My Cart - News of Sir Christopher Lee’s passing has saddened the film world, with tributes pouring in from the British Film Institute, amongst countless peers. On a day where Sir Christopher Lee’s death reached the news, we at Cheap LED TVs Online feel it seems only fitting that we celebrate just some of the roles which made us all fall in love with the veteran actor of stage and screen.
Hammer Horror (1957-1976)
Many horror fans will recall Christopher Lee’s role as Dracula in the 1958 Hammer Horror, by the same name. Lee’s tall frame made him the perfect choice for other Hammer Horror roles, such as Frankenstein’s Monster and The Mummy.
Christopher Lee was proud of his work in The Wicker Man, claiming it to be the best film he ever starred in. Writer, Anthony Schaffer, and Lee, paid David Pinner, author of Ritual, on which the film was based, £15,000 for the rights to record the film. The film was also an attempt by Lee to shake his Hammer Horror image, and get involved in more interesting acting roles.
James Bond enthusiasts often reference Scaramanga as amongst their favourite Bond villains, with his trick-shot-ability and trademark golden gun. Lee played the role of a classically dry bad-guy, delivering the quotable line, “I like a girl in a bikini: no concealed weapons,” with a subtle smugness.
Lee later said of the role, “In Fleming’s novel he’s just a West Indian thug, but in the film he’s charming, elegant, amusing, lethal… I played him like the dark side of Bond.”
Whilst The Wicker Man was Lee’s favourite film within which he was involved, he claimed his role as Muhammed Ali Jinnah in the film Jinnah, about the founder of Pakistan, was his finest; “I tried to create a true picture, I certainly did resemble him, physically, I tried by looking at old newsreels to recreate the way he walked, the way he gestured, the way he spoke and his voice.”
To celebrate his other contribution to the world of media, we will leave you with one of Lee’s final musical projects, which was released on his 92nd birthday.
