Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee Facts
| Sign | Gemini |
| Born |
May 27, 1922 Belgravia, London |
| Died |
Jun 7, 2015 Chelsea, London |
| Age | Died at 93 |
| Total Facts | 88 |
In his role as the title character, The Mummy (1959), in which he co-starred with Peter Cushing, Lee got severely injured in the course of the filming. All that smashing through real glass windows and doors had dislocated his shoulder and pulled his neck muscles, especially when he had to carry an actress with arms fully extended across a swamp, walking as much as 87 yards, which damaged his shoulders considerably.
In various interviews over the years has referred to all three actors to play "James Bond" that he has worked with - Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig - as the best and most close to Ian Fleming's intentions. However, he has also criticized Fleming's weak characters when discussing his own Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and described the screen adaptation as considerably better written.
Is a Commander of the Most Venerable Order of St. John.
Is a Commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
Is an honorary member of three stuntmen's unions.
Is listed as the Center of the Hollywood Universe by the Oracle of Kevin Bacon website 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.
Lee's friend, Jean Paul Getty, lent him and wife Gitte his Sutton Place home for their honeymoon in 1961.
Lee's hobby is gardening.
Like his Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson, he has appeared in films with three generations of Astins.
On July 21st 2004, he was given the honorary citizenship of the Italian city of Casina (Province of Reggio Emilia) where Sarzano, the castle of his ancestors is situated. He gave his speech of thanks in Italian.
Once declared himself an unconditional fan of Gene Hackman.
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.
One of the few actors who has portrayed three different Sherlock Holmes characters: Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes and Sir Henry Baskerville.
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.
Played King Haggard in both the animated and live-action versions of The Last Unicorn (1982).
Read the Lord of the Rings trilogy once a year for decades, long before the film series ever got started.
Released the music album "Christopher Lee: Revelation" in the United Kingdom in October 2006. It includes songs like "The Toreador March", "O Sole Mio", "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "My Way".
Served in the British Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from 1941 to 1946. During that time, he was an active member of the Special Forces.
Shot all his scenes for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) in one day.
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.
Speaks very good French, good enough to understand questions and give long replies in a press conference.
Sustained an injury to his hand while filming a swordfight with a slightly drunk Errol Flynn for The Dark Avenger (1955).
The blooddripping fangs worn by Lee in many of his vampire films were created by Irish dental technician Sean Mulhall.
The white coffin used in one of his Dracula films was later used in Bananarama's music video "Venus".
Turned down Donald Pleasence's role in Halloween (1978). (He later remarked that this was his biggest mistake.)
Two of his roles have been as leaders of a separatist movement. The first was Jinnah (1998), about Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan. The second was in the "Star Wars" series as Count Dooku, the former mentor of Qui-Gon Jinn.
Uncle of Harriet Walter.
Wanted to attend the Heavy Metal Festival Earthshaker Fest in 2005 to support his favorite bands, the Italian band "Rhapsody" and the American band Manowar, but had to cancel at the last moment because of an important filming appointment. He recorded a message to the fans in advance, which was shown right before "Rhapsody" appeared on-stage.
Was a very good friend of Josip Broz Tito, a partisan leader and a president of a former country of Yugoslavia.
Was made "Officier des arts et lettres" by French culture minister J.J. Aillagon on December 11th 2002.
Was offered the role of King Balor in Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), but had to turn it down due to other commitments.
Was one of the judges for the 1995 Miss World beauty pageant.
Was originally offered the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). He turned it down and the role eventually went to his good friend Peter Cushing.
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.
Was upset about the deletion of his death scene in the theatrical version of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). However, the scene was put back into the Extended Edition which is seen as the definitive version.
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.
When he arrived in the recording studio to do the voice-over for King Haggard in the original animated version of The Last Unicorn (1982) he came armed with his own copy of the book with certain excerpts marked pertaining to parts of the book that he felt should not have been omitted.
Wore an eyepatch to play the part of Rochefort in The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974) and The Return of the Musketeers (1989), one of few films, if not the only film, to be based on Twenty Years After. His interpretation of the character was so popular that many subsequent adaptations of the story; such as Disney's The Three Musketeers (1993) and The Three Musketeers (2011), have continued to portray Rochefort as wearing an eyepatch, despite the fact that Alexandre Dumas père never described the character as wearing one.