Christopher Lee



Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor, author, and singer. With a career spanning nearly seven decades, Lee was well known for portraying villains, gaining recognition for appearing as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films—ultimately playing the role nine times in total.

Quotes

 * I never thought of him as a vampire, ever. I mean, the blood is the life. That's one thing you have to bear in mind. And it is for all of us, isn't it? Here's a man who is immortal. Here is a man who, through being immortal, is a lost soul. Here is a man who experiences the loneliness of evil, something he can't control, who wants to die but there is a force in him, a malefic force, which drives him to do these terrible things. I said earlier the character is heroic, based on the real man - a war leader and a national hero, I may say, in Romania to this day - Vlad the Impaler. Certainly a bloodthirsty character, without a doubt. I also told you that the character is romantic - so he is, as far as women are concerned, and erotic. And there's, of course, the obvious association with the bite in a sexual sense, if you like. So I tried to put all those particular characteristics into the character. It appears that I succeeded.
 * Listen Back To A 1990 Interview With Actor Christopher Lee (1990)


 * Fun seems to be a three-letter word these days, although with directors like Tim Burton and George Lucas, it's fun, fun, fun while working yourself to death. But if you compare those Hammer movies to what has been made in the last 20 years - Brian de Palma, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Wes Craven, Tim Burton and Peter Jackson have all said the same thing to me: 'We were brought up on your movies.' And it certainly shows in theirs.
 * Work hard - and play plenty of golf (February 23, 2001)


 * He looked like a miniature Edward G. Robinson, and had the vigour of six, with the promiscuity of six for that matter, as if he wanted to make the most of every second of a life that would not be very long.
 * On ; as quoted in Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies (2003) by Leslie Halliwell (ed. John Walker), p. 471


 * That is real horror and blood. When the Second World War finished I was 23 and already I had seen enough horror to last me a lifetime. I’d seen dreadful, dreadful things, without saying a word. So seeing horror depicted on film doesn't affect me much.
 * Sir Christopher Lee interview: 'I’m softer than people think' (2011)

Quotes about Christopher Lee

 * Being half the man Christopher Lee is, is more than I could ever hope for. He was a true gentleman, in an era that no longer values gentlemen.
 * Peter Jackson, Tribute on Facebook (June 11, 2015)