Turned down Donald Pleasence's role in Halloween (1978). (He later remarked that this was his biggest mistake.)
Classically trained singer.
Possibly the only actor who has portrayed three different Sherlock Holmes characters: Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes and Henry Baskerville.
A distant cousin and frequent golfing partner of Bond creator Ian Fleming, Lee was the author's personal pick for the role of Dr. No (1962) in the first 007 film. The part, of course, went to actor Joseph Wiseman, who was brilliant. However, fans of the literary Bond might want to check out Lee's portrayal of Chinese master criminal Fu Manchu, for an idea of how Ian Fleming himself envisioned Dr. No.
Uncle of Harriet Walter.
Vincent Price and Christopher Lee were born on the same day (27th May) and Peter Cushing was born on the 26th.
Was one of the judges for the 1995 Miss World beauty pageant.
The blood dripping fangs, worn by Lee in many of his vampire films were created by Irish dental technician Sean Mulhall.
Is listed as the Center of the Hollywood Universe by the Oracle of Kevin Bacon web site at the University of Virginia, because he can be linked to any one in Hollywood on average in 2.59 steps. That is less than either Charlton Heston or Kevin Bacon himself.
In a radio interview in South Africa, Lee claimed that he held the record for number of film roles by an actor. [2001]
Was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in her birthday honours list. [15 June 2001]
Appears on the album cover "Band on the Run", performed by Paul McCartney's band 'Wings' .
Father of a daughter by his wife, Birgit Kroencke Lee.
Served in British Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from 1941 to 1946.
He is fluent in German.
Is the only member of the cast and crew of Lord of the Rings to have met J.R.R. Tolkien.
He appears in a scene from The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) on screen during the drive-in sequence in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962).
The white coffin used in one of his Dracula films was later used in Bananarama's pop video "Venus".
He is of royal Italian ancestry on his mother's side (Carandini).
From an acting dynasty, his great-grandparents founded the first Australian opera company.
He made his stage debut in school as the demonic lead in "Rumpelstiltskin," a sign of things to come.
Has played a staggering amount of Victorian characters. He played Count Dracula 10 times, Dr. Fu Manchu 5 times, Sherlock Holmes 3 times, Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's brother) once, and Sir Henry Baskerville (a friend of Holmes) once. He also appeared in The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960), a film adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, among others.
A stunt double performed the stunts and lightsaber fights in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002). Lee's face was imposed on the double's body. Lee mentioned that in the last 40 years he has done more sword fights than any other actor, but "not any more."
Speaks very good French, good enough to understand questions and give long replies in a press conference.
Is an honorary member of three stuntmen's unions.
Is a Commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
His stepfather (his mother's second husband) was the maternal uncle of writer Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame). Lee and Ian Fleming are therefore step-cousins.
Was voted no. 31 on the recent British televised poll "The Greatest Movie Stars Of All Time" above the likes of John Wayne, Michael Caine and Humphrey Bogart.
Sustained an injury to his hand while filming a swordfight with a slightly drunk Errol Flynn for The Dark Avenger (1955).
Both he and his fellow Star Wars Sith Lord, David Prowse, have played Frankenstein's Monster opposite Peter Cushing.
Has two roles in common with Boris Karloff. They have both played Fu Manchu, and Frankenstein's Monster.
Played King Haggard in both the animated and live-action versions of The Last Unicorn (1982).
Was originally offered the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977). He turned it down and the role eventually went to his good friend Peter Cushing.
From 1948 until present (2004) has had at least one film released every year with the exception of 1995.
At 6 feet 5 inches, he is entered into The Guinness Book of World Records as "The Tallest Leading Actor"
He struggled to get work early in his career as a supporting actor because almost all the male stars were shorter than he.
He initially protested to director Peter Jackson about The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) because the long scene he was set to be in was cut. He and Peter Jackson peaceably settled this matter, however, and this scene will be on the Special Edition DVD that will come out late in 2004.
One of the most prolific actors of all time, he has acted in nearly 220 films, although he later admitted that his film work was not always chosen on quality but often on whether they could support his family. 1955 & 1970 were his peak years of productivity, as Lee starred in 9 films in both years.
As Darth Tyrannis, he plays the first Sith apprentice to act in both body and voice.
Although he has been in well over 200 films, he has very rarely played a hero, having been a villain in perhaps about 85% of his films (even his bit parts learn towards the unsympathetic).
Was made "Officier des arts et lettres" by French culture minister JJ Aillagon on December 11th 2002.
One of his favorite bands is the Italian symphonic metal band Rhapsody, and he have also appeared on one of their album (listen to the speech in the intro on the song "Unholy Warcry" on the album "The dark secret"). Lee also appears on the Rhapsody single, The Magic Of The Wizard's Dream, where Lee does a duet with Rhapsody vocalist, Fabio Lione, in English, German, Italian, and French versions of the song.
On July 21st 2004 he was given the honorary citizenship of the Italian city of Casina (Province of Reggio Emilia) where Sarzano, the castle of his ancestors is situated. He gave his speech of thanks in Italian.
Was the Center of the Hollywood Universe, according to data at the Movie Oracle, http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/center.html, but is now second to Rod Steiger.
Two of his roles have had him play leaders of a separatist movement. The first was Jinnah, about Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan. The second was in Star Wars as Count Dooku, the former mentor of Qui-Gon Jinn.
In a bonding of two generations of Frankenstein's monsters, Lee and his wife were good friends with Boris Karloff and his wife. This friendship wasn't as a result of them working together (they made two films together, Corridors of Blood (1962) and Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)) but by the coincidence that they lived next door to each other in England.
He has one daughter, Christina.
During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Air Force and in British Intelligence.
In 1972 he founded Charlemagne Productions Ltd.
He studied at Summerfield Preparatory School and attended Wellington College.
His daughter, Christina, was born with her legs severely deformed. They were bent at such a severe angle that they were almost backwards. She spent her first 2 years in splints. She eventually learned how to walk after the age of three and no longer needed splints.
As of January 2005, he has appeared in 223 films.
According to his official website: He speaks French, Italian, Spanish and German and can "get along" in Swedish, Russian and Greek.
When he arrived in the recording studio to do the voice over for King Haggard in the original animated version of The Last Unicorn (1982) he came armed with his own copy of the book with certain excerpts marked pertaining to parts of the book that he felt should not have been omitted.
Volunteered to fight for the Finnish forces during the Winter War against the Soviet Union in 1939.
Like his Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson, he has appeared in films with three generations of Astins. He appeared in all three Lord of the Rings films, which also starred Sean Astin. The last film also featured Sean's older daughter Alexandra Astin. Over a decade before, he and John Astin appeared in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).
Legendary actor Christopher Lee most recently starred in The Lord of the Rings trilogy from New Line Cinema, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith from Lucas Films. Prior to his roles in these blockbusters, Lee starred in the critically acclaimed independent picture Jinnah, which he considers the most important movie of his career, and the epic BBC miniseries Gormenghast. He was also recently seen in Crimson Rivers II with Jean Reno, as well as Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. Up next, he will appear in yet another Tim Burton production, Corpse Bride.
Lee was educated at Summer Fields preparatory school and took a scholarship at Eton College and Wellington College, where he was a classical scholar in Greek and Latin. After leaving school he worked as an office boy and messenger in London at the salary of one pound a week, and during five years of World War II he served in the Royal Air Force and Special Forces. He was decorated for distinguished service and held the rank of Flight Lieutenant.
After demobilization in 1946, he entered the film industry in 1947 and was, for a time, under contract to the Rank Organization. He has appeared in the theatre and in operatic performances and has recorded for radio worldwide. He also sang in The Return of Captain Invincible and recorded The King of Elfland's Daughter for Chrysalis; Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale for Nimbus; Peter and the Wolf, also for Nimbus, conducted by Yehudi Menuhin; The King and I, Christopher Lee sings "Devils, Rogues and Other Villains, from Broadway to Bayreuth" and many others. Most recently, he recorded an album with the world famous metal band Rhapsody, and recorded the single The Magic of the Wizards Dream, which entered the music charts, making him a top recording singer.
The directors for whom Lee has worked include John Huston, Raoul Walsh, Joseph Losey, George Marshall, Orson Welles, Nicholas Ray, Michael Powell, Edward Molinaro, Jerome Savary, Billy Wilder, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, John Landis, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Andrei Konchalovsky. He has filmed in Russian, French, Italian, German and Spanish, and has worked in numerous countries all over the world.
Lee has appeared in more than 250 film and television productions, amongst which the best known are A Tale of Two Cities, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wicker Man, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Three and the Four Musketeers, The Man with the Golden Gun (of which the author was his cousin Ian Fleming), 1941, Airport '77 and Gremlins II. He considers the most important point in his career to have been as host of Saturday Night Live in 1978 with John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman and Jane Curtin. It is still the third highest rated show of the series.
Lee has three claims to fame as an actor: he is the only actor who has portrayed Sherlock Holmes and his brother Mycroft; he executed King Charles the First of England and King Louis the Sixteenth of France; and he holds the world record for more sword fights on camera than any other actor in history. He also did all of his own stunts and is an honorary member of three Stuntmen's Unions.
At college he was in the top ranking at squash, racquets and fencing, and was equally at home at cricket, rugby, football and hockey. He speaks French, Italian, Spanish and German and can get along in Swedish, Russian and Greek. His hobbies are travel, opera and golf. His handicap, once scratch, is now eight and he is now the only actor who has been made a member of the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the oldest golf club in the world founded in 1744. He has had the great fortune to have played most of the world's famous courses and is profoundly grateful to have played with virtually all the great golfers of modern times, from James Braid to Jack Nicklaus.
Lee has received awards for his contribution to the cinema from the United States, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Great Britain. He is a Commander Brother of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the world's oldest order.
He has been married for 44 years to Danish model and painter Gitte Kroencke, who before their marriage modeled for Balenciaga, Balmain, Chanel and Christian Dior. They have one daughter, Christina, born in Switzerland. After living some years in Switzerland and California, they are now residents in the United Kingdom.
Amongst his publications are an autobiography Tall, Dark and Gruesome, first published by W.H. Allen in 1977 (and since re-published in 1997 and also re-published in 2003 by Orion Books Ltd as Lord of Misrule, introduced by Peter Jackson) as well as The Great Villains, Archives of Evil and The Films of Christopher Lee (Scarecrow Press). Lee is listed in the Guinness Book of Movie Facts and Feats as being the international star with the most screen credits. He was awarded the London Film Critics Dilys Powell '94 award for his work as an actor and services to the film industry. He has recently been awarded Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's Birthday's Honors list. In 2002, at the height of his career, he was awarded the prestigious Lifetime World Actor Award in Vienna from the hands of Mikhail Gorbachev. He was named by the French Government Officer of Arts and Letters.
