Quicksand Fans

One of those names you felt would be around forever

Not only a fantastic actor, but a Badass who's real-life exploits make some of his movie villianny seem tame

Badass of the Week

Asked once by a director to imagine what someone stabbed to death would sound like, he responded, thats fine, I don't have to imagine that....

Another one who we will never see the like of again...

Not really familiar with his earlier work, but his acting was one of the few bright spots in the Star Wars prequels and he did great as Sauruman in LOTR movies. Will be missed.

Also the Johnny Depp version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Would've been a forgettable film if not for during the scene where the door to the dentist office opens, and out steps Sir Lee, that I hear this from some wise ass a few rows back:

/deep inhalation
/deep exhalation
"No Willie Wonka......I am your father!"

Normally I'm all for pistol whipping people who talk during movies......but that shit was funny.

The linky details all the stuff in better detail
But

THE Definitive Dracula - and went on to play him in 7 more films over 15 years
Sauroman
Count Dooku
Francisco Scaramanga - one of the coolest Bond Villians ever
Count de Rochefort in both 70s 3 Musketeers movies
The Mummy


Then there's the RL Shit
RAF Intelligence
Assigned to Long-Range Desert Group; forerunner of SAS that made Rat Patrol look like bunch of asshole gangbangers
Assigned to SOE - Special Operations Executive, Winston's "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare"
Shitload of stuff there remains classified to this day, but considering his decorations, they weren't holding afternoon tea at Bletchly

At 6'5" was the tallest actor in Hollywood. Trained fencer, did his own stunts, and involved in more movie swordfights than anyone else.
Once engaged Errol Flynn in drunken swordfight that got his hand slashed; no info on any scars to Errol



"When you're involved in a war it's the old saying 'if your name's written on the bullet, there's nothing you can do about it'. So you just banished it from your mind. Of course I was scared on some occasions and anyone who says they aren't scared during an operation probably isn't telling the truth. I know about six people who had no fear. Literally none. Whether that was due to a lack of imagination or because they'd conquered it, I don't know. In fact one was Iain Duncan Smith's father, who was one of my closest friends. But during a war, people are taught to kill and they have the blessings of the authorities to do so, so if it's your life or somebody else's, you want to be quite sure it's not yours."

Not to mention he was related to Ian Fleming, who he served with during his military career.

Another reminder of why we call this the greatest generation...

For those unfamiliar with Christopher Lee's early work, I recommend checking out his Hammer horror films, many available on DVD for really low prices. Besides Dracula and the Mummy, don't forget his turn as Henry Baskerville in the 1959 version of The Hound\ of the Baskervilles. In the 50s 60s and 70s, he did a lot of films opposite his old friend Peter Cushing (including the three mentioned above), any of which are a delight to see. One overlooked gem is the 1970s Spanish film Horror Express, which is a lot of fun...

Mr. Lee will be missed, but he lived his life well.

Yeah
He served with for-real, the man who created James Bond, doing JAMES BOND stuff and later portrayed a major villian in a James Bond Movie. It doesn't get much cooler than that

For a 50s era movie, his Dracula was scare-the-shit out of you level. Sparkle? Bitches, please....

The Golden Gun ..."Mr Fat has just resigned. I'm the new chairman of the board.."

He was the best thing in a rather weak Bond.

When asked by Peter Jackson to imagine what it was like to stab a man in the back he replied "I don't have to."

The man spoke seven or eight languages. When playing a German officer in "1941" that really is Christopher Lee speaking flawless German and Japanese. His father was a Colonel in the British Army and Christopher Lee ran off to join Finland in fighting the Russians in 1939 before returning when the Britain entered the war officially. When people asked him what he did during the war his standard response was "Can you keep a secret? So can I."

A man of the movies you could make a movie about. Great actor, hero, and a man who didn't take himself too seriously. They definitely don't make them like that anymore.

Lee came from one of those old English families full of diplomats, senior civil servants, ambassadors...his father was a high-up in the Indian Civil Service, and a close friend of Mohammed Ali Jinnah; Lee knew Jinnah as "Uncle"; Lee didn't like Jinnah's portrayal in the film "Ghandi", he was very much made out to be the villain of the piece, so he decided to produce his own biopic of Jinnah to set the record straight, but he needed the co-operation of the Pakistan government to film in that country; when the Pakistan government asked him who was going to play Jinnah, Lee replied "I am"; the government's reply was, "we would rather not have the founder of out nation portrayed by Dracula!"; Lee assured them that his portrayal would pay all due respect to a man Lee regarded as one of the greats of history, and the film went ahead; it didn't get a cinema release in UK but it got great reviews, at least in Pakistan....

Didn't he also play Dr Fu Manchu?