Although he is remembered for his roles as Saruman in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films and Darth Tyranus in the Star Wars franchise, Christopher Lee’s acting career spanned over 66 years. His life offscreen, however, was even more fascinating.
He was Born in Belgravia, England in 1922. His parents were a British colonel and an Italian countess. He was a descendant of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor.
He grew to the towering height of 6’5”, an imposing figure.
During World War II, Lee served as an intelligence operative. So did his cousin, Ian Fleming.
Fleming’s uncle married Lee’s mother. He would go on to author the James Bond novels, and his step-cousin Christopher was said to have been one of many inspirations for the famous spy hero.
Lee rarely spoke openly about his espionage exploits during WWII, but some claimed he was involved in missions to sabotage enemy aircraft throughout Northern Africa.
Lee was a polyglot. He spoke 7 languages other than his native English; Greek, Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish, Russian, and French. Those skills were put to use after the war when he tracked down and interrogated Nazi war criminals.
His multilingualism also served him well when he appeared in non-English films.
After the war, Lee tried his hand at acting. Despite his stentorian voice, he was not suited for the stage. He appeared in his first movie at age 26 and landed small roles in respected movies.
His big break came at the age of 35 in 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein. He played the Monster to Peter Cushing’s Count Frankenstein, one of many movies that would pair the two veteran actors.
Lee followed it up one year later with Horror of Dracula. For that role he received a minuscule £750 (roughly £23,000 today).
His 7 movie portrayals of the fictional vampire would terrify moviegoers for years and cemented his name in the history of cinema.
Fellow horror film actors Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, and John Carradine became Lee’s closest friends.
In the late 1950s, Lee became engaged to Henriette von Rosen. Her father, a Swedish Count, disapproved and made Lee ask Sweden’s King for permission to marry her. Although the King said yes, Lee broke off the engagement. Instead, he soon thereafter betrothed Birgit Kroncke to whom he would remain married for the rest of his long life.
Ian Fleming had hoped that his cousin would be cast as the title character in the first Bond film, 1962’s Dr. No. The role went instead to Joseph Wiseman.
But in 1974, Christopher Lee starred opposite Roger Moore as one of the James Bond franchise’s more memorable villains, Scaramanga, in The Man with the Golden Gun. The character was known for possessing three nipples.
Lee sang opera music and, paradoxically, was a fan of heavy metal. One of his favorite acts was Black Sabbath. The band’s guitarist, Tony Iommi, said that Christopher Lee’s Dracula portrayals influenced their songwriting.
2010: Christopher Lee combined his love of opera and heavy metal when he released an album entitled Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross.
Over the years, Lee portrayed Sherlock Holmes, Fu Manchu, Rasputin, and a host of villains and heroes. It wasn’t until 2001, when he was age 79, that Lee got cast as Saruman. The Star Wars role came a year later when he was 80.
His characters died onscreen 70 times in various roles, which some consider a cinematic record. He was also believed to have had more fencing duels in movies than any other actor. For a time, Lee also held the record for the most acting credits - 213 roles in films, 66 in television, and 18 video games.
Lee never garnered any significant awards as an actor, but he received knighthood in 2009 at age 87.
He portrayed Saruman one last time in the final Hobbit film when he was 92.
Sir Christopher Lee died in 2015 at 93.
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