How Much Do You Know about Christopher Lee? The last time I wrote a post of this type it was about Peter Cushing. Coincidentally Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were actually good friends and were in 22 movies together. Most of us probably only know Christopher Lee in two roles, both of which were villains. He was the evil Count Dooku (aka Lord Tyranus) in the Star Wars Prequels and another one of Emperor Palpatine’s pawns. Count Dooku was once the padawan of Master Yoda before falling to the dark side. As Lord Tyranus he had an apprentice, my favorite, Asajj Ventress. As is typical of Sith, he turned on Ventress to further his agenda and she vowed to one day kill Dooku for his betrayal. Fun fact the name Dooku comes from the japanese word “doku” meaning poison.
Christopher Lee was also the maniacal Saruman in the Lord of the Rings movies. Apparently Lee was quite a Tolkein expert (having actually met J.R.R. Tolkein); he was often dispensing tips and advice during the production of the films. If you’re a James Bond fan, like me, then you also know him as The Man with the Golden Gun, Scaramanga. It seems Lee had a penchant for playing the villain. However, there is much more to Sir Christopher Lee than many might realize.
“I Welcome You To My Home”
In October of 2009 he was knighted by Prince Charles for his services to drama and charity, he’s a classically trained singer and step cousin to Ian Fleming. Sir Christopher Lee passed away in 2015 at 93 years old! In that time he accrued 282 acting credits in television, movies and even video games. Like his friend, he starred in several horror movies, including the Frankenstein monster opposite Peter Cushing’s Baron Frankenstein. However it isn’t this monster that he was known for.
Before he was Count Dooku, Christopher Lee was the iconic Count Dracula. He portrayed Count Dracula in ten films until 1972 when, according to Lee, “the character had deteriorated to such an extent that it really no longer had any meaning“.
When he wasn’t hunting the blood of young women, he was also a sleuth. Just like Cushing, he also portrayed Sherlock Holmes as well as Sherlock’s brother Mycroft. His video game credits are all voice reprisals of characters he’s played (ex: Scaramanga, Count Dooku and Saruman).
With 282 credits, this could become quite verbose. The man is so interesting, an amazing intellectual and truly a legend. If you have any interesting factoids or comments to share, please leave them in the comments.
