Christopher Lee is probably the best actor in the whole tradition of bad film-dom. He is now 87, and a bit frail, recovering from a recent fall, and using a cane. In the past, he has used a rapier, a light-sabre, a Golden Gun and a magical staff or two. Lee acted in just about every major genre: westerns, costume dramas, war pictures, sci-fi and fantasy, horror and mystery/suspense. His Dracula was new, when the reigning interpretation was still that of Bela Lugosi, with slight incursions by John Carradine. Lee played a Bond villain, a Holmes, did Starwars, and also Lord of the Rings, as the Ultimate Bad Guy, Saruman. During WWI, Lee served in the Royal Air Force, in the Western Desert and also with the Special Operations Executive in Europe. The exact activities of SOE personnel are still classified Secret. Not just a pretty face, he is fluent in five languages, can get by in three more. And, get this: he’s done a fair number of singing gigs, straight vocal and rock. Is that wigged out or what? Dracula/Saruman as lead singer in a band. Oh, and he’s a pretty good with a sword, having done a lot of his own cut-and-thrust over the years, with doubles only for the more athletic parts as he got older. A great reader, he was the only member of the RINGS cast or crew who had actually met Tolkien. Lee enjoys playing bad guys because there is so much more to bring out than with heros. He may have been hopelessly typecast but he was never out of work. And he’s not done yet, since his project calendar has jobs througout 2010.
So, Arise, Sir Christopher, and very well done indeed.