Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ, (born 27 May 1922) is an English actor and singer. Lee initially portrayed villains and became best known for his role as Count Dracula in a string of
popular Hammer Horror films. Other notable roles include Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden
Gun (1974), Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit film trilogy (
2012–2014), and Count Dooku in the final two films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy (2002, 2005).
He was knighted for services to drama and charity in 2009, and received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011. Lee considers his most important role to be that of Pakistan's founder Muhammad
Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah (1998), and his best role to be Lord Summerisle in the British cult classic The Wicker Man (1973), which he also considers his best film.
Always noted as an actor for his deep, strong voice, he has, more recently, also taken to using his singing ability, recording various 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. The heavy
metal follow-up titled Charlemagne: The Omens of
Death was released on 27 May 2013. He was honoured with the "Spirit of
Metal" award in the 2010
Metal Hammer Golden God awards ceremony.
Christopher Lee played Saruman in the The Lord of the Rings film 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. Lee had met J.R.R. 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. In addition, he performed for the album The Lord of the Rings: Songs and Poems by J.R.R. Tolkien in 2003. Lee's appearance in the final film in the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the
King, was cut from the theatrical release, but 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 the villainous Count Dooku. His autobiography states that he did much of the swordplay himself, though a double was required for the more vigorous footwork.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee
