The British actor Christopher Lee was born in 1922 in London, England, where he and his older sister Xandra were raised by Estelle Marie and Geoffrey Trollope, a professional soldier, until their divorce in 1926. Later, while Lee was still a child, his mother married (and later divorced) Harcourt George St.-Croix (nicknamed Ingle), who was a banker. After attending Wellington College from age 14 to 17, Lee worked as an office clerk in a couple of London shipping companies until 1941 when he enlisted in the RAF during World War II. Following his release from military service, Lee joined the Rank Organisation in 1947, training as an actor in their "Charm School" and playing a number of bit parts in such films as Corridor of Mirrors. He made a brief appearance in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, in which his future partner-in-horror Peter Cushing also appeared. Both actors also appeared later in Moulin Rouge but did not meet until their horror films together.

Lee had numerous parts in film and television throughout the 1950s but didn't achieve stardom until his association with Hammer Film Productions, which started with The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula 1958, The Mummy, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, all co-starring Peter Cushing. Lee continued his role as "Dracula" in a number of Hammer sequels throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s. During this time, he made numerous appearances as Fu Manchu, most notably in the first of the series The Face of Fu Manchu, and also appeared in a number of films in Europe. With his own production company, Charlemagne Productions, Ltd., Lee made Nothing But the Night and To the Devil a Daughter. By the mid-1970s, Lee was tiring of his horror image and tried to widen his appeal by participating in several mainstream films, such as The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Three Musketeers: The Queen's Diamonds, The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge, and the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun.

The success of these films prompted him in the late 1970s to move to Hollywood, where he remained a busy actor but made mostly unremarkable film and television appearances, and eventually moved back to England. Lee's career was revitalized in the early 2000s by his appearances in two blockbuster film franchises: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (as Saruman the White) and Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (as Count Dooku). In 2001, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his contributions to the film and television industries.


Dracula (1958): 1,360 USD

Turned down Donald Pleasence's role in Halloween (1978). (He later remarked that this was his biggest mistake.) Possibly the only actor who has portrayed three different Sherlock Holmes characters: Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes and Henry Baskerville. Uncle of Harriet Walter. Was one of the judges for the 1995 Miss World beauty pageant. Is listed as the Center of the Hollywood Universe by the Oracle of Kevin Bacon web site at the University of Virginia, because he can be linked to any one in Hollywood on average in 2.59 steps. That is less than either Charlton Heston or Kevin Bacon himself. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama. Served in British Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from 1941 to 1946. During that time he was an active member of the Special Forces. He appears in a scene from The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) on screen during the drive-in sequence in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962). He is of noble Italian ancestry on his mother's side (Carandini). He made his stage debut in school as the demonic lead in "Rumpelstiltskin," a sign of things to come. Speaks very good French, good enough to understand questions and give long replies in a press conference. Is a Commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Was voted no. 31 on the recent British televised poll "The Greatest Movie Stars Of All Time" above the likes of John Wayne, Michael Caine and Humphrey Bogart. Both he and his fellow Star Wars Sith Lord, David Prowse, have played Frankenstein's Monster opposite Peter Cushing. Played King Haggard in both the animated and live-action versions of The Last Unicorn (1982). Since his feature film debut in Corridor of Mirrors (1948) in 1948, he has had at least one film role every year except for 1995 and 2006. He struggled to get work early in his career as a supporting actor because almost all the male stars were shorter than he. One of the most prolific actors of all time, he has acted in nearly 230 films, although he later admitted that his film work was not always chosen on quality but often on whether they could support his family. His peak years of productivity were 1955 and 1970, as Lee starred in nine films in both years. Although he has been in well over 200 films, he has very rarely played a hero, having been a villain in perhaps about 85% of his films (even his bit parts lean towards the unsympathetic). One of his favorite bands is the Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody, and he has also appeared on one of their album (listen to the speech in the intro on the song "Unholy Warcry" on the album "The dark secret"). Lee also appears on the Rhapsody single "The Magic Of The Wizard's Dream", where he does a duet with Rhapsody vocalist Fabio Leoni in English, German, Italian and French versions of the song. Was the Center of the Hollywood Universe, according to data at the Movie Oracle, http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/center.html, but is now second to Rod Steiger. In a bonding of two generations of Frankenstein's monsters, Lee and his wife were good friends with Boris Karloff and his wife. This friendship wasn't as a result of them working together (they made two films together, Corridors of Blood (1958) and Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)) but by the coincidence that they lived next door to each other in England. During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Air Force and in British Intelligence. He studied at Summerfield Preparatory School and attended Wellington College. According to his official website: He speaks French, Italian, Spanish and German and can "get along" in Swedish, Russian and Greek. Like his Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson, he has appeared in films with three generations of Astins. According to his friend Norman Lloyd, he has a somewhat eccentric hobby: he is fascinated by public executioners and knows the names of every official executioner England has had since the middle of the 15th century. In Dracula (1958), Lee in the title role had to drop a woman into a grave, but when he carried her, she was unexpectedly heavy and in trying to drop her into the grave, Lee also fell in with her. Shot all his scenes for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) in one day. He was one of the few people to volunteer to fight on the Finnish side in the Russo-Finnish winter war in 1939-1940, though he and his fellow British volunteers were in Finland only for about two weeks and were kept well away from direct combat. Although he and Peter Cushing were often mortal enemies on-screen, off screen they were inseparable friends. As a veritable J.R.R. Tolkien expert and the only member of the cast who had met Tolkien himself, he often visited the Production department on the sets of the various "Lord of the Rings" movies to give advice and tips on the various attributes of the films. His favorite director is Tim Burton. Has played a staggering amount of Victorian characters. He played Count Dracula ten times, Dr. Fu Manchu five times, Sherlock Holmes three times, Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's brother) once and Sir Henry Baskerville (a friend of Holmes) once. He also appeared in The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) and I, Monster (1971), adaptations of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", among others. Has worked with three James Bonds: Roger Moore in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Pierce Brosnan in "Around the World in 80 Days" (1989/I), and Daniel Craig in The Golden Compass (2007). In 2008. he received a lifetime achievement award at Pula Film Festival (Croatia). Along with Patrick Macnee, he is one of only two surviving cast members of Sir Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948). Is a Commander of the Most Venerable Order of St John. Was offered the role of King Balor in Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), but had to turn it down due to other commitments. He learned how to speak German by listening to Richard Wagner records. Has said that his favorite director is Tim Burton.