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User:Tiller54/Christopher Lee in the 1990s

< User:Tiller54

Sir Christopher Lee
CBE CStJ
Lee at the Berlin International Film Festival, February 2013
Born
Christopher Frank Carandini Lee

(1922-05-27) 27 May 1922 (age 101)
Belgravia, London, England, United Kingdom
Alma materWellington College
Occupation(s)Actor, singer, author
Years active1946–present
SpouseBirgit Krøncke (1961–present)
Children1
Military career
Allegiance Finland
 United Kingdom
Service/branchFinnish Army (December 1939)
British Home Guard (1940)
 Royal Air Force (1941–1946)
Years of service1939–1946
RankFlight Lieutenant
Battles/warsWinter War
World War II (North African Campaign, Allied invasion of Italy, Battle of Monte Cassino)
Websitechristopherleeweb.com

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ, (born 27 May 1922) is an English actor, singer and author. Lee initially portrayed villains and became best known for his role as Count Dracula in a string of popular Hammer Horror films. His other notable roles include Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014), and Count Dooku in the final two films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy (2002 and 2005).

He was knighted for services to drama and charity in 2009, received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011 and received the BFI Fellowship in 2013.[1][2][3] Lee considers his best performance to be that of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah (1998), and his best film to be the British horror film The Wicker Man (1973).[4]

Always noted as an actor for his deep, strong voice, he has, more recently, also been known for using his singing ability, recording various opera and musical pieces between 1986 and 1998 and the symphonic metal album Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross in 2010 after having worked with several metal bands since 2005. The heavy metal follow-up titled Charlemagne: The Omens of Death was released on 27 May 2013.[5][6] He was honoured with the "Spirit of Metal" award in the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden God awards ceremony.

Christopher Lee is one of the highest grossing actors of all time, having grossed $8,321,486,066 worldwide.

1990s edit

In 1990, Lee appeared as the eccentric uncle of Peter O'Toole's character in Alejandro Jodorowsky's fantasy-drama The Rainbow Thief and played the mad scientist Doctor Catheter in Joe Dante's Gremlins 2: The New Batch.[7]

Lee made his latest appearances to date as Sherlock Holmes in 1991's Incident at Victoria Falls and 1992's Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady.

He returned to Italy in 1992 for the science fiction comedy Cyber Eden and travelled to Slovakia in 1996 for Princess Alisea, a television film by Lamberto Bava and successor to his Fantaghirò series.[8]

 
Lee at the Aubagne International Film Festival in September 1996.

Lee and Peter Cushing appeared in twenty-two films together for Hammer Films, Amicus Productions and other companies, including Hamlet (1948) and Moulin Rouge (1952) albeit in separate scenes; and in separate instalments of the Star Wars films, Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin in the original film, Lee decades later as Count Dooku. Their last film together was House of the Long Shadows and the last project which united them in person was a documentary, Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994), which they jointly narrated. It was the last time they saw each other as Cushing died two months later. While they frequently played off each other as mortal enemies onscreen—Lee's Count Dracula to Cushing's Professor Van Helsing—they were close friends in real life.[9]

In 1994, Lee played the character of the Russian commandant in Police Academy: Mission to Moscow.[10]

In 1995, he starred in the comedy A Feast at Midnight.[11]

In 1996, John Landis cast him in the comedy The Stupids. The script read "enter the archvillain, like Christopher Lee", and so Landis cast him.[12] Also that year he travelled to Transylvania to make the documentary In Search of Dracula by Calvin Floyd, an American producer living in Stockholm.[13]

Lee next travelled to Lithuania to make the TV series The New Adventures of Robin Hood. He appeared in four episodes in the first season and one episode in each of the third and fourth seasons, playing the wizard Olwyn.[14]

In 1997, to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of Pakistan, Lee met with scholar Akbar S. Ahmed and director Jamil Dehlavi, who offered him the role of Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in the biographical epic Jinnah. Lee found that "for once, my height was a help".[15] The film caused some controversy in Pakistan, with the newspaper The News relentlessly attacking Lee and the film. The shoot was a difficult one, with an inexperienced director and the cast and crew accompanied everywhere by armed guards. Six weeks into shooting, the new government pulled financing for the film and production was suspended. Funds were found and the film was finished. It was shown at the New York Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival, London Film Festival and Cairo Film Festival, receiving "wonderful" reviews, the best of Lee's career. Unfortunately, it could not get a distributor outside of Pakistan, much to Lee's disappointment.[16] "As if actors are the characters they play. As if one couldn't by turns be Hitler and Nixon and a cannibal, or Charlie Bubbles and Churchill, or Richard III and Gandalf."[17]

In 1997, Lee starred in another adaptation of Ivanhoe, a TV mini-series of the same name, playing Lucas de Beaumanoir, the Grand Master of the Order of Templars, in his first work for the BBC.[18]

In Tale of the Mummy, Lee played the archaeologist Sir Richard Turkel. Filmed in Luxembourg with local Asian immigrants dressed as Egyptians, it passed well for Egypt, but was not well received.[19]

In 1998, Lee starred in the role of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of modern Pakistan, in the film Jinnah. While talking about his favourite role in film at a press conference at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, he declared that his role in Jinnah was by far his best performance.[20]

Lee was at one point considered for the role of comic book villain/hero Magneto in the screen adaptation of the popular comic book series X-Men, but the role went to Sir Ian McKellen, his co-star in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

References edit

  1. ^ "Hammer Horror star Lee knighted". BBC. Retrieved 7 May 2012
  2. ^ "Christopher Lee to receive Bafta Fellowship". BBC. Retrieved 7 May 2012
  3. ^ "Depp surprises Sir Christopher Lee with film award". BBC. Retrieved 14 December 2013
  4. ^ "The Total Film Interview – Christopher Lee". Total Film. 1 May 2005. Archived from the original on 12 June 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  5. ^ Sir Christopher Lee releases second heavy metal album
  6. ^ Farrell, John (28 May 2012). "Christopher Lee Celebrates 90th Birthday By Recording Heavy Metal". Forbes. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  7. ^ Lee 2003, p. 282-283.
  8. ^ Lee 2003, p. 286-287.
  9. ^ Lee 2003, p. 296-298.
  10. ^ Lee 2003, p. 290-292.
  11. ^ Lee 2003, p. 309-310.
  12. ^ Lee 2003, p. 288.
  13. ^ Lee 2003, p. 302.
  14. ^ Lee 2003, p. 317.
  15. ^ Lee 2003, p. 310-312.
  16. ^ Lee 2003, p. 313-316.
  17. ^ Lee 2003, p. 314.
  18. ^ Lee 2003, p. 320-321.
  19. ^ Lee 2003, p. 318.
  20. ^ "Christopher Lee talks about his favorite role". YouTube. 21 March 2002. Retrieved 5 August 2009.

Bibliography edit

  • Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror, edited by Russ Jones, illustrated by Mort Drucker & others, Pyramid Books, 1966
  • Christopher Lee's New Chamber of Horrors, Souvenir Press, 1974
  • Christopher Lee's Archives of Terror, Warner Books, Volume I, 1975; Volume 2, 1976
  • Tall, Dark and Gruesome (autobiography), W.H. Allen, 1977 and 1999
  • The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films, by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes, Titan Books, 1997 and 2007 – Foreword by Christopher Lee
  • Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History by Jonathan Rigby, Reynolds & Hearn, 2001 and 2003
  • The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare by Chris Smith, HarperCollins, 2003 – Foreword by Christopher Lee
  • Lee, Christopher (2003) [1977]. Lord of Misrule: The Autobiography of Christopher Lee. London: Orion Publishing Group. ISBN 0-75285-770-3.
  • Dans les griffes de la Hammer by Nicolas Stanzick, Le Bord de l'eau Editions, Paris, 2010.
  • Sir Christopher Lee by Laurent Aknin, Nouveau Monde Éditions, Paris, 2011.
  • Monsters in the Movies: 100 Years of Cinematic Nightmares, by John Landis, DK Publishing, 2011 – Interview with Christopher Lee
  • Le Seigneur du désordre (autobiography, a French version of Lord of Misrule), Christopher Lee, Camion Blanc (Coll. "Camion Noir"), 2013.

External links edit

 
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