Christopher Lee RIP

[StillMadAtSlobber]

'It's terrible when you lose an old friend': Roger Moore leads tributes as Hammer Horror and Lord of the Rings star Sir Christopher Lee dies at 93


By Hugo Gye for MailOnline

Published: 06:35 EST, 11 June 2015 | Updated: 10:04 EST, 11 June 2015

Film legend Sir Christopher Lee has died at the age of 93, prompting an outpouring of grief from Hollywood stars.

The actor - who found fame in the Hammer Horror films before becoming known to a new generation through his role in fantasy blockbusters - had been treated for heart failure and respiratory problems in hospital.

He died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London on Sunday morning after three weeks of treatment, but his widow decided to withhold the news until today so family and friends could be informed.

Wizard: Sir Christopher was known to a new generation as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings films

Sir Christopher played Dracula in a series of classic films produced by Hammer Horror, and played Bond villain Scaramanga in 1974's The Man With the Golden Gun, starring Mr Moore.

In later life, he kept himself in the public eye with his roles in Lord of the Rings, where he played evil wizard Saruman, and the Star Wars prequels.

Some of his most acclaimed performances came in cult films - Sir Christopher starred in The Wicker Man, about a remote community living on a Scottish island, and Jinnah, a biopic about the founder of Pakistan.
After the news broke today, stars and fans paid tribute to the actor whose influence spanned several generations thanks to his more than 200 films.

Jonathan Ross said: 'So sad to hear that Sir Christopher Lee has died. A great actor, a great star, a surprisingly good singer and a lovely lovely man.'

Comedian Omid Djalili wrote on Twitter: 'Scared the living daylights out of me for years. And I loved him for it. RIP Christopher Lee.'

And Boris Johnson added: 'Really sad to hear about the death of Christopher Lee, one of the greatest British actors and a master of the macabre.'

David Cameron made a reference to the death of Ron Moody, who famously played Fagin, saying: 'I'm saddened by the deaths of Sir Christopher Lee and Ron Moody. Both starred in films that are treasured by millions.'

His Lord of the Rings co-star Dominic Monaghan wrote: 'So so sorry to hear that Christopher Lee has passed away. He was a fascinating person. Threw a Bic pen into a tree in front of me.'

Sir Christopher was married for 54 years to Birgit Kroencke, a Danish former model. The couple have one daughter, Christina.

He served in the Special Forces during the Second World War, but always refused to discuss what he had done during the war, saying he was bound by an oath of secrecy.

The actor hinted at his military expertise during the filming of a gory scene in Lord of the Rings, when he asked director Peter Jackson: 'Peter, have you ever heard the sound a man makes when he’s stabbed in the back? Well, I have, and I know what to do.'



Honour: The Prince of Wales knighted Sir Christopher at Buckingham Palace in October 2009

As well as his acclaimed acting career, he had a sideline as a heavy metal singer, releasing four albums in the past two decades, two of which were concept albums about the medieval emperor Charlemagne.

He also unmasked himself as an unlikely Tory in later life, speaking out in support of Michael Howard, William Hague and David Cameron.

Sir Christopher's appearance in Lord of the Rings was the culmination of a life-long dream - he was such a fan of the books that he read them every year, and had once met J.R.R. Tolkien.

His only regret was that he was be that time too old to play Gandalf, a more energetic role, and had to settle for the portrayal of the powerful but twisted 'white wizard' Saruman.

Sir Christopher was awarded the CBE in 2001, and was knighted six years ago for services to drama and charity, although due to his age he was excused from the duty to kneel.

His final film appearance is set to be in Angels of Notting Hill, a comedy about the clash of the everyday with celestial beings.

The actor refused to retire even in his 90s, once saying: 'When I die I want to die with my boots on.'

From Prince of Darkness to knight of the realm: The remarkable life and times of Christopher Lee

By JENNY AWFORD

Fame: Christopher Lee as Dracula, the role that first propelled him to public attention

With his piercing eyes, booming voice and chilling presence, Sir Christopher Lee will be forever immortalised as the Prince of Darkness.

His menacing charisma established him early on as one of the film industry’s world-class villains and he went on to star in more than 260 movies before his death at 93.

Sir Christopher brought a demonic intensity to all his roles and became a household name playing notorious villains including Dracula, Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun, Saruman in the Lord Of The Rings, and Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels.

Hammer Films gave him his big break when they cast him as the creature in 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein.

His remarkable mime performance as the brain-damaged monster convinced the studio to cast him in his definitive role as the Count in Dracula.

Suddenly Sir Christopher was a bankable star.

Concerned at being typecast in blood-curdling roles and wanting to break free from his image of Dracula, he agreed to star in the 1973 film, The Wicker Man, for free and considers it one of his greatest roles.

He was knighted for services to drama and charity in 2009 and received a BAFTA Fellowship in 2011.

The Hammer Films icon was also presented with a prized British Film Institute Fellowship by his Sleepy Hollow co-star, Johnny Depp, at the 2013 London Film Festival.

Depp described him as a 'national treasure' and said working with Lee was a 'childhood dream come true'.

Often hailed as 'legendary', Sir Christopher once joked: 'To be a legend, you've either got to be dead or excessively old.'


[img]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/11/13/001451411000044C-3119852-image-a-81_1434026675683.jpg
[/img]Cult: The actor starred in 1973's The Wicker Man, which became a beloved classic in later years



Villain: Sir Christopher played Scaramanga in 1974 Bond film The Man With the Golden Gun

SAYINGS OF CHRISTOPHER LEE

‘I was once asked what I thought was the most disquieting thing you could see on the screen and I said, "An open door".’

‘I will play no more monsters. Dracula is different; he is such an exciting person.’

‘A real actor has to have an awful lot of imagination, and I do have a great deal.’

‘Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff didn't like the word "horror". They, like I, went for the French description: the theatre of the fantastique.’

‘There are many vampires in the world today - you only have to think of the film business.’

Standing at an imposing height of 6ft 5in, the world champion fencer did all of his own stunts and holds a Guinness World Record for participating in more on-screen sword fights than any actor in history.

Fluent in English, Italian, French, Spanish and German, he added to his impressive resume by providing the voice-over for many films and video games, including cult classic The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Sir Christopher also used his resonant and unmistakable tones to record several musical works and said he would rather have been an opera singer than anything else.

He became the oldest person ever to record lead vocals on a heavy metal track when he released a progressive symphonic power metal EP about the life of Charlemagne at the age of 88.

By the Sword and the Cross was so well received that he was honoured with the Spirit of Metal award in the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden God awards ceremony.

His career and unusual home life was recounted with self-deprecating wit in his autobiography, Lord of Misrule.

The book gives the reader a privileged glimpse into his upbringing and family life, revealing that he is descended from papal nobility.

[img]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/06/11/13/000649F600000C1D-3119852-image-m-78_1434026534398.jpg
Wedding: Sir Christopher married Birgit Kroencke in 1961; they are pictured on their wedding day
Devoted: The couple stayed together for more than half a century, and had a daughter named Christina


Devoted: The couple stayed together for more than half a century, and had a daughter named Christina
Family: Sir Christopher and Lady Lee with Christina at a film festival in 2006
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Family: Sir Christopher and Lady Lee with Christina at a film festival in 2006

His mother, Contessa Estelle Marie, was a famous Edwardian beauty who was painted by Sir John Lavery, Oswald Birley and Olive Snell.

Sir Christopher was happily married to Danish model Birgit Kroencke for 53 years and they had a daughter named Christina Erika Carandini Lee.

Before breaking into the film industry, he served in the Royal Air Force and intelligence services during the Second World War.

He was tasked with helping to track down Nazi war criminals in 1945 when he was seconded to the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects.

Sworn to secrecy, Sir Christopher has been guarded about disclosing any details of his work in military intelligence.

He said: ‘When people say to me, you know - were you in this? Were you in that? Did you work in this? Did you work in that? I always used to say ‘Can you keep a secret?’ And they would say 'Yes, yes' and I would say "So can I".’

Although he will probably be most remembered for his portrayal of a bloodsucking vampire, the true story of his life is actually more strange and fascinating than any of the films he starred in.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3119852/Sir-Christopher-Lee-dies-hospital-aged-93.html

[fractalsteel]

Great actor-best Dracula ever.

[JackLambert58]

RIP Sir Christopher but I go with Bela for best Dracula ever.

[jeemie]

A meme going around- I don't know how many of the things listed here are true, but I know many of them are, and if they are all true, the guy was a genuine bad ass!

[R_S]

A meme going around- I don't know how many of the things listed here are true, but I know many of them are, and if they are all true, the guy was a genuine bad ass!

meh....he never even worked at a bank.

[StillMadAtSlobber]

Nuts. I should have wiki'd him earlier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee#Military_service_in_World_War_II

Military service in World War II

When World War II broke out, Lee volunteered to fight for the Finnish forces during the Winter War in 1939.[34] He and other British volunteers were kept away from actual fighting, but they were issued winter gear and were posted on guard duty a safe distance from the front lines. After a fortnight, they returned home.[35] Lee returned to work at United States Lines and found his work more satisfying, feeling that he was contributing. In early 1940, he joined Beecham's, at first as an office clerk, then as a switchboard operator.[36] When Beecham's moved out of London, he joined the Home Guard.[37] In the winter, his father fell ill with double pneumonia and died on 12 March 1941. Realising that he had no inclination to follow his father into the Army, Lee decided to join up while he still had some choice of service, and volunteered for the Royal Air Force.[38]

Lee reported to RAF Uxbridge for training and was then posted to the Initial Training Wing at Paignton.[39] After passing his exams in Liverpool, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan meant that he travelled on the Reina del Pacifico to South Africa, then to his posting at Hillside, at Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia.[40] Training with de Havilland Tiger Moths, Lee was having his penultimate training session before his first solo flight when he suffered from headaches and blurred vision. The medical officer hesitantly diagnosed a failure of his optic nerve and he was told he would never be allowed to fly again.[41] Lee was devastated and the death of a fellow trainee from Summer Fields only made him more despondent. His appeals were fruitless and he was left with nothing to do.[42] He was moved around to different flying stations, before going to Salisbury in December 1941.[43] He then visited the Mazowe Dam, Marandellas, the Wankie Game Reserve and the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. Thinking he should "do something constructive for my keep", he applied to join RAF Intelligence. His superiors praised his initiative and he was seconded into the Rhodesian Police Force and was posted as a warder at Salisbury Prison.[44] He was then promoted to leading aircraftman and moved to Durban in South Africa, before travelling to Suez on the Nieuw Amsterdam.[45]

After "killing time" at RAF Kasfareet near the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal Zone, he resumed intelligence work in the city of Ismaïlia.[46] He was then attached to No. 205 Group RAF before being commissioned as a pilot officer at the end of January 1943[47] and attached to No. 260 Squadron RAF as an intelligence officer.[48] As the North African Campaign progressed, the squadron "leapfrogged" between Egyptian airstrips, from RAF El Daba to Maaten Bagush and on to Mersa Matruh. They lent air support to the ground forces and bombed strategic targets. Lee, "broadly speaking, was expected to know everything."[49] The Allied advance continued into Libya, through Tobruk and Benghazi to the Marble Arch and then through El Agheila, Khoms and Tripoli, with the squadron averaging five missions a day.[50] As the advance continued into Tunisia, with the Axis forces digging themselves in at the Mareth Line, Lee was almost killed when the squadron's airfield was bombed.[51] After breaking through the Mareth Line, the squadron made their final base in Kairouan.[52] After the Axis surrender in North Africa in May 1943, the squadron moved to Zuwarah in Libya in preparation for the Allied invasion of Sicily.[53] They then moved to Malta, and, after its capture by the British Eighth Army, the Sicilian town of Pachino, before making a permanent base in Agnone Bagni.[54] At the end of July 1943 Lee received his second promotion of the year, this time to flying officer.[55] After the Sicilian campaign was over, Lee came down with malaria for the sixth time in under a year. He was flown to a hospital in Carthage for treatment and when he returned, the squadron was restless. Frustrated with a lack of news about the Eastern Front and the Soviet Union in general, and with no mail from home or alcohol, unrest spread and threatened to turn into mutiny. Lee, by now an expert on Russia, talked them into resuming their duties, which much impressed his commanding officer.[56]


Flying Officer C F C Lee in Vatican City, 1944, soon after The Liberation of Rome

After the Allied invasion of Italy, the squadron was based in Foggia and Termoli during the winter of 1943. Lee was then seconded to the Army during an officer's swap scheme.[57] He spent most of this time with the Gurkhas of the 8th Indian Infantry Division during the Battle of Monte Cassino.[58] While spending some time on leave in Naples, Lee climbed Mount Vesuvius, which erupted three days later.[59] During the final assault on Monte Cassino, the squadron was based in San Angelo and Lee was nearly killed when one of the planes crashed on takeoff and he tripped over one of its live bombs.[60] After the battle, the squadron moved to airfields just outside Rome and Lee visited the city, where he met his mother's cousin, Nicolò Carandini, who had fought in the Italian resistance movement.[61] In November 1944, Lee was promoted to flight lieutenant and left the squadron in Iesi to take up a posting at Air Force HQ.[62] Lee took part in forward planning and liaison, in preparation for a potential assault into the rumoured German Alpine Fortress.[63] After the war ended, Lee was invited to go hunting near Vienna and was then billeted in Pörtschach am Wörthersee.[64] For the final few months of his service, Lee, who spoke fluent French and German, among other languages, was seconded to the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects.[65] Here, he was tasked with helping to track down Nazi war criminals.[66] Of his time with the organisation, Lee said: "We were given dossiers of what they'd done and told to find them, interrogate them as much as we could and hand them over to the appropriate authority ... We saw these concentration camps. Some had been cleaned up. Some had not."[66] Lee then retired from the RAF in 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant.[65]

Lee's stepfather served as a captain in the Intelligence Corps, but it is unlikely he had any influence over Lee's military career. Lee saw him for the last time on a bus in London in 1940, by then divorced from Lee's mother, though Lee did not speak to him.[67] Lee mentioned that during the war he was attached to the Special Operations Executive and the Long Range Desert Patrol,[68][69] but always declined to go into details.
“ I was attached to the SAS from time to time but we are forbidden – former, present, or future – to discuss any specific operations. Let's just say I was in Special Forces and leave it at that. People can read in to that what they like.[70]

[StillMadAtSlobber]

A really good article here:

Rest In Peace Sir Christopher Lee
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/71898