A Star of Cinematography: Sir Christopher Lee
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2015 has been a sad year for book and movie enthusiasts, especially those in love with the Sci-Fi and fantasy genre. Unfortunately, this year death has robbed us of three impressive people who shaped the domain they worked in. Terry Pratchett, the famous author of Discworld, and Leonard Nimoy known for his role as Spock in the original Star Trek series were the first to pass away in February. Four months later, they were joined by Sir Christopher Lee.
Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was born on May 27, 1922 in Belgravia, London. His parents separated when he was only four years old and divorced two years later. During this time he played his first role, Rumpelstiltskin, in a school play. His mother later married Harcourt George St-Croix Rose who was a banker and the uncle of Ian Fleming, the writer of the James Bond series. During his school years, he continued receiving roles in plays. He was forced to withdraw at age 17, having only one year of study left, when his step-father went bankrupt.
During the Second World War, Sir Christopher Lee joined the RAF. He was promoted to flight lieutenant and won six campaign medals. He also worked for the British Intelligence. After the war, he continued working with the Central Registry of War Crimes until he reached the age of 24.
He made his film debut in 1948 in a movie called Corridor of Mirrors where he held a small part. It wasn’t until nine years later that his popularity grew when he starred in The Curse of Frankenstein, playing the Creature. After this movie, he was offered the role of Count Dracula, in the movie Dracula. An instant success, the film would later be remembered as “the greatest horror movie ever made”.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Sir Christopher Lee was in extremely high demand, starring in 20 movies over a course of six years, four of them being Dracula movies. Afterwards, his roles became more and more diverse, moving away from the field of villains and the horror genre. With a career spanning seventy years, he was perhaps the only actor of his generation who had managed to star in so many movies.
Have you seen any of the movies Sir Christopher Lee starred in?
Source and Images: telegraph.co.uk and theguardian.com
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