Christopher Lee (1922-2015)

SAD NEWS the legendary Christopher Lee has died in hospital aged 93

I first became aware of Christopher Lee watching as a youngster them old Hammer Horror movies, sat there gripping a pillow or anything I could get my hands on, pulling it tight to my chest, my eyes squinting with my mouth agape waiting for this dark looming figure to appear out of the shadows, he was the master of the macabre, he used them deep vocals, that tall stature and them dark piercing eyes to great effect usually to scare the holy moly out of me – Lee was perfect in portraying the villain, that menacing screen presence of his allowed him much work in the 60’s and 70’s with characters such as Dracula, The Creature, Fu Manchu, Rasputin, Lord SummerIsle, and Scaramanga

But remarkably when Christopher Lee reached his mid 70s instead of settling for his lot and basking in the glories of yesteryear his career saw a huge resurgence, spawning a new audience, Lee began the next and possibly most fruitful chapter of his career, teaming up with Tim Burton on 5 of his movies, George Lucas on two of his Star Wars movies playing the Evil Jedi Count Dooku and playing the wizard Saruman for Peter Jackson in Lord of the Rings – he was no longer only recognized for being Count Dracula but had a young fan base and one that he embraced with the grace of a champion