Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ (born 27 May 1922) is an English actor. Lee initially portrayed villains and became best known for his role as Count Dracula in a string of popular Hammer Horror films. Other notable roles include Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003), and Count Dooku in the final two films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy (2002, 2005). He has collaborated with director Tim Burton in five films, most recently with Dark Shadows (2012).

Lee considers his most important role to be his portrayal of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah (1998), and his best role as Lord Summerisle in the British cult classic The Wicker Man (1973), which he also believes to be his best film.

He has performed roles in 275 films since 1946 making him the Guinness World Record holder for most film acting roles ever. He was knighted for services to drama and charity in 2009, and received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011.

Always noted as an actor for his deep, strong voice he has, more recently, also taken to using his impressive singing ability, recording various opera and musical pieces between 1986 and 1998 and released the symphonic metal album Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross in 2010 after having worked with several metal bands since 2005. A heavy metal follow-up titled Charlemagne: The Omens of Death will be released in the autumn of 2012. He was honoured with the "Spirit of Metal" award from the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden God awards ceremony.