Not that he wanted to knock horror films, Lee said in a 1988 interview with the Orange County Register. Lee was still a relatively unknown character actor in Britain when he played his first horror role for Hammer Film Productions: the gruesome creature in The Curse of Frankenstein, a 1957 film starring Peter Cushing, who would become Lees frequent co-star. I will always be grateful to Hammer for that. He was 93. [27] He worked as an office clerk for United States Lines, taking care of the mail and running errands. It's not a comedy, but it's got a comic title. He was a direct descendent of the Italian aristocrat Marie Carandini and Robert E. Lee . His appeals were fruitless, and he was left with nothing to do. These were not commercially successful: Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). Spike Lee 's new year is off to a tough start. [158] However, shortly before the wedding, Lee ended the engagement. Christopher Lee Sanders . [64], Lee mentioned that during the war he was attached to special forces, but declined to give details. ', Johnny Depp who worked with Lee in five Tim Burton films, from Sleepy Hollow in 1999 to Dark Shadows in 2012. "[163] He subsequently moved back to England and lived with his family in Cadogan Square in west London until his death. [89], Lee appeared as the Comte de Rochefort in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973). [179], Lee was the subject of the BBC's This Is Your Life in 1974, where he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. [57] While spending some time on leave in Naples, Lee climbed Mount Vesuvius, which erupted three days later. [130] He appeared in a web exclusive, reading an excerpt from the Sherlock Holmes short story The Final Problem. In 1956, the success of the Hammer films kick-started my career. The Story Behind TIME's Cover of D.C. Officer Michael Fanone A death certificate was not on the forefront of Chino Scott-Chung's mind as he waited for the ashes of his best friend, Christopher Lee. He did most of the swordplay himself, though a stunt double was required for the long shots with more vigorous footwork. Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE CStJ (27 May 1922 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. Lee had met him some years before while filming Tales of Hans Anderson, where he received his blessing. Spike Lee's Brother Christopher Lee Dies at 55 | News | BET [59] After the battle, the squadron moved to airfields just outside Rome, and Lee visited the city, where he met his mother's cousin, Nicol Carandini, who had fought in the Italian resistance movement. [65] Of his time with the organisation, Lee said: "We were given dossiers of what they'd done and told to find them, interrogate them as much as we could and hand them over to the appropriate authority ". Christopher Pettiet - Wikipedia [189] In 2010, Lee received the Spirit of Hammer award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, for his contribution to the metal genre. "[153], On the self-titled debut album by Hollywood Vampires, a supergroup consisting of Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, Lee is featured as a narrator in the track "The Last Vampire." He will continue to inspire me and Im sure countless others for generations to come.. [76], Lee's first film for Hammer was The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), in which he played Frankenstein's monster, with Peter Cushing as Baron Victor Frankenstein. [71] Like other students at Rank's "Charm School," Lee had difficulty finding work. "[158] Finally, Lee had to have the permission of the King of Sweden to marry. He quickly found himself among a group of amateurs under contract with the Rank Organization, which provided acting training in the film companys so-called Charm School., Lee made his film debut in 1948 with a one-line bit part in director Terence Youngs Corridor of Mirrors.. [86], 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. BBC Films, which worked with Lee on war 2009 thriller Glorious 69, posted: "Oh goodness, another incredibly sad death today. Christopher was 55 years old. I'm realistic about the amount of work I can get at my age, but I take what I can, even voice-overs and narration. [65] He retired from the RAF in 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant. Lee, who died on 7 June in a London hospital aged 93, has been widely celebrated as a cinematic icon but the actor - who spoke several languages - was also a member of the SAS during the . [164], Lee was known for his imposing height:[165] he was 6ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall. "[151] His fourth EP and third annual Christmas release came in December 2014, as he put out "Darkest Carols, Faithful Sing," a playful take on "Hark! Name in native language: Christopher Lee; Date of birth: 27 May 1922 Belgravia Christopher Frank Carandini Lee: Date of death: 7 June 2015 London: Manner of death: natural causes; Cause of death: heart failure; Work period (start) 1948; Work period (end) 2015; Country of . ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, Review: In Guardians 3, ultra-weird superhero fun doesnt have to be Rocket science, The new Tom Cruise just might be a London office worker with a taste for risk, Review: The natural horror of the biological Clock, and more movies to stream, Jonathan Majors accuser gets full temporary protection order ahead of court date, Review: A deep-cut masterwork, De Humani Corporis Fabrica is already one of 2023s best movies. [167], Lee was an Anglo-Catholic Christian. A classical scholar in Greek and Latin at Wellington College, Lee worked as a shipping company office boy and messenger in London before serving in the Royal Air Force and spending time as an intelligence officer during World War II. Christopher Lee Obituary (2021) - East Lansing, IL - MLive.com Lee also became a regular collaborator with Tim Burton, who cast him in Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows. James. [104][105][106] In addition, he performed for The Tolkien Ensemble's album At Dawn in Rivendell in 2003. [113], Lee reprised his role as Saruman in the video game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth. PM: Saddened to hear of Sir Christopher Lee's death, a titan of Golden Age of Cinema & distinguished WW2 veteran who'll be greatly missed, Really sad to hear about the death of Christopher Lee, one of the greatest British actors and a master of the macabre pic.twitter.com/q5UUhc7xId. I always ask myself, "Well, what else could I do?" Actor Sir Christopher Lee has passed away aged 93 Loaded Progress 0:00 / 2:25 Video Quality 576p 540p 360p 268p Jackson admitted that he hadn't. 'Well, I have,' Lee continued, 'and I know. He was also set to star in 9/11 drama The 11th opposite Uma Thurman, which was due to begin filming in November. [9] During this time, his mother took his sister and him to Wengen in Switzerland. Realising that he had no inclination to follow his father into the Army, Lee decided to join up while he still had some choice of service, and volunteered for the Royal Air Force. I flew out to Spain for one day's work playing the part of a narrator. That was the single most important thing I ever did in my career, he said in the 2000 Star-Ledger interview. [85], Lee returned to the role of Dracula in Hammer's Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1965). As a Grammy Award winning drummer, he collaborated with over 14 bands before moving to Santa Barbara in 2005. [15] He continued acting in school plays, though "the laurels deservedly went to Patrick Macnee. The role of Saruman, unlike that of Gandalf, required no horse riding and far less fighting. Hosting Saturday Night Live in 1978 was a professional turning point. [168] After the Second World War, he was a server at St Stephen's church in South Kensington, London, during T.S. Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE, CStJ (27 May 1922 - 7 June 2015) was an English actor. The Herald Angels Sing. "[48] The Allied advance continued into Libya, through Tobruk and Benghazi to the Marble Arch and then through El Agheila, Khoms and Tripoli, with the squadron averaging five missions a day. I pleaded with Hammer to let me use some of the lines that Bram Stoker had written. [180] In 1994, for his influence on the horror genre, he received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. And I would say, "Forget it! In 1961, Lee married Danish model Birgit Gitte Kroencke, with whom he had a daughter, Christina. Sir Christopher Lee, the veteran actor and star of many of the world's biggest film franchises, has died aged 93. Here's Who Inherited Christopher Lee's Money After He Died (1951) as a Spanish captain. Christopher Lee - Bio, Net Worth, Story, Death Cause, Wife, Family His superiors praised his initiative, and he was seconded into the British South Africa Police and was posted as a warder at Salisbury Prison. Critic Leonard Maltin described it as "well-made but lacking punch". Actor Christopher Lee with his wife, Brigitta, in 2006. [156] Her father, Count Fritz von Rosen, proved demanding, getting them to delay the wedding for a year, asking his London-based friends to interview Lee, hiring private detectives to investigate him, and asking Lee to provide him with references, which Lee obtained from Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Boulting, and Joe Jackson. Farewell. In an interview in 2013, Lee spoke about his love of acting. Christopher Lee: Celebrities React to Christopher Lee's Death | Time A statement e-mailed to the Reuters news agency from Mr. Lee's agent . [17] His poor maths skills meant that he was placed eleventh, and thus missed out on being a King's Scholar by one place. [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. I think it is fatuous. Christopher Lee. "The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead" p. 247. [12] Fleming, author of the James Bond novels, thus became Lee's step-cousin. [108] 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 the villainous Count Dooku. Visible Ink Press. His concern over being typecast in horror films led him to Hollywood and roles in Airport 77 and Steven Spielbergs 1941. p. 79. The man who'd volunteered to fight in the Winter War in Finland at the outset of World War II. Lee considers this film to be the reason he stopped being typecast: "I've never been typecast since. [54] After the Sicilian campaign was over, Lee came down with malaria for the sixth time in under a year, and was flown to a hospital in Carthage for treatment. Empire magazine's entry for Lee's portrayal of Dracula as the 7th Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time. He became known for playing Count Dooku in Star Wars and Saruman in Lord of the Rings. 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 smarter brother, Mycroft. Lee appeared as the on-screen narrator in Jess Franco's Eugenie (1970) as a favour to producer Harry Alan Towers, unaware that it was softcore pornography, as the sex scenes were shot separately. I was furious! Lees most famous role for Hammer was playing Dracula, a role which became one of his most widely recognised, although the actor wasnt pleased with how the character was treated. #legend. He worked with Manowar while they were recording a new version of their first album, Battle Hymns. Lee, by now an expert on Russia, talked them into resuming their duties, which much impressed his commanding officer. Christopher Lee, The Real-Life "Most Interesting Man In - Factinate These included the role Flay in the BBC television miniseries Gormenghast (2000) based on Mervyn Peake's novels. June 11, 2015 10:01 AM EDT. Hammer was an important part of my life, and generally speaking, we all had a lot of fun, he said in a 2001 interview. Erin Corwin death: Christopher Lee found guilty of murder - The Desert Sun [74] He played Charles; the director got around his height by placing him at a table in a nightclub alongside Lois Maxwell, Mavis Villiers, Hugh Latimer and John Penrose. Burton went on to award him with a Bafta fellowship. On October 10, 2004, the actor Christopher Reeve, who became famous for his starring role in four Superman films, dies from heart failure at the age of 52 at a hospital near his home in . His parents separated when he was 4 and divorced two years later. A gentleman and committed advocate for forests deaddeath.com Christopher Lee Death - Obituary, Cause of Death - DeadDeath Christopher Lee Death - Obituary, Funeral, Cause Of Death Saddened to learn of the passing of Chris Lee. Christopher Lee's extraordinary life revealed after his death this week Born in Belgravia, London, in 1922 to a military father and an aristocratic mother, Lees film career started in 1947 with a role in the gothic romance Corridor of Mirrors. Lee had a single line, "a satirical shaft meant to qualify the lead's bravura. The actor never retired from acting and he still has one film yet to be released, the fantasy film Angels in Notting Hill, where he plays a godly figure who looks after the universe. His 2013 single Jingle Hell entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 22, which made him the oldest living artist ever to enter the charts. At 10, he became a boarder at Summer Fields prep school in Oxford, where he acted in school productions with Patrick Macnee, who later gained fame as the star of the British TV series The Avengers.. [72][76] When he arrived at a casting session for the film, "they asked me if I wanted the part, I said yes and that was that. We first met in 1948. Eventually I told them that I wasnt going to play Dracula any more. [28][29], When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Lee had enrolled in a military academy and volunteered to fight for the Finnish Army against the Soviet Union during the Winter War. His death was publicly announced by his wife on 11 June. You were an icon, and a towering human being with stories for days. I don't see the point. Prior to his acting career, Lee served in the Royal Air Force as an intelligence officer, attached to the No. Thinking he should "do something constructive for my keep", he applied to join RAF Intelligence. (1980), a decision he later called "a big mistake. [129] In 2014, he appeared in an episode of the BBC documentary series Timeshift called How to Be Sherlock Holmes: The Many Faces of a Master Detective. An extraordinary man and life lead, Sir Christopher Lee. [69] During lunch with his cousin Nicol Carandini, now the Italian Ambassador to Britain, Lee was detailing his war wounds when Carandini said, "Why don't you become an actor, Christopher? [13] One night, he was introduced to Prince Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, the assassins of Grigori Rasputin, whom Lee was to play many years later. After two weeks in Finland, they returned home. There didn't seem to be anything peculiar or strange. [100], Lee and Peter Cushing appeared together in more than a dozen feature films together for Hammer Films, Amicus Productions, and other companies, as well as in Hamlet (1948) and Moulin Rouge (1952), albeit in separate scenes. Lee began to feel sick in the days that followed, and tested positive for COVID-19. Christopher Lee, R.I.P. - Cause of Death, Date of Death, Age and [6][7] Lee's maternal great-grandfather, Jerome Carandini, the Marquis of Sarzano, was an Italian political refugee; his wife, Lee's great-grandmother, was English-born opera singer Marie Carandini (ne Burgess). However, he soon decided that a direct adaptation would not work well, and began to craft a new story, using only the novel's basic outline. Billed as THE TERRIFYING LOVER WHO DIED YET LIVED! the film presented Dracula as a sex symbol, a nocturnal predator who awakened his female victims sexual desires. Death Pettiet died of an accidental drug overdose on April 12, 2000, in Los Angeles at the age of 24. Sure, I've played plenty of heavies, but as Anthony Hopkins says, "I don't play villains, I play people. [80] CNN listed the performance third in their top 10 British villains, noting his "chilling, sonorous tone. His wife delayed the public announcement until 11 June, informing her family of the death before releasing the news to the press. Check out the death cause, death date, and more facts about the circumstances surrounding movie actor Christopher Lee's death. [65] Lee appears as the unnamed "Old Gentleman" who acts as Lachlan's mentor in a flashback. Lee had met J. R. R. Tolkien once, which made him the only person involved in the film trilogy to have done so. 1 for 4 weeks, Aging beloved YA author Judy Blumes inevitable foil isnt so bad after all, Review: The entertaining Peter Pan & Wendy charts a familiar course to Neverland, Rihanna has Smurfs on the brain for her next movie: Hope this gives me cool points. Christopher Lee Death Facts: Age, Cause of Death, Birthday, Date of Critics panned it. [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. And I said, "Why?" It brought me a name, a fan club and a secondhand car [a Mercedes-Benz], for all of which I was grateful, he wrote in Tall, Dark and Gruesome, his 1977 autobiography. "Dracula sinks his teeth into Royal Mail history", "Metal Hammer honour for Sir Cheistopher Lee", "Depp surprises Sir Christopher Lee with film award", "Fangs for the memories as legend Lee honoured", "Sir Christopher Lee releases second heavy metal album", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Lee&oldid=1151016440, British Special Operations Executive personnel, Commanders of the Order of the British Empire, Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, Royal Air Force personnel of World War II, Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox military person with embed, TCMDb name template using numeric ID from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 21 April 2023, at 11:42. Its power lies in the fact that you never expect what eventually happens, because everyone is so nice. He went on to play Bond villain Scaramanga in 1974s The Man with the Golden Gun and turned down a role in Halloween, which he later said was one of biggest career regrets. [35] When Beecham's moved out of London, he joined the Home Guard. The man who'd foiled mutinies as a member of RAF intelligence. [113] He served as the narrator on The Nightmare Before Christmas poem, also written by Tim Burton as well. 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]. [49] As the advance continued into Tunisia, with the Axis forces digging themselves in at the Mareth Line, Lee was almost killed when the squadron's airfield was bombed. [81] Dracula has been ranked among the best British films. The family moved to Fulham, living next door to the actor Eric Maturin. News of his death prompted an outpouring of grief from actors, musicians, and even the prime minister; all paid tribute to Lees great talent. I was an actor. 18. as Lee became the oldest person to have a top 20 hit. [67], In addition to making films in the United Kingdom, Lee made films in mainland Europe: he appeared in two German films, Count Dracula (1970), where he again played the vampire count, and The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967). [113][140] In 2013, Lee voiced The Earl of Earl's Court in the BBC Radio 4 radio play Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I did play Ramses II once, who lived to be 91 and had 120 children, but he died 4,000 years ago. The latter film was tentatively titled Dracula Is Dead and Well and Living in London, a parody of the stage and film musical revue Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, but Lee was not amused. But he remained closely identified with Dracula, a character he reprised in 1966 with Dracula: Prince of Darkness, and in a string of other films, including Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). [67] His first American appearance was in the disaster film Airport '77 (1977). [110], In late November 2009, Lee narrated the Science Fiction Festival in Trieste, Italy. Prosecutors argued that Lee, now 27, planned Corwin's death and lured her into a trap. [1] His autopsy report listed that the probable combined effect of cocaine, propoxyphene, and diazepam had caused his death. [63] For the final few months of his service, Lee, who spoke fluent French, Italian and German, among other languages, was seconded to the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects. That's the only reason I did them. Biography - A Short Wiki. [37], Lee reported to RAF Uxbridge for training and was then posted to the Initial Training Wing at Paignton. Lee was born on 27 May 1922 in Belgravia, London,[2] the son of Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Trollope Lee (18791941) of the 60th King's Royal Rifle Corps, and his wife, Countess Estelle Marie (ne Carandini di Sarzano; 18891981). [18] Aside from a "tiny part" in a school play, he did not act while at Wellington. The medical officer hesitantly diagnosed a failure of his optic nerve, and he was told he would never be allowed to fly again. [93] In 2010, he marked his fourth collaboration with Tim Burton by voicing the Jabberwock in Burton's adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic book Alice in Wonderland, alongside Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway. Christopher Lee Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements [30] He and other British volunteers were kept away from the actual fighting, but they were issued with winter gear and were posted on guard duty a safe distance from the border. [76][113] Lee respected Depp as "a fellow survivor",[114] describing him as "inventive and [having] enormous versatility". [24] On his way there he stopped briefly in Paris, where he stayed with the journalist Webb Miller, a friend of Rose, and witnessed Eugen Weidmann's execution by guillotine the last public execution performed in France. He was honoured with the "Spirit of Hammer" award at the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards ceremony. His first role with the studio was The Curse of Frankenstein and it was the first of 20 films that he made with Peter Cushing. [122], Lee reprised the role of Saruman for the prequel film The Hobbit. He replied, "Because I've already sold it to the American distributor with you playing the part. The San Bernardino County Superior Court jury reached a verdict just days after Lee admitted on the. 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. Occasionally, I sneaked one in. [58] During the final assault on Monte Cassino, the squadron was based in San Angelo, and Lee was nearly killed when one of the planes crashed on takeoff, and he tripped over one of its live bombs. [159], Lee was introduced to Danish painter and former model Birgit "Gitte" Krncke by a Danish friend in 1960.