is the Center of the Hollywood Universe?
  10. ↑ The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/05/13/dp1301.xml#head7. 
  11. ↑ Tim Burton — KCRW | 89.9FM
  12. ↑ Salisbury, Mark; Burton, Tim (2010). Alice in Wonderland: A Visual Companion. Disney Editions. pp. 191. ISBN 978-1-4231-2827-8. 
  13. ↑ Hi-Res Look at Hilary Swank in Hammer Films' 'The Resident'
  14. ↑ New Images from 'The Resident', One of Horror Legend Christopher Lee
  15. ↑ Science+Fiction Festival Report: Christopher Lee on Modern Horror Movies
  16. ↑ Stylus magazine website. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
  17. ↑ Steve Anderson. ""Funny Man" DVD Review". http://emol.org/emclub/taxonomy/term/15?page=4. Retrieved 07-04-29. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Extensive biography at Tiscali UK
  19. ↑ IMDB entry for Valhalla
  20. ↑ IMDB entry for The Last Unicorn
  21. ↑ Video clip at christopherleeweb.com
  22. ↑ The Green Man review website. Retrieved 3 June 2006.
  23. ↑ The EA Games website, URL accessed 2 May 2006.
  24. ↑ Christopher Lee is Metal!
  25. ↑ Blabbermouth, URL accessed 1 January 2010.
  26. ↑ British Honours, 16 June 2001. BBC website.
  27. ↑ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59090, p. 1, 13 June 2009.
  28. ↑ Veteran horror actor Lee knighted 13 June 2009. BBC.
  29. ↑ UK Honours List 12 June 2009, BBC.
  30. ↑ In brief: Christopher Lee 'most bankable' star. The Guardian. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Christopher Lee, 'Lord of Misrule'.
  32. ↑ Michaels, Sean (5 January 2010). "Christopher Lee to release 'symphonic metal' album". guardian.co.uk (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/05/christopher-lee-symphonic-metal-album. Retrieved 6 January 2010. 
  33. ↑ djonl wrote: (2009-02-11). "Christopher Lee: You Ask The Questions - Profiles, People". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/christopher-lee-you-ask-the-questions-735506.html. Retrieved 2009-08-05. 
  34. ↑ http://christopherleeweb.com/story/charlemagne-music-samples
  35. ↑ http://www.myspace.com/charlemagnemusical
  36. ↑ Exclusive interview in Nocturnal magazine Issue 8

External links

Notable actors and actresses appearing in Hammer films

Ralph Bates · Peter Cushing · Veronica Carlson · John Carson · Jennifer Daniel · Edward de Souza · Clifford Evans · Suzan Farmer · Michael Gough · Andrew Keir · Duncan Lamont · Christopher Lee · Miles Malleson · Francis Matthews · André Morell · Richard Pasco · Jacqueline Pearce · Ingrid Pitt · Oliver Reed · Michael Ripper · Yvonne Romain · Barbara Shelley · Patrick Troughton · Thorley Walters · Barry Warren · Noel Willman