Post by teleadm on May 27, 2022 8:23:25 GMT
His career spanned nearly seven decades and nearly 285 movies and television productions. Though most famous for his many roles in horror movies, he did a lot outside of that genre too. Lee credited three films "for bringing me to the fore" as an actor, A Tale of Two Cities 1958, in which he played the villainous marquis, and two horror films, The Curse of Frankenstein 1957, and Dracula 1958.
This year we celebrate that it was 100 years since his birth.
Sir Christopher Lee (1922–2015)
Prior to his acting career, Lee served in the Royal Air Force as an intelligence officer, attached to the No. 260 Squadron RAF as a liaison officer for the Special Operations Executive. Following his World War II service he retired from the RAF in 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant.
Standing behind John Mills in one of his early credited rolls in Scott of the Antarctic 1948.
Since he acted in nearly 285 productions, the following is just a few fragments, picked from two Essentials lists and mixed together.
The Curse of Frankenstein 1957 Lee reconceived the Creature as a brain-damaged child, a marionette with no will of its own.
A Tale of Two Cities 1957. His odious Marquis St Evrémonde is a landed sociopath who really means business.
Dracula 1958, Lee introduced a dark, brooding sexuality to the character, "Lee's sensuality was subversive in that it hinted that women might quite like having their neck chewed on by a stud".
The Mummy 1959
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll 1960. After Dracula 1958, lots of sleazy characters came Lee’s way (notably his strip club proprietor in the mind-boggling Beat Girl), but the feckless upper-class sponger he plays here gave him a perfect opportunity to wipe the floor with the film’s nominal star, Paul Massie.
The Devil-Ship Pirates 1964. His Captain Robeles in this adventure counts as a masterclass in sneering, black-hearted villainy.
The Face of Fu Manchu 1965.
The Skull 1965, with buddy Peter Cushing.
Rasputin the Mad Monk 1966
The Devil Rides Out 1968
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes 1970. Coming at the end of his self-styled ‘Graveyard Period’, Lee was especially grateful for this one, a supremely civilised cameo in a supremely beautiful film. His Mycroft Holmes is unusually slender but displays an urbane, waspish sense of humour not unlike Lee’s own. It also compensates for the not especially memorable films in which he played Sherlock.
The Wicker Man 1973
The Three Musketeers 1973 as Rochefort, seen here with Milady de Winter.
The Man with the Golden Gun 1974. The role of Francisco Scaramanga was originally mooted for Jack Palance, but happily it went instead to Lee, who in 1974 made Scaramanga into a sweetly reasonable but utterly deadly anti-Bond.
Treasure Island 1989. Aimed at US cable but released theatrically too, this 1989 extravaganza sees Lee turning the familiar figure of Blind Pew into nothing less than a human embodiment of the Grim Reaper. “Makes Freddy Krueger look like Santa Claus”, noted one reviewer of this brief performance.
Jinnah 1997. 1997 was the 50th anniversary of Lee’s first film appearance and also the 50th anniversary of the founding of Pakistan. Cast as founding father Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Lee gave a performance that is truly magisterial, particularly when he stops a shovel-wielding insurgent in his tracks with a withering command to “Grow up – and serve Pakistan!”.
Then there also was Count Dooku in the Star Wars films Episode II – Attack of the Clones 2002 and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith 2005, and Saruman in both the Lord of the Rings film trilogy 2001–2003 and the Hobbit film trilogy 2012–2014.
He frequently appeared opposite his friend Peter Cushing in horror films, and late in his career had roles in five Tim Burton films.
He was Guest Host on Saturday Night Live 1978
Thanks for watching!
Opinions of all kinds are very welcome!
This year we celebrate that it was 100 years since his birth.
Sir Christopher Lee (1922–2015)
Prior to his acting career, Lee served in the Royal Air Force as an intelligence officer, attached to the No. 260 Squadron RAF as a liaison officer for the Special Operations Executive. Following his World War II service he retired from the RAF in 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant.
Standing behind John Mills in one of his early credited rolls in Scott of the Antarctic 1948.
Since he acted in nearly 285 productions, the following is just a few fragments, picked from two Essentials lists and mixed together.
The Curse of Frankenstein 1957 Lee reconceived the Creature as a brain-damaged child, a marionette with no will of its own.
A Tale of Two Cities 1957. His odious Marquis St Evrémonde is a landed sociopath who really means business.
Dracula 1958, Lee introduced a dark, brooding sexuality to the character, "Lee's sensuality was subversive in that it hinted that women might quite like having their neck chewed on by a stud".
The Mummy 1959
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll 1960. After Dracula 1958, lots of sleazy characters came Lee’s way (notably his strip club proprietor in the mind-boggling Beat Girl), but the feckless upper-class sponger he plays here gave him a perfect opportunity to wipe the floor with the film’s nominal star, Paul Massie.
The Devil-Ship Pirates 1964. His Captain Robeles in this adventure counts as a masterclass in sneering, black-hearted villainy.
The Face of Fu Manchu 1965.
The Skull 1965, with buddy Peter Cushing.
Rasputin the Mad Monk 1966
The Devil Rides Out 1968
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes 1970. Coming at the end of his self-styled ‘Graveyard Period’, Lee was especially grateful for this one, a supremely civilised cameo in a supremely beautiful film. His Mycroft Holmes is unusually slender but displays an urbane, waspish sense of humour not unlike Lee’s own. It also compensates for the not especially memorable films in which he played Sherlock.
The Wicker Man 1973
The Three Musketeers 1973 as Rochefort, seen here with Milady de Winter.
The Man with the Golden Gun 1974. The role of Francisco Scaramanga was originally mooted for Jack Palance, but happily it went instead to Lee, who in 1974 made Scaramanga into a sweetly reasonable but utterly deadly anti-Bond.
Treasure Island 1989. Aimed at US cable but released theatrically too, this 1989 extravaganza sees Lee turning the familiar figure of Blind Pew into nothing less than a human embodiment of the Grim Reaper. “Makes Freddy Krueger look like Santa Claus”, noted one reviewer of this brief performance.
Jinnah 1997. 1997 was the 50th anniversary of Lee’s first film appearance and also the 50th anniversary of the founding of Pakistan. Cast as founding father Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Lee gave a performance that is truly magisterial, particularly when he stops a shovel-wielding insurgent in his tracks with a withering command to “Grow up – and serve Pakistan!”.
Then there also was Count Dooku in the Star Wars films Episode II – Attack of the Clones 2002 and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith 2005, and Saruman in both the Lord of the Rings film trilogy 2001–2003 and the Hobbit film trilogy 2012–2014.
He frequently appeared opposite his friend Peter Cushing in horror films, and late in his career had roles in five Tim Burton films.
He was Guest Host on Saturday Night Live 1978
Thanks for watching!
Opinions of all kinds are very welcome!
