Legendary actor Christopher Lee died Sunday at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. His family delayed the news until today so that all family members could be notified first. Known to a younger generation as the actor who played Saruman in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Christopher Lee had a career in film that spanned almost 70 years. IMDb lists 281 TV and film credits.
His film career started in 1947 with a role in gothic romance Corridor of Mirrors but it wasn’t until the late 50s, when Lee worked with Hammer, that he started gaining fame. His first role with the studio was The Curse of Frankenstein and it was the first of 20 films that he made with Peter Cushing.
Lee’s most famous role for Hammer was playing Dracula, a role which became one of his most widely recognised although the actor wasn’t pleased with how the character was treated. “They gave me nothing to do!” he told Total Film in 2005. “I pleaded with Hammer to let me use some of the lines that Bram Stoker had written. Occasionally, I sneaked one in. Eventually I told them that I wasn’t going to play Dracula any more. All hell broke loose.”
In the 70s, Lee continued to gain fame in the horror genre with a role in The Wicker Man, a film which he considered to be his best. He went on to play a Bond villain in 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun and turned down a role in Halloween, which he later said was one of biggest career regrets.
Lee also released a series of heavy metal albums late in life. The actor was 93 years old. -via reddit