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Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee had the kind of screen presence that could make stillness feel threatening. Tall, imposing and equipped with a resonant bass voice, the English actor became closely associated with horror, yet his career reached far beyond any single genre or character. Born Christopher Frank Carandini Lee in Belgravia, London, on 27 May 1922, he made his film debut in Corridor of Mirrors in 1948. His defining early partnership came through Hammer Film Productions, beginning with The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957. As Frankenstein’s monster opposite Peter Cushing, Lee brought physical force to a role with little dialogue. The following year, Dracula gave him the part that would shape his public image. He ultimately played the Count ten times, including seven Hammer films, while appearing with Cushing in more than 20 productions. Lee kept testing the boundaries of that image. He played Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man, which he considered his best film, and brought polished menace to the Bond villain Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun. His work also included Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Rasputin and the Comte de Rochefort, revealing a dependable gift for authority figures, antagonists and men whose composure concealed something dangerous. Later generations knew him as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, and as Count Dooku in two Star Wars episodes. Collaborations with Tim Burton included Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows. Lee also worked extensively as a voice actor, lending that unmistakable voice to animation, audiobooks and video games. His parallel career as a singer was equally distinctive. He performed on The Wicker Man soundtrack, collaborated with metal musicians and released his own symphonic heavy metal recordings well into his nineties. Lee died in 2015, leaving behind a body of work whose range is easy to underestimate: horror star, character actor, franchise villain, voice performer and singer, all held together by precision, gravity and a willingness to keep trying something new.