Christopher Lee, Legendary Movie Villain and Horror Icon, Dies at 93

By Mike Barnes, Duane Byrge

Christopher Lee, the mystical British actor whose haunting, intimidating performances as Count Dracula, the Frankenstein monster and Fu Manchu made him an icon of horror films and the cinematic embodiment of villainy, has died. He was 93.

Lee, who as bad guy Scaramanga battled Roger Moore’s James Bond in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974) and re-ignited his career in his late 70s with what would be recurring roles in the Lord of the Rings, Hobbit and Star Wars franchises, has died. He was 93.

According to media reports, Lee died on Sunday morning, June 7 at Westminster Hospital in London after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure. The Guardian reported that his wife, former Danish model and painter Gitte Kroencke, decided to release the news days later in order to inform family members first. The couple had been married since 1961

Incredibly, the London native had more than 275 credits on IMDb, making him perhaps the most prolific feature-film actor in history. He did many of his own stunts, likely appeared in more on-screen sword fights than anyone else and was the only member of the Lord of the Rings cast to have actually met author J.R.R. Tolkien, who was born in 1892.

With his gaunt 6-foot-5 frame and deep, strong voice, Lee was best at playing characters — slave traders, crazed kings, vampires, demented professors — who were evil, murderous, dour and unrepentantly ruthless.

Starting with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Horror of Dracula (1958), Lee, like a mad scientist, helped Hammer Films bring the genre of horror back to life. He played the bloodsucking and brooding Prince of Darkness 10 times but disliked being known as a “horror legend.”

Lee was menacing in the title role of The Mummy (1959) and, that same year, starred as the new owner of Baskerville Hall in the remake of The Hound of the Baskervilles, starring his best friend, Peter Cushing, as Sherlock Holmes. The suave and courtly Cushing was his castmate in Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula as well.

He appeared three times as Holmes on screen, most recently in the 1991 telefilm Incident at Victoria Falls, and starred as the detective’s brother Mycroft in Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970).

Lee also was Rasputin and Lucifer, and his characters executed King Charles I of England and Louis the XVI of France. He relished the evil roles: “As Boris Karloff [his Corridors of Blood co-star] told me, you have to make your mark in something other actors cannot, or will not, do. And if it’s a success, you’ll not be forgotten.”

His 1977 autobiography was titled Tall, Dark and Gruesome.

Lee played Rochefort of Three Musketeers fame three times and was Sax Rohmer’s Asian evil genius with that distinctive mustache in five films of the 1960s, starting with The Face of Fu Manchu (1965).

Ian Fleming, the creator of Bond, was his cousin and frequent golf companion. The author wanted Lee to play the title villain in the 007 film Dr. No (1962), but the job went to Joseph Wiseman. For Bond fans, it was worth the wait after seeing his turn as the wealthy assassin who employs only bullets made of gold in The Man With the Golden Gun.

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Life well lived, that's for sure....