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Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE (born May 27, 1922 in Belgravia, London, England) is an English actor known for his versatility, his professional longevity, and his distinctive basso delivery. Lee is best known for his portrayals of villains; he became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films. Other notable roles include Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man, Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, Count Dooku in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith as well as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. Lee's most recent film is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where he plays Willy Wonka's candy-hating dentist father.[1]
FamilyThe Carandinis, Lee's maternal ancestors, were given the right to bear the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Cinemareview cites: "Cardinal Consalvi was Papal Secretary of State at the time of Napoleon and is buried at the Pantheon in Rome next to the painter Raphael. His painting, by Lawrence hangs in Windsor Castle."[1] Lee's great-grandparents formed Australia's first opera company, performing before miners in towns in the outback.[3] Lee is a step-cousin of the late Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond spy novels. Fleming offered him the role of the title character in the first official Bond film Dr. No, and Lee enthusiastically accepted, but the producers had already chosen Joseph Wiseman for the part. In 1974, Lee finally got to play a James Bond villain, when he was cast as the deadly assassin Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun. Lee would reprise the role some thirty years later when he provided the voice of Scaramanga in the video game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.[4]
Early lifeLee was born in London in 1922, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Trollope Lee of the 60th King's Royal Rifle Corps, and the Marchesina Estelle Marie Carandini di Sarzano, whose grandfather had been an Italian political refugee who had sought refuge in Australia. Lee's mother was a famous Edwardian beauty who was painted by Sir John Lavery, as well as Oswald Birley, Olive Snell and sculpted by Clare Sheridan, a cousin of Winston Churchill. His parents separated when he was very young and his mother took Christopher and his sister Xandra to Switzerland, where Christopher was enrolled in Miss Fisher's Academy in Wengen and he played his first villainous role as Rumpelstiltskin. The family returned to London where Christopher attended Wagner's private school. His mother then married Harcourt 'Ingle' Rose, a banker and uncle of the James Bond author Ian Fleming. Lee then attended Wellington College, where he won scholarships in classics. He volunteered to fight for the Finnish forces during the Winter War against the Soviet Union in 1939 - though, as Lee admits in his autobiography, he and his fellow British volunteers were in Finland only a fortnight and kept well away from the Russian forces the whole time. He went on to serve in the Royal Air Force and intelligence during World War II. He trained in South Africa as a pilot but was forced to drop out due to vision problems. He eventually ended up in North Africa as Cipher Officer for No. 260 Squadron RAF and was with them through Sicily and Italy. Additionally, he has mentioned serving in Special Operations Executive. Lee retired from the RAF after the end of the War with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. Career as an actorImage:Christopher Lee as Dracula.jpg Christopher Lee in his signature role, as Dracula (1958) In 1946, Lee gained a seven-year contract with Rank Organisation after discussing his interest in acting with his mother's second cousin Nicolò Carandini, the Italian Ambassador. Carandini related to Lee that performance was in his blood as his great grandmother Marie Carandini had been a successful opera singer in Australia, a fact of which Lee was unaware. He made his film debut in Terence Young's Gothic romance, Corridor of Mirrors, in 1948. In 1948, Lee starred in Sir Laurence Olivier's film of Hamlet as a spear carrier. Throughout the next decade, he made nearly thirty films, playing mostly stock action characters. His first film for Hammer, made in 1957 with his close friend Peter Cushing, was The Curse of Frankenstein, in which he played Frankenstein's monster. That led to his first appearance as the infamous Transylvanian bloodsucker in the 1958 film Dracula (known as Horror of Dracula in the U.S.) Lee would become indelibly associated with the role and with the horror genre, making another eight films as Dracula, seven of them for Hammer. Increasingly disillusioned with the parts as written for him by Hammer's scriptwriters, he last donned the red-lined cape, red contact lenses and fangs in 1974's The Satanic Rites of Dracula. It took him many years to shake off his typecast image as a horror player, but over the past three decades he has proved himself an extremely able and versatile actor. Another of Lee's films was from the well known James Bond series, in which he played the title role in The Man with the Golden Gun. Because of his filming schedule in Bangkok, film director Ken Russell was unable to sign Lee to play The Specialist in Tommy (1975). That role eventually was given to Jack Nicholson. Image:Screenshot from Jinnah.jpg Christopher Lee portraying the founder of Pakistan, in the movie Jinnah (1998) Lee also appeared in the series of Fu Manchu films, starring as the eponymous villain in heavy oriental make-up. In 1998, Lee starred in the role of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, a founder of modern Pakistan in the film Jinnah. Image:SarumanLOTR.jpg Christopher Lee portrays the evil wizard Saruman from the Lord of the Rings film The Fellowship of the Ring. He auditioned for a role in The Longest Day but was turned down as he did not look like a military man (despite having served in the RAF during World War II).[5] Lee acted in the 1970 movie Eugenie, unaware that it was softcore pornography because the sex scenes were shot separately and edited in with his own appearances afterwards.[1] Lee has played roles in over 220 films since 1948. He has had many notable television roles, including that of Flay in the BBC television miniseries Gormenghast that was based on Mervyn Peake's novels and Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński in the 2005 CBS film, John Paul the Second. Lee was a natural choice for the Lord of the Rings movies, where he plays the role of Saruman (although he is known to have vied for the role of Gandalf, which was given to Sir Ian McKellen). Lee had met Tolkien once, and makes a habit of reading the novels at least once a year.[6] In addition, he performed for the album The Lord of the Rings: Songs and Poems by J. R. R. Tolkien in 2003; this was unrelated to the film trilogy.[7] Lee's talents (and possibly his history as a villain) made him a fitting Sith Lord, when he appeared in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith as Count Dooku, a name allegedly chosen to reflect his fame playing Count Dracula. His autobiography states that he did much of the swordplay himself, though a double was required for the more vigorous footwork. In the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Lee played the role of Dr. Wilbur Wonka, the strict father of the star character Willy Wonka. Voice workLee sings on the The Wicker Man soundtrack, performing Paul Giovanni's psych folk composition, "The Tinker of Rye".[8] Lee appears on Peter Knight and Bob Johnson (of Steeleye Span)'s 1970s concept album, The King of Elfland's Daughter. Lee also provide the voices for the role of DiZ (Ansem the Wise) in the video game Kingdom Hearts II. He contributed his voice also for the animated versions of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett as Death. He is fluent in Italian, French, Spanish and German and moderately proficient in Swedish, Russian and Greek .[1] He was the original voice of Thor in the German dubs in the Danish 1986 animated movie Valhalla, and of King Haggard in the 1982 animated adaptation of The Last Unicorn.[9][10] A major opera fan, when he appeared on Desert Island Discs all of his records were opera selections.[citation needed] Lee narrated and sang for the Danish musical group The Tolkien Ensemble, taking the role of Treebeard, King Théoden and others in the readings or singing of their respective poems or songs.[11] Lee was the voice of Lucan D'Lere in the trailers for Everquest II Lee appeared as a narrator for Italian symphonic fantasy power metal band Rhapsody of Fire, playing the Wizard King in the latest two albums, Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret and Triumph or Agony. He narrates several tracks in the two albums, along with singing a duet with lead vocalist Fabio Lione in the single The Magic of the Wizard's Dream from the Symphony of Enchanted Lands II album. HonoursIn 2001, Christopher Lee was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.[12] Lee was named 2005's 'most marketable star in the world' in a USA Today newspaper poll, after three of the films he appeared in grossed $640 million.[13] Trivia
Books by Christopher Lee
Books Contributed To
Selected Filmography
Notes and references
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