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
I'm much softer than people think. I don't present to the world an emotional face. I'm pretty good at self-control, but I am easily moved.
I think acting is a mixture of instinct, imagination and inventiveness. All you can learn as an actor is basic technique.
There are many vampires in the world today - you only have to think of the film business.
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.
I think that - apart from the fields of science and medicine - we live in an age of decline. Look at the world. There is decline in morals, ideals, manners, respect, truthfulness: just about everything, in fact.
I still think 'The Lord of the Rings' is the greatest literary achievement in my lifetime. Like so many other people, I couldn't wait for the second and then the third book. Nothing like it had ever been written.
'The Wicker Man' for me, as an actor, was definitely the best film I've ever done.
Let's just say I was in Special Forces and leave it at that. People can read into that what they like.
Ian Fleming was my cousin, and he wanted me to play Dr. No, but by the time he got around to remembering to tell the producers, they'd already cast someone else. Spilt milk!
I don't really like long flights any more - I find them too tiring. Flying always involves the same things these days - huge crowds at airports, waiting around, late take-offs, weather problems, and so on. I don't really enjoy travelling. I don't imagine anyone does except young children.
When I was very young - around the age of nine - my family used to go to a house in Somerset that my stepfather rented every summer. There was fishing, lakes and riding.
I've worked with Tim Burton five times, and it's just like being part of a family; life doesn't get much better than that.
One of the first things a British visitor to Southern California discovers is that he must have a car. Freeways. Bad public transport. I took driving lessons.
I turn to the 'Telegraph's' obituaries page with trepidation.