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:This article is about the actor. For the
historian, see Christopher Lee (historian).

Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, Order of the
British Empire|CBE (born May 27, 1922 in London)
is a  legendary and prolific United
Kingdom|British actor known for his versatility
and film longevity.  

Lee became famous for his role as Dracula|Count
Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films. He is
viewed by many as the quintessential film villain.
Other notable films include The Wicker Man and The
Man with the Golden Gun. Lee is now over 80 years
old, and still appearing in films such as The Lord
of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(film)|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of
the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(film)|The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, 
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

==Early life==
He was educated at Eton and Wellington College
(Berkshire)|Wellington College, where he won
scholarships in classics. He volunteered to fight
for the Finland|Finnish forces during the Winter
War against the Soviet Union in 1939, then served
in the Royal Air Force and intelligence during
World War II.

==Career as an actor==


He made his film debut in Terence Young's
Goth|Gothic Romance, Corridor of Mirrors, in 1948.
Throughout the  next decade, Lee made nearly 30
films, playing  mostly stock action characters. 
His first film for Hammer, made in 1957 with Peter
Cushing, was Curse of Frankenstein, in which he
played, "The Creature". That led to his  first
Dracula film, Horror of Dracula, in 1958. From
then on, Lee was periodically featured in numerous
horror roles for various studios.  

Lee has played roles in over 220 films since 1948,
and has had many notable television roles. He
appeared as Flay in the BBC television miniseries
Gormenghast (miniseries)|Gormenghast, based on
Mervyn Peake's novels.

As an indication to his prolificacy and longevity,
Lee has, according to the
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/ Oracle of Bacon
at Virginia, an average Bacon number of 2.684104
(as of December 2003), making him second on the
list of most suitable centres of the Hollywood
universe. This calculation uses a modification of
the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game.

In 2001 Christoper Lee was appointed Commander of
the Order of the British Empire Order of the
British Empire|CBE by Queen Elizabeth II.

==Notes==

Lee is a direct lineal descendent of Charlemagne
through his mother's side. She was a famous
Edwardian beauty, the Contessa Estelle Marie
Carandini di Sarzano. She was painted by Sir John
Lavery, as well as Oswald Birley, Olive Snell and
sculpted by Clare Sheridan, a cousin of Winston
Churchill.

The Carandini family was 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." A further
note cites: "A cousin of Christopher Lee was
Niccolo Carandini the first Italian ambassador to
Britain after World War II and subsequently was
President of Alitalia." 

Author Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, is
Lee's cousin and wanted him to play the first
James Bond film villain, Dr. Julius No. Lee would
eventually play another Bond villain, Francisco
Scaramanga, in The Man with the Golden Gun.

Lee appeared on the cover of the Wings
(band)|Wings album Band on the Run along with
other people, including Clement Freud. Also, he
narrated the Dark Secret EP by Italy|Italian power
metal band, Rhapsody (band)|Rhapsody.

Lee was a natural choice for the Lord of the Rings
(movies)|Lord of the Rings movies, where he plays
the role of Saruman. Lee had known J. R. R.
Tolkien|Tolkien, and makes it a habit of reading
the novel at least once a year.

Lee served in the military during World War II,
where he acquired the knowledge of the noise a
person makes when stabbed in the back (though the
exact circumstances of this knowledge are still
covered by the Official Secrets Act). He put this
to use when filming The Lord of the Rings, as can
be seen on the Extended Edition DVD of The Return
of the King.



Lee's great-grandparents formed Australia's first
opera company, performing before miners in towns
in the outback.

Lee sings on The Wicker Man soundtrack  -- in
character as the modern pagan noble in the film --
performing Paul Giovanni's psych folk composition,
The Tinker of Rye.

He is fluent in German language|German and
moderately proficient in French language|French.

Lee is married to the Dutch model Birgit Kroencke
(since 1961). They have a daughter named Christina
(born 23 November 1963).

==Books by Christopher Lee==
*Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror, Pyramid
Publications, 1966
*Christopher Lee's New Chamber of Horrors,
Souvenir Press, 1974 
*Christopher Lee's Archives of Terror, Warner
Books, Volume I, 1975; Volume 2, 1976
*Tall, Dark and Gruesome (autobiography), W. H.
Allen, 1977 and 1999
*Lord of Misrule (autobiography, a revised and
expanded edition of Tall Dark and Gruesom), Orion
Publishing Group Ltd., 2004

==Selected films==
*The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
*Dracula (1958)
*The Mummy (1959)
*The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
*The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)
*Dr Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
*Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966)
*The Devil Rides Out (1968)
*Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
*The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
*Death Line (1973)
*The Wicker Man (1973)
*The Three Musketeers (The Queen's Diamonds)
(1973)
*The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
*To the Devil...a Daughter (1976)
*End of the World (1977)
*Airport'77 (1977)
*Return from Witch Mountain (1978)
*1941 (film)|1941 (1979)
*Once Upon a Spy (1980)
*Safari 3000 (1982)
*Shaka Zulu (1987)
*Around the World in Eighty Days (1988)
*Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
*Curse III: Blood Sacrifice (1991)
*Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994)
*A Feast at Midnight (1995)
*The Stupids (1996)
*Sleepy Hollow (1999)
*Jinnah (2000)
*The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(film)|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of
the Ring (2001)
*The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (film)|The
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
*Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
*The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
(film)|The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the
King (extended version only) (2004)
*Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
*Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
*Corpse Bride (2005)

==External links==
* http://christopherleeweb.com/ The Official
Christopher Lee Web
* http://www.theonering.net/movie/cast/lee.html
Concerning his role in The Lord of the Rings
movies
* imdb name|id=0000489|name=Christopher Lee
* http://gothlupin.tripod.com/vlee.html Vampire
site w/ Lee bio and filmography
* http://bakerstreetdozen.com/lee.html Sherlock
Holmes and Christopher Lee
* http://bakerstreetdozen.com/scaramanga.html
Christopher Lee and The Man with the Golden Gun
*
http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpage
s/0,6737,966255,00.html Guardian Unlimited Profile
*
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/
personid-43517 TV Tome bio, film/tv credits,
trivia
*
http://home.hiwaay.net/~tfharris/pulpculture/colum
ns/020404.shtml Christopher Lee caps a
'villainous' career with two high-profile roles