Talk:Christopher Lee/Archive 1

Archive 1

Religion?

I thought I heard someone where that Christopher Lee was Roman Catholic, but I found no reference to it here (the closet we get is to his interest in occult books). My second guess would be Anglican, or maybe he's not particularly religious (or keeps it to himself). A little clarity would be nice though.

Jinnah ref

I have the source where Lee referred to Jinnah being his most important work. But I don't know how to add them to the reference list...could anyone do that for me please? http://dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=12656 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3733894.stm

Video game ref

This confirms that Christopher Lee voiced Scaramanga in the video game Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, but unfortunately I can't figure out how to do a reference. User:David L Rattigan 20:58 02 May 2006 GMT

WP:Footnotes - Motor (talk) 20:40, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Cheers. I did look at that page before, but couldn't quite get the hang of it. Much easier to look at the code for what you did and just learn that way! User:David L Rattigan 21:55 2 May 2006 GMT

Trivia

Lee is a direct lineal descendent of Charlemagne through his mother's side.

Is there a source for this? christopherleeweb.com [1] states that the Carandini family is believed to have had close connections with the Emperor Charlemagne instead of claiming descendance.

Anon. 01:14, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

Lee served in the military during World War II, where he acquired the knowledge of the noise a person makes when stabbed in the back. He put this to use when filming The Lord of the Rings, as can be seen on the Extended Edition DVD of The Return of the King.

Could we have a source for this? It seems like a macabre joke.

Mihoshi 14:31, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

It isn't a joke - Peter Jackson mentions it in the commentary, reminiscing about the filming of a particular scene where Lee, an ex-secret service man adds the benefit of his experiences. sheridan 17:42, 2005 May 23 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks for clearing that up---Mihoshi 20:45, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

I moved this bit of trivia to the Trivia section, but as a matter of fact I would like remove it as irrelevant. While it makes a good anecdote in the context of the LOTR extras (so I've understood, haven't seen them), it really is rather non-surprising that someone who has served in close combat operations has knowledge of what it looks and sounds like when someone is killed. I cannot come up with arguments for keeping it, and if there are no objections, I'll remove it in a while. 194.157.147.48 00:14, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Agreed, and I've taken the liberty of removing it myself. It was one of the more entertaining parts of the DVD, but it doesn't really add much to an encyclopaedia article. --Calair 10:37, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

" He volunteered to fight for the Finnish forces during the Winter War against the Soviet Union in 1939,"

This is another point for which I would like to have a source. I have a list of all the volunteers and his name does not appear on the list. I also have a list of those Britons who volunteered but did not actually arrive to to Finland. Lee's name is not on that list either. Furthermore I would think that if such a famous person would have fought with the Finns agains the Soviets, everybody in Finland would known about it. This is not the case. --Chino 02:37, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

The statement is a bit of an exaggeration, but the source is his autobigraphy- he was quite young and apparently paid his own third class passage with some friends, showed up, and they weren't quite sure what to do with him so sent him somewhere away from any fighting. He went home, apparently, after a few weeks. This is from memory, I'll look it up when I find the book again. -- Yrfeloran 15 November 2005

the article didnt mention tha lee made the voice intro on the manowar song king of kings

Cinema beheadings and on screen deaths

Christopher Lee is notable for the number of times he had died on screen portraying his character. Although I do not have an accurate count of his final disposition in all of his films. I believe he has been beheaded while portraying Dracula, Fu Manchu and Count Dooku among other characters. Does anyone have any more information on this? Group29 18:12, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Tribute from The Guardian

When a man is 6ft 5in tall, descended from Italian aristocracy, educated at an English public school, a brilliant fencer and golfer, loves opera, speaks French, German, Spanish and Italian, and can "get along" in Swedish, Russian and Greek, you know he is destined for evil.

— Leo Benedictus, The Guardian 24 June 2005 [[2]]

Robert E. Lee

Someone on imdb says that Christopher Lee is related to Civil War General Robert E. Lee. Despite the similar last time, I've never heard of this. I didn't think he had any relatives, or in particular any ancestors, who were American, as all of Robert E. Lee's descendants have been. In particular, two of General Lee's descendants are Harper Lee and Robert Duvall. The imdb poster also said that, in numerous interviews, Lee said that he and Duvall were cousins. Has anyone else ever read this?(Kenobifan 04:52, 22 January 2006 (UTC))

• See Talk:Harper Lee for a refutation of the widely-circulated claim about her kinship (circulated by, among others, the Encyclopedia Britannica): "General Robert E. Lee has very few descendants, considering that he had seven children. None of his daughters married and only two of his sons had children." (family tree) --Dystopos 00:02, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Strangely enough there does seem to be some resemblance between Christopher Lee and Robert E Lee's family. Christopher Lee's family were also the same class, upper middle-gentry and served as officers in the military. Lee's grandfather was Ellis Lee, an army Colonel, and his father was a Henry Lee jun. of Finsbury Square, London who was presumably son of another Henry Lee Arniep 00:19, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, obviously we can't rely on original research here. Shall we look for an authoritative source? --Dystopos 00:49, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

There are a few biographies of Lee that might contain some more info on his family, I'll see if I can order them through my library. There is also a book on the Lee family of Virginia: Edmund Jennings Lee, Lee of Virginia 1642-1892, (1895; reprinted., Baltimore, 1983) which might mention an English branch. Arniep 01:07, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Photo

Since Lee is most closely associated with playing Dracula in the Hammer movies, shouldn't there be a picture of him in the role?Willerror 21:14, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Languages and army

Apparently he speaks several languages, specifically French and German but can get by with the basics in another few European languages. Moreover, he did eventually end up in the army and has spoken more than once in general terms about being in combat. His advice, btw, is don't go into combat!

Korporaal1 (talk) 11:16, 3 November 2009 (UTC) The Arrse website, when looking for celebrities with military backgrounds mentioned that Lee was an intelligence officer with the LRDG and later with SOE. Are there any sources for this?

The article says "all details of actions undertaken by members of the SOE are still classified", but this isn't the case. A mountain of SOE documents (all of them, for all I know) have long been declassified. Wikipedia actually has an article listing all members, with the exploits of several of them. Some SOE films have even made it to Youtube, so I really do not know who says "all details of actions undertaken by members of the SOE are still classified", and by what authority. --Tsuka (talk) 21:36, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

He says this in his autobiography. I think it's dubious too. It is just about possible that there are missions (politically sensitive assassinations of 'allies'?) that are still secret... Lovingboth (talk) 11:48, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

External links

I just chopped out a lot of unnecessary external links and sorted out a few references while converting it to the new notes system. I added the fact template to many of the claims too. It's worth noting too, that the Tiscali biography calls his father Jeffrey, this article calls him Geoffrey. The Carandini pedigree calls him Geoffrey too... so maybe that raises some concerns about the accuracy of the Tiscali biog. Also, IMO, the Trivia section is way too long. It is a mix of stuff that should be in the article body, irrelevancies, and in places it strays into being a filmography. Addition: if anyone would like to add references to replace the fact templates, see: Wikipedia:Footnotes for instructions on the new system. - Motor (talk) 01:43, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

The Tiscali bios are generally pretty good, I don't think a small spelling mistake is an indication of general inaccuracy. Jeffrey is the spelling that is usually found on most other bios (I only found that it was Geoffrey as I traced his ancestry). Arniep 02:42, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I have a question about reference link [25]: I followed the link but I could find no relevance on that page as to what it was referencing. The statement appears at the end of his "Personal Life" section, stating: "Lee is a vocal supporter of the British Conservative Party". However, the link leads to a Q&A with Christopher Lee in a liberal London Newspaper, with no reference at all to anything conservative. Can anybody find a better link to support that section of the article, or should it be deleted, or what? (This is my first post on Wikipedia. If I did something wrong, please tell me. Thank you) Jackhatte (talk) 05:16, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Family?

Isn't there anything on Christopher Lee's family? Not background, I mean is he a father? Grandfather? I think there needs to be a "Personal Life" section in this article. Crazy Eddy 20:00, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Making a habit of reading the books once a year

I recall hearing something like this: he had once met Tolkien and made a habit of reading the books once a year, making him the Tolkien consultant in the interviews on one of the LoTR disks, just forgot which one. Could someone find which one and add the citation into the article? Comics

I've seen the behind the scenes videos from the extended version for films 1 and 3, and I think 1 dealt with casting, and I know he said it when he was discussing his casting, while on the set of Isengard (soz if i spelt it wrong). So yh, film one. I'm a bit busy to add it now, but I may do it later, unless anyone else wants to (if you do, please tell us here, so I don't add it when it's already been added. --Imagine Wizard (talk • contribs • count) Iway amway Imagineway Izardway. 15:27, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

Knighthood

The man has to get one soon.

Okay, he has that. Let's hope that he gets an honorary Oscar too while he's still around.WHPratt (talk) 13:47, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

DiZ?

I know that Christopher plays Ansem, but has anyone thought that perhaps Ansem was MODELLED after Lee?

I did take that into consideration, but Mr. Christopher Lee never had blonde hair.

i guess this'd be a good place to ask this, does anybody know why christopher lee isn't voicing ansem in kingdom hearts birth by sleep?--98.18.69.176 (talk) 00:13, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

POV

This is written like a press release by a Christopher Lee publicist lol

Batman!

This is related moreso towards Hammer than Lee himself, but, has anyone noticed that Dracula in Batman vs. Dracula looks exactly like Christopher Lee in Scars of Dracula and+? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.222.238.42 (talk) 02:31, 23 February 2007 (UTC).

Oh my gosh! I'm not the only person! I noticed that as well!

J.B. Tito

Does anubody know something more about C. Lee`s taking part in the Second World War finishing in Yugoslavia. My unproved information is that he was the bond between UK government and Yugoslav partisans` Supreme command in 1944. Same information is that he speaks Serbo - Croat language well. Thank you. Cheers. Petronije 12:22, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

• The Yugoslavia bit is noticably skimmed over in his autobiography. That's possibly the time he was in SOE. He has has generally said that he's not going to talk about anything that was secret. 205.201.7.191 23:04, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Christopher Lee in the movie "Pope John Paul II"

He played cardinal Wyszyński in the 2005 movie "Pope John Paul II". See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II_(movie).

Gay?

Quite a few people I know have got wind of a rumour that CL is gay. Does anyone have any evidence pointing one way or t'other? Alexrushfear 13:06, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

As usual, the Gay Lobby desires to inject unfounded rumor and smearing innuendo into an article on a famous person. This is to further their intention to have homosexuality accepted as a normal practice instead of the unnatural, immature danger that it is.Lestrade 20:48, 31 October 2007 (UTC)Lestrade

Wow. The question is a rather silly one (unless there are verifiable sources- he's been married for decades), but the response was way out of line. ChrisStansfield ^Contribs 21:08, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

No, he is certainly not gay. Although I think he has, in the past, endorsed gay rights. If someone found some quotes relating to his political beliefs, they might want to include them. UserID Browned. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.81.103.9 (talk) 20:14, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

No he isn't and local rumors violate WP:OR. Also Lestrade, can please stop posting your Homophobic views on talk pages! Some people may get offended! FM [ talk to me | show contributions ]  17:51, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Lee as Marvolo Gaunt

Wizard magazine nominated Christopher Lee to play Marvolo Gaunt in the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince Erudil 17:39, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Links to Film Entries in Wikipedia

I have just finished making a number of minor edits to the CL article, essentially adding links to the films (mainly from the Hammer Era) that have entries in Wikipedia. I assume this is not counter to the intentions of the author or the great man himself. --Blue Dwarf 15:57, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Christopher Lee as Dracula.jpg

Image:Christopher Lee as Dracula.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 04:58, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Lee's Height

I am not convinced that Lee is really 6ft5 tall. True, he is very tall but I have never seen any official verification of his exact height. I know that he was at lease 6ft4 when he was younger. -- Vitus Werdegast (talk) 17:20, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

He is listed as being 6ft 5 on the imdb website [3] Paul210 (talk) 20:39, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

• Most places put him at 6'5", I think. Regardless, he is very tall for an actor and says this hampered his career. Guy (Help!) 15:31, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Related to Tolkien??

Is there any truth to him being related to Tolkien?Rickremember (talk) 08:09, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

No, but CL knew Tolkein when CL was younger (information from LOTR FOTR, Exdended Edition Behind scenes DVD)

David Croft

Lee has starred with most of Dad's Army (Not with Walker and Pike) but does anyone know how many people he worked with who also worked with David Croft. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.64.127.63 (talk) 18:46, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:SarumanLOTR.jpg

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Korean-Englishman

The introductory section to his article says that he is Korean, which redirects to Koreans in the United Kingdom, but is not mentioned anywhere else in the article. Just wondering where this comes from. Darthjarek (talk) 01:23, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

It comes either from vandalism, or someone confusing the 80 year old English actor with a 30-something Korean businessman and has already been removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.65.227.195 (talk) 04:54, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Lee witnessing the execution of Eugen Weidmann

I have deleted this reference for three reasons. First of all, it was unsourced (though I hear tell it's from his biography). Second, it had absolutely no relevance to where it was placed (this was the context: "Instead, Lee attended Wellington College (Berkshire), where he won scholarships in classics. Lee witnessed the execution of Eugen Weidmann, the last person to be publicly executed in France, in June 1939). So he went to Wellington College and - as if in the process - witnessed the last execution in France? Third, though an interesting piece of trivia, it's not really significant. And if I may be so bold, as much as I like Christopher Lee, if his own biography is the only source it should be taken with a grain of salt. --Tsuka (talk) 21:43, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

SOE secrecy

The claim that "all details of actions undertaken by members of the SOE are still classified" is odd, and demonstrably false. Wikipedia itself has a list of SOE members and the exploits of quite a few of them, and indeed books have been written about SOE exploits, so I wonder where the claim that they are still classified comes from. Placing a "citation needed" would seem to cast doubt on the whole SOE thing in its entirety, however, so I opted just to snip away the excess. --Tsuka (talk) 14:27, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

He says this in his autobiography, in fact I think the first edition doesn't mention SOE at all, but talks about being a 'commando'. I think it's dubious too. It is just about possible that there are missions (politically sensitive assassinations of 'allies'?) that are still secret... Lovingboth (talk) 11:52, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Guiness Record Holder

He has acted in 266 movies but others have acted in more. For example, the tamil actress Manorama has acted in more than 1500 of them. Therefore, it could be edited to read "in Hollywood" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.193.4.15 (talk) 13:59, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

Yes but it is real movies we are talking about. Not estern-wannerbe-movies! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.181.71.146 (talk) 13:04, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Bacon number information

Per the Internet archive, The Oracle of Bacon's earliest archived page lists Christopher Lee as The Center of the Hollywood Universe (there might be earlier Center info if the URL from when it was at U of Virginia can be found). This lasted until he was supplanted by Rod Steiger in the 2003 list. Would it be appropriate to mention that here somewhere, or is it best mentioned only on the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon page? Tm14 (talk) 10:34, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Is the same Christopher Lee?

I notice there is a Christoper Lee who is cast in Scorcese's Hugo. Is this the same actor? If so, this role he plays is not included in his Biography or his filmography. Pjt48 (talk) 13:58, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes --85.23.206.44 (talk) 17:10, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

BLP

"Stories vary as to why Lee did not feature in the 1960 sequel The Brides of Dracula. Some[who?] state that Hammer was unwilling to pay Lee his current fee, but most[who?] tend to believe that he simply did not wish to be typecast. Lee did, however, return to the role in Hammer's Dracula: Prince of Darkness in 1965. Lee's performance is notable in that he has no lines, merely hissing his way through the film. Again, stories vary as to the reason for this: Lee states he refused to speak the poor dialogue he was given, but screenwriter Jimmy Sangster claims that the script did not contain any lines for the character. This film set the standard for most of the Dracula sequels in the sense that half the film's running time was spent on telling the story of Dracula's resurrection and the character's appearances were brief. Lee has gone on record to state that he was virtually "blackmailed" by Hammer into starring in the subsequent films; unable or unwilling to pay him his going rate, they would resort to reminding him of how many people he would put out of work if he did not take part." - there are a load of BLP violations here, accusations of unprofessional behaviour really should be cited or removed. Sophie means wisdom (talk) 13:45, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

Work with rhapsody of fire

Christopher Lee has done quite a bit of voice acting for rhapsody of fire on a couple of their albums, but I don't see any info about that. Can someone who isn't as noob at wiki as me add it in? 50.135.250.142 (talk) 03:43, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

SNL Joke?

The current version of the article contains the following completely inexplicable line:

In 1978, Lee surprised many people with his willingness to go along with a joke by appearing as guest host on NBC's Saturday Night Live.

That's it, that's all the detail provided. What's "the joke"? Being guest host? That makes no sense. Was it when he flubbed the line, introducing Meat Loaf (he read the cue card, and instead of saying, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Meat Loaf!", he said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Loaf!", ostensibly thinking the card meant for him to say, "Meet Loaf", instead of "Meat Loaf", and he just decided to drop the "meet", which he incorrectly assumed was superfluous. Anyway, I don't know if that was an intentional "joke", but neither did the editor who added that, so if it's not better explained, I'm eventually going to remove the whole thing. 76.106.149.108 (talk) 20:21, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

trained opera singer?

From time to time, someone claims that he is also a trained opera singer. HE surely has an operatic bass-baritone voice, and has sung such parts, but did he receive actual operatic training, and if so where and when? There's nothing about it in the article... -- megA (talk) 19:26, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

German fluency

The article claims that he is fluent in German (the reference for this claim is an article that never makes that claim), however he has appeared in interviews wherein he states he doesn't speak German so well because he has never studied it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zd9jA1WNCc) and there's another video where he has to have an earpiece for the German to be interpreted in English for him (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=572LUZA3veg). I think this is enough proof to downgrade his German ability to moderate instead of fluent. Unimaginable666 (talk) 10:01, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

More or less as an aside, I met him once in Italy; and I can attest to his fluency in Italian. JHobson3 (talk) 14:40, 6 July 2014 (UTC)

18 November 2012 Death Rumors

I can't find a reliable source to support the ip editor's claim, so I am reverting it. If he did indeed die, please provide a credible source. Paulthomas2 (talk) 13:36, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Guinness World Record

The second paragraph of the lead states: "He has performed roles in 275 films since 1946 making him the Guinness World Records title holder for most film acting roles ever." The source of the reference is an article from The Metro dated 14 September 2008. The articles states that Lee "was listed in the 2001 record book as the star with the most screen appearances to his name – after playing about 300 film and TV roles." The lead gives no indication as to when this occurred or whether it holds true in 2013.

The Metro article was about Lee appearing in the then forthcoming Guinness World Records 2009 as Most Connected Living Actor. Aside from Lee still being alive, the title is quite arbitrary and based on a university database of who has worked with whom. Is the database kept up to date; and is not being identified as living “in the centre of the Hollywood universe" (which appears to be a quote from the University of Virginia) rather an indication of bias in analysis of the worldwide profession of acting? Kmitch87 (talk) 00:58, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

Almer Mater?

Seeing as he's a British Actor, and "Alma Mater" is an American phrase (as stated in its relevant article), wouldn't a re-wording do better? That would seem to meet Wikipedia's policy on geodialect-relevant articles being predominantly written in the applicable dialect. Alternatives might be "Secondary School" or "Sixth Form". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.145.30.66 (talk) 13:47, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

Alma Mater isn't an American phrase, it's Latin. And it doesn't mean "Secondary School" or "Sixth Form", it just means "old school". It has been used this way for considerably longer than the United States has existed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.93.66.145 (talk) 01:06, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

But isn't the use of Alma Mater for the "college from which an individual has graduated or which they have attended" [to quote Wikipedia] not a modern American expression?Royalcourtier (talk) 04:22, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

'Alma Mater' isn't used in the UK - I suspect many other English speaking countries don't use it either. A large proportion of British people won't have heard it, or seen it in print. Notreallydavid (talk) 22:24, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

I do not know what on what evidence Notreallydavid bases his comment, but as far as I know, it is still common usage in the UK. Although it may be less frequently used now than in the past, as the use of Latin phrases has declined, that is an insufficient reason to avoid its use. Philip Cross (talk) 04:40, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

It is certainly NOT "common usage" in the UK. It is an American expression.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 01:05, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

Include war service in introduction?

Could anyone who has the skills mention his war service in the introduction? I only just found out about it and am impressed and surprised.

It would be good for it to get a mention at the top of the article where people skim as they browse, and I think it is a relatively little known fact.

Another Christmas Album

He's releasing "A Heavy Metal Christmas Too" [4] 24.188.197.22 (talk) 15:27, 14 December 2013 (UTC)

Rumors of Occultism?

Rumors of Occultism, I was under the impression that Wikpedia doesn't dabble in rumors. Mlpearc (open channel) 20:11, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

To support that claim, in the first quote regarding his experience with M.R. James, Lee himself admits that "few men have created such a profound impression upon me, and I partially attribute my lifelong interest in the occult to my subsequent discovery of the horror stories penned by that most intriguing and intimidating of men". Also, check out Lee's first album as a singer, called "Christopher Lee Sings Devils, Rogues & Other Villains (1998)". There's no Wiki-article about it yet, but it was produced by the two creative minds behind a satano-fascist band called Radio Werewolf, Nikolas Schreck & Zeena Schreck (née LaVey, the daughter of Anton Szandor LaVey), a pair of self-confessed satanists and ritual magicians. The album was published through their very own label "Wolfslair, Inc." as you can see here and here. Considerung these facts, it seems quite likely that Lee's quote in the last paragraph of the article, that he had met "people who claimed to be Satanists. Who claimed to be involved with black magic. Who claimed that they not only knew a lot about it," and that he "warn[s] all of you never, never, never [get involved]. You will not only lose your mind, you'll lose your soul" is referring directly to the Schreck's, but since there's no further evidence or proof to support this conclusion, that part stays highly speculative, although the fact remains that they created, produced and published his first full-length album in 1998. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.240.121.238 (talk) 05:34, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

260 squadron mutiny

I can understand members of 260 Squadron being "frustrated with a lack of news", but why specifically about "the Eastern Front and the Soviet Union in general". This was a British not a Russian unit. How and when did Lee become "an expert on Russia", and how was this relevant to him talking 260 Squadron "into submission" (more likely out of mutiny)?Royalcourtier (talk) 04:01, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

Hi Royalcourtier. I don't have the book to hand atm, but iirc they were frustrated after hearing conflicting information about the Eastern front and the Soviet Union - whether the Soviets were advancing, whether they were really allies etc. As detailed in the section above, Lee had stayed with Russian families on a Summer holiday in the south of France just before the war began and had since then become an expert on Russia, so he was able to answer their questions. Hope this helps. Tiller54 (talk) 19:31, 9 November 2014 (UTC)

Page photograph

The picture representing Christopher Lee is not a photograph. It is a digital painting of some sort. Shouldn't we use a photograph instead? Gotmountains (talk) 07:39, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Is it correct to use a picture of him in his later years, now that he is deceased?

Death

The Telegraph are reporting Christopher Lee has died - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11666316/christopher-lee-dies-live.html --Beeurd (talk) 11:39, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

Note that above link clearly includes a reproduction of his death certificate dated 7 June. Paul B (talk) 12:23, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

Beat me too it by a minute! On edit: Which, it has just been pointed out to me, is about 93 years too late to be a birth certificate...! _Fortuna ^{Imperatrix Mundi} 12:25, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

The date of his death has been confirmed as the seventh day of June. Very clear and unarguable.--Julius R.S (talk) 13:20, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

You just woke up?! I think that's been established by now. "LOL" _Fortuna ^{Imperatrix Mundi} 13:23, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

It would be nice to have a prime-age photograph of him up front. While he was an elder statesman of his craft, the aged picture made sense, but no longer. I'd say that Dracula was okay, but that would probably cause a fight! WHPratt (talk) 05:02, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

A Quote to remember

"The World is a sorry place. Sad place. What do we do about it? What do we do? Everything we can. When we can." -Christopher Lee at the "Women's World Awards" in 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zd9jA1WNCc?=2m47s — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.88.153.64 (talk) 00:31, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

The British Empire

Hello, guys. Why is "Born" pointed out that Christopher Lee was born in the United Kingdom? He was born in the British Empire.Federal Chancellor (NightShadow) (talk) 13:30, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

He was also born in 'The Northern Hemisphere, The World'; but we don't mention that either. Since when was the BE a country of birth... or a country at all? _Fortuna ^{Imperatrix Mundi} 13:32, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

Funny. See Template:Infobox person#Parameters ("Place of birth: city, administrative region, sovereign state.") and Template:Infobox person#Examples. Federal Chancellor (NightShadow) (talk) 13:58, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

Let me rephrase the point. No, hold on- I'll just repeat myself instead. Since when was the British Empire, then, a sovereign state? _Fortuna ^{Imperatrix Mundi} 14:05, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

The "sovereign state" in this case is the United Kingdom. The British Empire was not a sovereign state. Afterwriting (talk) 14:08, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

It's true. Federal Chancellor (NightShadow) (talk) 14:31, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for confirming that _Fortuna ^{Imperatrix Mundi} 14:33, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

"English" or "British"?

An argument has arisen about whether Lee ought to be referred to as "English" or "British" in the intro. Can any experts on the MoS guidelines shed light any light on this? Thanks. Afterwriting (talk) 15:20, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

He was accurately described on this article as being English since at least 2006. Upon his death, an editor or two have decided to try and change it with no justification to British. I reverted those edits. The only guideline is to not go around changing such descriptions, unless you have a reference to justify the change. We wouldn't be having this discussion if he had been Scottish, Welsh or N. Irish.... 78.145.80.218 (talk) 15:32, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

No one is denying that he was English. Calling him British is also accurate. The question is what is considered more appropriate in Wikipedia articles. So please justify your preference for English with a reference to the Manual of Style instead of a "nobody else has complained" non-argument. Afterwriting (talk) 15:44, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

Most British people just call themselves English. Federal Chancellor (NightShadow) (talk) 18:51, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

Can you source that assertion? lol! _Fortuna ^{Imperatrix Mundi} 18:53, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

I don't watch RT. Most of the British people live in England, so the majority of British describe themselves as English (demonym). Federal Chancellor (NightShadow) (talk) 19:23, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

It's been a weird issue for quite some time but at the moment the prevailing attitude seems to be that English, Scottish, Welsh, and (Northern) Irish should be used. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.168.192.35 (talk) 12:22, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

How odd - I can only offer anecdotal evidence: whenever I'm asked, I refer to myself as British or that I'm from the UK, or Britain. I cannot think of any occasion or need that would have required me to say 'English'. I *think* nationalists are more likely to describe themselves as English, but it seems picky. There is a far higher proportion of nationalists living in Wales, NI and Scotland, so I *think* if you ask someone from those countries where they're from they will name those places rather than say they're British. Frankly it all seems rather parochial - anyone living in England/Wales/NI/Scotland has a passport that says 'British', so that's where they're from, isn't it? 2A02:C7F:A01E:A100:CD7C:E7F6:2737:8286 (talk) 11:52, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

There is no such thing as "English" nationality, and there hasn't been since the Act of Union in 1707. Nor for that matter is there any such thing as "Scottish", "Welsh" or "Northern Irish" nationality either. Lee's nationality, as with all the people from England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, was and is, British.

Semi-protection

I have requested this vis a vis the repeated changing of his death-date. _Fortuna ^{Imperatrix Mundi} 15:42, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

 Done -Ty User:Ymblanter. _Fortuna ^{Imperatrix Mundi} 16:31, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

Poor phrasing?

"Lee died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 7 June 2015 at 8:30 am after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure, shortly after celebrating his 93rd birthday there" -- did Lee celebrated his birthday in hospital? 37.144.65.76 (talk) 21:25, 11 June 2015 (UTC)

The Independent source used says 'He celebrated his 93rd birthday in hospital' 80.1.219.140 (talk) 04:06, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I think 'celebrate' implies some sort of enjoyment of an occasion and is misplaced here. By way of example, someone in a persistent vegetative state for decades wouldn't be described as 'celebrating' their birthday each year in hospital, would they? 2A02:C7F:A01E:A100:CD7C:E7F6:2737:8286 (talk) 11:55, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

ext links

The ext links looks ok to me but it has been tagged as excessive. The two news article should be move to the botton so the more important links to the bios can move up. 118.93.90.74 (talk) 23:26, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

 Done by another - Arjayay (talk) 11:09, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

Does anyone know?

Does anyone know if his funeral had taken place or if he was buried or cremated? Just curious because he was such a big part of my life! --TDKR Chicago 101 (talk) 05:03, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

External links modified

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20140224035253/http://christopherleeweb.com:80/pages/biography to http://christopherleeweb.com/pages/biography
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110826092935/http://www.surreycomet.co.uk:80/leisure/8985362.The_author_who_inspired_The_Wicker_Man___/ to http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/leisure/8985362.The_author_who_inspired_The_Wicker_Man___/
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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080714193424/http://www.cinematical.com:80/2008/07/13/christopher-lee-wont-return-to-middle-earth/ to http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/13/christopher-lee-wont-return-to-middle-earth/
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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20101101102724/http://www.manowar.com:80/news_body.php?idnews=486 to http://www.manowar.com/news_body.php?idnews=486
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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20100919184242/http://christopherleeweb.com/story/charlemagne-music-samples to http://christopherleeweb.com/story/charlemagne-music-samples

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External links modified

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Fixed in this edit. ―Mandruss ☎ 22:57, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Apostrophes, March 2016

"It's", meaning "it has", is not possessive. In this case, the apostrophe indicates omission, as in "he's", "I'm", "we're", etc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.135.43.47 (talk)

Absolute rubbish laddie. Get on with your work. _Fortuna ^{Imperatrix Mundi} 09:05, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

You need to brush up, sunshine. Adios. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.135.43.47 (talk) 17:37, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

Ah yes, I did mess up a couple times there. My bad. Thank you Fortuna, for fixing those. I suppose I should have looked at the disambiguation page for its for clarification. Those Wikipedia articles can be so handy. Richard-of-Earth (talk) 06:10, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

Where are his remains?

After his death, did the family bury him or cremate him? This is the part the family never disclosed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:6001:E790:5800:9D78:AACF:3F56:1932 (talk) 00:58, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

Are you seeking information, or suggesting a change to the article? If the former, please see the statement near the top of this page: "This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject" and the Wikipedia policy to which it links, WP:NOTFORUM, item 4. If the latter, Wikipedia bio articles rarely show place of burial, let alone whether a body was cremated. ―Mandruss ☎ 07:07, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

Mandrus, I've been on Wikipedia a lot. If you are saying I broke the rules, look at other people on this site asking for remains. A lot of articles show the grave. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:6001:E790:5800:28D1:261B:CF4D:7F8B (talk) 19:56, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

For the most part, Wikipedia's part-time volunteers don't have access to any information resources that you don't. Most of it is online (found using Google search) or at the library. Thus, if we can find this information in a reliable source, so can you. It's possible someone will happen along and feel like researching this, but usually you have to do the research if you want it in the article. However, you can go to Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous and ask the question(s) there. Best of luck finding Mr. Lee's remains. ―Mandruss ☎ 22:27, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Mandruss, there's a guy named Klove who probably has your answer. He carries around this rather ornate box. I peeked, and it's full of gray ash. Odd fellow, but quite pleasant. He served us dinner tonight, and we've never even met him him. In fact, when we arrived, he already had dinner prepared. Ted Newsom (talk) 05:43, 26 June 2016 (UTC)

Aspects of War Service

There is some controversy regarding some of Lee's claims of war service - newspaper reports of Historian Gavin Mortimer's commentary can be found here [5][6]Nickm57 (talk) 11:56, 13 September 2016 (UTC) Just found Mortimer's article here [7]Nickm57 (talk) 12:06, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

CBE?

If Christopher Lee is a knight, then why does it say he is a CBE which is a commander of the British Empire. Furthermore, he was crowned a knight in 2008. So we should fix thisBroncosman12 (talk) 18:30, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

As said in the article, he was a made a Knight Bachelor in 2009. (See https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/59090/supplement/1 ) There is no post-nominal for this, you just style them as "Sir". He was earlier made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2001, so he is entitled to "CBE" after his name. They can only have so many Knight Commanders of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire at one time and per the [BBC's Guide to the Honours], it is only awarded to diplomats abroad. Apparently the combination of CBE and Knight Bachelor is the highest they will go for entertainers. I think all other knighthood ranks are limited in number. Richard-of-Earth (talk) 09:09, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

Sir Roger Moore, entertainer, was a KBE.WHPratt (talk) 00:34, 24 June 2017 (UTC)

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Possible photograph, 1940

When Lee was in Finland, he and other English volunteers were possibly photographed by the army on 1 March 1940. The photograph was recently noted but it awaits confirmation. See this article where Lee may be the fourth person from the left in the picture. Can those people be identified? --Mlang.Finn (talk) 13:53, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Can’t confirm. I’d wait for a reliable positive identification. Idell (talk) 14:20, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Military service section is all lies

Ban evasion by User:HarveyCarter.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Historian Gavin Mortimer said Lee never served in the SAS or the SOE. (86.149.119.175 (talk) 13:06, 2 June 2022 (UTC)) The service is reliably cited. Quote and cite your source and the evidence it brings to invalidate earlier claims? Chiswick Chap (talk) 13:13, 2 June 2022 (UTC) Guy Walters also confirmed Lee clearly lied about his war record: https://allthatsinteresting.com/christopher-lee-military-career (86.149.119.175 (talk) 18:33, 2 June 2022 (UTC)) That source merely alludes to further claims, basically saying that Lee was attached to those units but was not a member of them. The article already says the same. Hardly 'all lies'. Chiswick Chap (talk) 19:09, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

Decades spanned

The article says, early on, "With a career spanning nearly seven decades ...."

If we're going to reference a "career span" in decades, perhaps we need a standard for this particular usage. I think it can be nicely descriptive, adding just enough exaggeration to make a valid point. (I got into this on the George Abbott talk page). Sir Christopher's career began in the 40s, went on through the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80, 90s, 2000s, and ended in the 2010s (I'll ignore posthumous appearances via old footage, as indeed we should.)

If we're counting "decades spanned" rather than years, the criterion ought to be a simple checkbox. "Forties? Check. Fifties? Check." And so on, through "2010s? Check." I'd say that his career spanned eight decades.

Counting entire decades and using fractions seems to violate the ten-year principle. (Of course, it all depends upon one's definition of a decade, but I'd argue for a construct wherein the third digit trips over on a rigorous interpretation of the Gregorian Calendar, i.e., 1971-1980 is two decades, but 1971-1979 is just one. It must be an integer, so no need for the word "nearly;" a partial decade is still a decade. 1971-1990 gets you into a third decade.) If you want to split it further, just state "spanned xx years" and be done with it.

If I should state that Mickey Rooney's career spanned ten decades, I expect some quizzical frowns, but it's worthwhile in expressing a remarkable long career. If we were debating two or three decades, nobody would care.

"Spanned" doesn't equate to "filled" or "encompassed." Use those words at your own risk, to play up or play down a certain number for dramatic purposes.WHPratt (talk) 23:41, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for the thoughts. A 'decades' phrasing is indeed a piece of rhetoric, so (unless directly attributed) ought to be avoided. Further, we're in OR territory if we apply rules such as yours; and sharp-eyed reviewers would rightly pull us up if we said 8 when the source inconveniently and by the rules illogical said 7. I'll remove it now. Chiswick Chap (talk) 05:10, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Information concerning burial

I removed the bit which claims that Christopher Lee was cremated and his ashes scattered - it had been there for a long time with no source provided, and there doesn't seem to be any real source for the claim (IMDB and Find a Grave also claim this, but they themselves are not sources; anyone can edit them, and I couldn't find any real source for these claims). --82.181.143.171 (talk) 01:18, 1 March 2019 (UTC)

Many thanks, I'm obviously very glad this one finally made it. Chiswick Chap (talk) 04:51, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

Tall stories about Lee's war

An editor is repeatedly inserting material on Lee's supposed wartime adventures, which are now known to consist mostly of his own invention. The fact that Lee succeeded in deceiving other authors does not make the claims true. The attested facts about his war are already in the article; most or all of the rest is fiction, and should not have any place here. Continued attempts to insert the material constitute disruptive editing. Chiswick Chap (talk) 14:57, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

We can state what Lee has said about the war but if reliable sources dispute the accuracy of the claims we should note that as well. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 15:20, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Well, if we're to do that then we would have to state "Lee claimed that" followed by a very brief summary, followed at once by the rebuttals. We certainly shouldn't be retailing the claims as facts.

* Article by Gavin Mortimer: Sir Christopher Lee and Other Special Forces Fantasists (in the Spectator, July 2015)

* Reportage on that article: Sir Christopher Lee's SAS War Record Was Hammed Up, Historian Claims (in the Telegraph) --- Chiswick Chap (talk) 15:24, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Charlamagne

Is Lee's descent from Charlamagne particualarly notable? I thought everyone in Europe was? (See here, for example). It's not even clear from the links provided that he has documented descent from Charlamagne, the first one says the Caradini family is "believed to have been connected with the Emperor Charlemagne", and the latter mentions it in passing while saying the lineage "stretch[es] back possibly to Ancient Rome" -- which is meaningless enough to bring the whole sentence into question. 79.71.47.86 (talk) 12:04, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

Many thanks. Yes, you're probably right, it doesn't add anything. I'll remove the Charlemagne mention now. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:27, 30 October 2022 (UTC)