CHRISTOPHER LEE - dies aged 93 - R.I.P.

The great screen horror icon of the 20th Century, Christopher Lee, passed away last Sunday 7th June at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure. He was 93 years of age. His wife of more than fifty years, and former model, Birgit Kroencke, withheld his passing for four days until his family and the closest friends had been notified.


Born Christopher Frank Carandini Lee in Belgravia, Westminster, London on 27th May 1922. At age six, his parents divorced. Some years later his mother remarried a banker and uncle to Ian Flemming (therefore Lee's step-cousin) - the author of the James Bond books, in which he would play the villain Scaramanga in the 1974 big screen adaptation of 'The Man with the Golden Gun' alongside Roger Moore. At nine, Lee moved to Summer Fields School in Oxford - a feeder school for Eton, but the young Lee missed out in the scholarship exam for Eton by just one point and so went to Wellington College instead. Up until Wellington he had acted in school plays regularly but hardly did so during these school years, and he didn't fare too well in sports either just getting by in racquet sports, fencing, but cricket was better. Nor did he like the school parades and weapons training, and by the summer term of 1939 with a year of study left to go his father was declared bankrupt and so his time at Wellington was cut short by a year.

Forced to seek employment and with little opportunities during the summer of 1939 he decided to go to the French Riviera, and passing through Paris en route, witnessed the last public execution by guillotine  on June 17th 1939. After a brief time in the South of France and with Europe on the verge of war, Lee returned to London where he secured a job as an office clerk for the transatlantic shipping company - United States Lines.

As war broke out he volunteered to join the Finnish Forces in the 1939 Winter War. After this and opon returning to London he joined the Home Guard and then the Royal Air Force where he was subsequently posted to South Africa and then Southern Rhodesia and then onto its capital city, then, Salisbury. Unable to fly because of headaches and blurred vision he joined the RAF Intelligence. This took him to Durban, onto Suez where he was actively involved in the North African Campaign before moving on to Malta and after its capture by the Eighth Army to Sicily. By the winter of 1943 he had moved into Italy, and joining up with Gurkhas saw active duty in the Battle of Monte Cassino - the gateway to Rome. Having been promoted to Flight Lieutenant and being able to speak fluent French and German he was seconded to the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects being tasked with helping to track down Nazi war criminals. He retired from military service in 1946 having also served time with the Special Operations Executive and the Long Range Desert Patrol, the precursor of the SAS but always kept those detailed a secret, as he was sworn to do.

Through some family connections it was suggested that he should consider acting as a career following the war and his military service. He was fortunate enough to be signed up initially by Rank Film Studio's on a seven picture deal making his big screen debut in 1947 in the Gothic Romance 'Corridor of Mirrors'. The 40's closed out with smaller roles and at times uncredited roles in a number of films, including 'Hamlet' with Laurence Olivier and 'Scott of the Antarctic'.

Throughout the 50's Lee starred in 42 films and 16 television series, some for extended episodes, and it was during this decade that saw his first outing with Hammer Studio's in the 1957 'The Curse of Frankenstein' in which he played Frankenstein's monster, with Peter Cushing as Baron Victor Frankenstein. Lee would go on to star with Peter Cushing in 24 films, and whilst they ofter were rivals and enemies in their film roles they became the closest of friends in life. Lee made the role of Count Dracula his own, starring as the Count in ten films throughout his career mostly for Hammer - 'Dracula : Prince of Darkness', 'Dracula has risen from the Grave', 'Taste the Blood of Dracula', 'Scars of Dracula', 'Dracula A.D. 1972' and 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' in 1973 which was to be his last appearance. Lee worked with Hammer on other projects too that included 'The Mummy', ' The Hound of the Baskervilles', 'Rasputin, the Mad Monk', 'The Devil Rides Out' and 'To the Devil a Daughter'. Whilst many of the roles were questionable, there is no doubt that Hammer and Lee were in each others debt for the fame and fortune that each bought to the partnership.

The 60's closed out with 43 films and three television series including 'The Avengers' and 'The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'. The 70's brought horror fare still but a change in direction also with the likes of 'The Three Musketeers', 'The Four Musketeers', 'The Man with the Golden Gun', 'Airport '77' and '1941' whilst still giving us a fright in 'I, Monster' 'The Creeping Flesh', 'The Wicker Man', 'Horror Express', 'Castle of the Living Dead'. During this decade Lee made the decision to move to the US to shake off his Dracula mantle. With 27 films appearance s during the decade and appearances in several TV series including 'Charlie's Angels', 'The Far Pavilions', and 'Around the World in 80 Days' it was largely a forgettable decade!

The 90's saw a greater concentration on television than filmic fare that included longer schedules on series including 'The Tomorrow People', 'Street Gear', 'Ivanhoe', 'The New Adventures of Robin Hood', and 'Gormenghast', with movie offerings including 'Gremlins 2 : The New Batch' and 'Sleepy Hollow' his first collaboration with Tim Burton.

As 2000 clicked over so Lee seemed to take on a new lease of movie life, with roles in major franchises films - 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy playing Saruman in 'The Fellowship of the Ring', 'The Two Towers' and the extended version of 'Return of the King'. He would reprise the role in Peter Jackson's 'Hobbit' films follow-up 'An Unexpected Journey' and 'The Battle of the Five Armies'. The other significant role was in the Star Wars reboot playing Count Dooku in 'Episode II : Attack of the Clones' and 'Episode III : Revenge of the Sith'. During the decade too in between 'Rings' and 'Star Wars' there was further work with Tim Burton on 'The Corpse Bride' and 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' as well as 'The Golden Compass', 'Triage' and 'Glorious 39'.

The last five years saw no let up in Lee's output with roles in Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo', 'The Resident' - the first Hammer film in 35 years, 'Dark Shadows' and 'Alice in Wonderland' with Tim Burton once more and 'Burke and Hare' amongst others, with 'Angels in Notting Hill' completed last year and awaiting a release.

A staggering 278 film and television acting credits throughout eight decades of film making with 22 award wins and eight other nominations including the BAFTA Academy Fellowship win in 2011, and the British Film Institute Fellowship Award win in 2013. Additionally, over the years Lee has lent his voice talents to many video game characters that he has played on screen, to animated characters and in narrating television specials and documentaries. Also an accomplished musician with singer/songwriter credits on a number of films and album recordings including a very active interest in heavy metal music resulting in numerous accolades too.

In 1997 he was appointed a Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John; in 2001 Commander of the Order of the British Empire 'for services to Drama' by HRH The Queen; in 2009 was made a Knight Bachelor 'for services to Drama and to Charity' by Prince Charles; and in 2011 was awarded the Bram Stoker Gold Medal (on the 164th anniversary of his birth) by the Trinity College Philosophical Society, of which Stoker was President.

Lee leaves a legacy of film making that is unsurpassed from the golden age of cinema with extraordinary output across many genres, but it will be for his indelible mark left on the horror genre that he will be most fondly remembered, and frequently referenced.

Christopher Lee - R.I.P.
1922 - 2015.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-