Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBEwas an English actor, singer, and author. With a career spanning nearly 70 years, Lee initially portrayed villains and became best known for his role as Count Dracula in a sequence of Hammer Horror films. His other film roles include Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogyand The Hobbit film trilogy, and Count Dooku in the final two films of...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth27 May 1922
CityLondon, England
To be a legend, you've either got to be dead or excessively old!
My favourite country is Finland because once you get to a certain point, you can drive for hours without seeing a single person. I love peace and quiet - something I don't get very often.
I've always acknowledged my debt to Hammer. I've always said I'm very grateful to them. They gave me this great opportunity, made me a well known face all over the world for which I am profoundly grateful.
Every actor has to make terrible films from time to time, but the trick is never to be terrible in them.
The secret to a long marriage in the film industry? Marry someone wonderful, as I did. And always have her come along on location.
Acting as a profession came to me by chance: in 1946, after the war, I was having lunch with my cousin, who was the Italian ambassador, and he asked, 'What are you going to do now you're out of uniform?' I said, 'I'm pretty inventive, and I can imitate people,' and he said, 'Have you thought about being an actor?'
What's really important for me is, as an old man, I'm known by my own generation and the next generation know me, too.
People should not pass judgment until they have seen the film.
I lived for 10 years in Los Angeles, and the one element that surpasses everything else - that you are very conscious of - is fear. You can smell it.
We don't always get the kind of work we want, but we always have a choice of whether to do it with good grace or not.
You can learn Elvish, if you want. It's a language like Italian and English. You can learn to read it, you can learn to write it, and you can learn to speak it.
I associate heavy metal with fantasy because of the tremendous power that the music delivers.
The thing I have always tried to do is surprise people: to present them with something they didn't expect.
Films are now made by accountants. They pick a pretty young female or male face out of the air and give them a part - not because they think that person is right for it or is ready for it, but because they think that person will make them money.