Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee, The (2024)

[bunniefuu]

The following programme contains

violent scenes, sexual references,

and explores the theme of racism.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

Christopher Lee,

tall, handsome, elegant.

Very aristocratic.

A little stiff.

Slightly pompous.

Imperious.

Stilted, a little un-forthcoming.

He was a powerful individual.

Everyone will always

remember him as Dracula

because he was a powerful Dracula.

Consistent aura around him, which

was of a certain kind of dignity

and a certain kind of scariness

and a certain kind of...

"Ooh, he must be scary to meet,"

kind of thing.

People when they-sometimes they

say, "You always play villains,

you always play the bad guy,"

He said, "No, I play people.

Good and evil is a state of mind.

Depends on which side you are on."

He was, I think, soft as putty.

That's what's so interesting

about monsters,

that you gotta remember,

people forget,

but most monsters are victims.

(IMITATING LEE) How do you do?

I'm Christopher Lee.

How do you do? I'm Christopher Lee.

How do you do? I'm Christopher Lee.

How do you do? I'm Christopher Lee.

How do you do? I'm Christopher Lee.

On the 7th of June in the year 2015,

I passed away at the age of 93.

To some, this might seem

like a defining moment,

but not me. Oh, no.

By then I had become

quite accustomed to dying.

You might even have called it

my stock-in-trade.

(JAUNTY MYSTERIOUS MUSIC)

(expl*si*n, MUSIC STOPS)

'When I was born

on the 27th of May, 1922,

'I was a new chapter in the story

of the Italian aristocratic

'Carandini family.'

(MEDIEVAL FLUTE MUSIC)

'Records of the House of Carandini

stretch back to the 12th century.

'Here, you see our coat of arms

awarded to us in the 15th century

'by Frederick Barbarossa,

Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

'Our noble lineage could be traced

directly back to Charlemagne.

'But let's not dally with detail.

'For as impressive a list

of soldiers, governors,

'senators, and clergymen

the Carandini tree may offer up,

'our time is short,

and our subject is me.

'Of this mighty family tree,

at the time of my birth,

'a sapling had been growing quite

admirably in London, for some years.

'My maternal grandfather was

the Count Carandini

'and my mother, his only child,

'the Contessa Estelle Marie

Carandini di Sarzano.

'My mother was an Edwardian beauty

'and in her youth, a muse to many.

'She was painted, sketched,

sculpted, and etched,

'desired by many, but landed by one.

'Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Lee

of the King's Royal r*fle Corps,

'a hero of the Boer w*r

and the Great w*r,

'survivor of the Somme.'

Quite late on in life,

I got a book called, "Il Carandini"

and they looked like

a lot of rogues... (CHUCKLES)

...sort of the Mafia of their day.

But you know, to get-

the cynical view is that

to keep a title for 700 years

or something,

you've got to have k*lled

a lot of people. (CHUCKLES)

'I grew up in the shadow

of achievement and nobility.

'And as a child, wondered if

I would be able to live up

'to the remarkable lives

of those who had preceded me.

'I was, at heart, a wanderer.

'As was my Papa who wandered away

from us

'when I was just four-years-old,

never to return.'

His mother was very strict, and

he had a very uptight upbringing.

You know? So, he was a bit

naive in certain-in certain ways.

There I am. I look like quite

a normal boy, don't I?

And in many ways I was.

Equally anxious and arrogant,

but my childhood was unique.

We were sprung once more into high

society when my mother remarried.

My stepfather was a small

but exceedingly strong man

known as Ingle.

He was a banker and bon viveur.

'To celebrate their union, I was

swiftly dispatched to boarding school

'in the hope that they might whip me

into shape to be accepted into Eton.

'One could hardly describe me

as a star student,

'but the desire to please

consumed and overwhelmed me.

'So, it is perhaps no surprise that

I was to end up on the school stage.

'Mother, Ingle, and my sister Xandra

made the journey

'for the first night of the

school production of Henry V.

'And they all excitedly agreed

that a bright future in acting

'awaited the proud young boy

playing the eponymous lead.

'Sadly, that boy was not me.

'But I loved the stage and I was

an obstinate little so-and-so.'

Perhaps my time would've been better

spent on the study of mathematics,

for it was that, along with

a downturn in Ingle's finances

which would lead me away

from the path to Eton.

Instead, at 14, I was enrolled

in Wellington College.

Wellington was

a military establishment,

and, I suppose much like the rest

of the public schools of the day,

but with the addition

of endless polishing.

The smell of Brasso

haunts my nostrils still.

If you've got some sensitivity

and you've got a sort of,

for want of a better word,

an artistic soul,

and you're pushed through the

British public school system

as a male...

...it can absolutely k*ll that.

There's such a strong ethic

in that schooling that,

about what it is

or is not to be a man.

And I think right down in his heart,

this is my intuition,

there's absolutely nothing to bear

this up, it's just...

it's just sense.

He was very feminine.

And... very sensitive.

And I feel that he didn't quite know

how to express that side of him.

'What awaited me as I aged

out of Wellington,

'was likely an Oxbridge education

'followed by a career

in international diplomacy.

'I was practically bred for it.

'By this stage, my French, German

and Russian were already rather good.

'But something happened.

'Ingle went bust, bankrupt,

to the sum of 25,000.

'He left my mother

and faded into the distance.'

I never knew his father,

my grandfather,

and I never knew his step-father.

Both those father figures had

sort of disappeared out of his life,

and that explains quite

a lot about him as well,

because he didn't have

a father around.

It was his mother's influence

that he took away

into the world much more.

'At 19-years-old,

unsure of my future,

'I found myself in Paris.

'Early one morning a friend

dragged me to Versailles.

'There was something

he wanted me to see.

'We arrived to an open square,

steadily filling with people.

'Dawn broke over the scene

'and I realised that the focus

of the amassed crowd

'was Madame Guillotine.

'In that instant,

a man was marched out,

'Eugen Weidmann.

'He had m*rder*d six people

in cold blood.

'Within 30 seconds

'he had been whisked off his feet,

bound, punched in the gut,

'placed on the monstrous contraption

and adjusted into position.

'The blade fell

and I failed to look away.

'I was sickened to my soul.

'I watched the gleeful crowd clamour

to dip their handkerchiefs

'into his warm blood

as a grizzly souvenir.'

He had witnessed the last execution

in France with a guillotine.

So, he was obsessed with executions.

And he kept execution memorabilia.

"This is the rope that was

used to hang, I don't know who."

(BOTH CHUCKLE)

"Who gave you that?"

"That was Pierpoint, gave it to me.

I'm gonna leave it

in my will to Roger Moore."

I remember that he wrote,

"I am leaving you the rope

that was used to hang...

King I-Don't-Know-What that my

friend Pierpoint passed over to me.

I would like you to have it."

I don't think Roger Moore got it.

I now suspected my friend

was trying to dispel my naivete

and ready me for

the brutalities of w*r.

Because within weeks

the party was over

and all of a sudden,

the Germans were coming.

I returned to London.

'On the 3rd of September,

Chamberlain declared we were at w*r.

'Keen to reveal myself a hero,

'I immediately reported

to the w*r office,

'who had no apparent need for me.'

So, I took a job in the city

and grew accustomed to the noises

of the w*r at home.

(EXPLOSIONS)

And then, I heard something

even worse.

I heard that my wayward Papa was in

hospital with a terminal diagnosis.

He was barely 60.

It was, I suppose, to honour him

that I swiftly decided

again to enlist

and join the w*r abroad.

(SHIP HORN BLARES)

(SEAGULL CAWING)

'I couldn't face the army,

so I took to the skies.'

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

'Six weeks by sea

and one by train brought us

'to flight training in Rhodesia,

far from enemy fire.

'South Africa was paradise.

'Behind the controls of an open

c*ck Tiger Moth, I felt alive!

'In the shimmering heat haze

of a dusty afternoon,

'we would stall, spin,

and loop our paths

'to becoming fully-fledged pilots.

'During my final accompanied flight,

'my head filled with fire

and I went blind in my left eye.

'I was diagnosed with

an unreliable optic nerve.

'My dreams of flight

were put paid to.

Following this, I rather expected

my w*r to be a dull clerical affair

but then I found myself

in an operational squadron,

and my role was that of... spy.

'Five missions a day was our average

'and with our robust

fighter bombers, the P-40s,

'we outclassed

the German Luftwaffe every time.

'Well, except once.

'We were in Tunisia,

'and I was standing on the airstrip

assessing the skies first-hand.

'As I turned around, I was faced

with a sheer wall of flame.

'Above it, four German ME-109s

heading directly for me.

'I sprinted, completely exposed,

'looking for somewhere

to dive for cover.

'The bombs couldn't have been

more than 150 yards away.

'I could feel the heat

singe my neck hair.

'The final b*mb landed within range,

'and the blast rent asunder

the ground behind me.

'The debris created

was as if fired by shotgun,

'targeted almost entirely

to my buttocks.

'Within 10 minutes,

'I was being debriefed

in both senses of the word.

'I could not sit down for two days.

'And had I been able, I suspect

I would not have been permitted to.

'This raid was my failing.

'I would not fail again.'

As the w*r ended, there was still

important work to be done.

My next posting was to serve

with the Central Registry

of w*r Crimes and Security Suspects.

A position which sounds

almost clerical

but became known somewhat

more grandly as n*zi Hunter.

The adventures I had during this

period remain highly classified.

I could relate to you a story or two,

but sadly I would have to k*ll you.

And we don't want that, do we?

There is some mystery

attached to his work

during the w*r

and immediately after it.

A lot of that I think, has to do

with the Official Secrets Act

and the fact that Lee

himself was, you know,

not willing to open up about it

to any great degree.

And I think it has actually

created a great deal of confusion.

I know a bit.

Because he spoke perfect German,

perfect French,

and perfect Italian, he was

involved with a lot of sabotage

and working with partisans

behind the enemy lines

and also in targeted assassinations.

Which, of course,

the British government

doesn't know anything about.

He was very intense.

There were some things he just-

he didn't want to get into,

but it marked him, the experiences.

But I gave him sh*t.

I mean, I always wanted to know.

"Tell me about the w*r."

"John, I can't."

"Come on!" You know? "Tell me

about the w*r. Come on, Chris!"

(CHUCKLES) You know?

And I always gave him a hard time.

And one day we were at...

...a restaurant in Sloane Square

and he had had several

glasses of wine

and he wasn't tipsy,

but he was a little loose.

And I said, "Chris...

this is the perfect moment.

Tell me about your w*r experiences."

He said, "You know I can't."

And I said, "Come on.

Who am I gonna tell, Chris?"

And I kept giving him sh*t.

And then finally he said,

"John," and he leaned forward.

To be suddenly imposing,

he leaned forward and he said,

"Can you keep a secret?"

So of course,

I lean forward and go, "Yes."

And he said...

"So can I."

SERAFINOWICZ: (AS LEE)

'I arrived back in London,

'like so many of my generation,

to find that civilian life

'had far less use for me

than the military had.

'With a new blue suit

and half a pound of shrapnel

forever embedded in my buttocks,

'I slowly explored my options

'and ravenously accepted

all invitations to lunch.

'One such invitation came from

my mother's cousin, Nicolo,

'the Italian Ambassador

to Great Britain.

'Amidst my drunken tales

and impersonations,

'Nicolo said simply, "Why don't you

become an actor, Christopher?"

'So, that was that.

'It was immediately apparent

to me that he was right.

'Before I even had a chance to fail,

'Nicolo arranged a meeting for me

with his friend

'who worked with

The Rank Organisation.'

I suppose if you

were being uncharitable,

you could say that there was

a touch of almost nepotism

involved in Lee's entry

into the film industry.

So, it was all very easy.

But I think...

in the immediate post-w*r years,

it didn't last very long,

but the British film industry

was at its zenith.

And I think there was

a great hunger,

particularly after the w*r,

to create new stars.

And so, as a result, Lee was

packed off to the...

to The Rank Charm School,

as it became known.

Which had an expressed...

wish to create British,

and hopefully later,

as they put it, international stars.

'To Worthing we were sent to fill out

the lower half of the cast lists

'of a provincial repertory theatre.

'And admittedly,

many lessons were learned

'which would shape me as an actor.

'The first time I trod the boards

was as Roberto the Butler,

'in The Constant Nymph.

'I gave it my all.

I buttled relentlessly.

'More than this, I acted.

'I acted my young heart out.

'When one of the principal characters

cried, I shed a tear with them.

'When one laughed, I laughed too

as if my sides were splitting.

'I responded to every word of that

script as I felt right.

'From my place in the background,

I projected outrage,

'good humour, surprise, and bonhomie.

'The curtain fell for the interval

and the director took me aside.

'I couldn't tell whether

he was laughing or crying,

'but either way, he left me

in no doubt as to my transgression.

'I had upstaged

the entire production.

'My feelings were terribly hurt,

'and I was greatly embarrassed.

'I was, however, vindicated

when the reviews came in.

'The critics singled me out as having

provided welcome light relief.

'By day in Highbury,

'we learned Stanislavsky's method

of physical action.

'We fenced, we pranced, we raged,

'and we paraded the old church hall

with books upon our heads.

'Of course, no directors had

the slightest interest in using us

'for more than background

and stand-ins for the talent.

'But this in itself was film set

experience and therefore useful.

'I was 24 when I gave

my first performance on film,

'a kindness extended to me by

director Terence Young,

'who overcame the standard reason

for my rejection,

'the issue of my height,

by keeping me seated.

'The film was Corridor of Mirrors.

'I had one line and it was

a withering barb against the lead.'

Take a look. Standing

in the entrance, Lord Byron.

'To some degree, in that moment,

my die was cast.

'The nucleus of my celluloid id,

'upper class, educated,

loquacious, and disdainful.

'Soon after, Rank decided

to give its company of youth

'an accelerant boost.

'Rather than scattering us in small

roles across its bigger releases,

'it would give us all big roles

in our own tiny release.

'It was, of course, a horrible idea.

'None of us were nearly ready

enough to carry an entire feature

'and, had it not been compulsory

to attend the premiere

'on the Tottenham Court Road,

'I'm sure all of us would have

preferred to be elsewhere.

'It was, however, my first time

in the role of chief antagonist,

'the bad guy.

'Sadly, the only thing more

diabolical than my character's intent

'was the performance

of the actor inhabiting it.

(OVERLAPPING SINGING

'GOOD KING WENCESLAS')

'Such was the British film

industry in those days

'that even this early on

I was at least working,

'and my star was arguably rising.

'Scott of the Antarctic

was a generously-budgeted

'Ealing production.

'It starred John Mills

as the legendary explorer,

'and I was one of his ill-fated team.

'Not unlike the explorer I portrayed,

'I would also shortly be

out in the cold.'

I'm afraid that's it, Sir.

'I was told by my benefactors

at Rank that I was too tall

'and too foreign-looking

to be a film star,

'and I was out on my ear.

'My 1950s would be a mixed

bag of quite small roles

'in quite big films.

'But then there were also

the small roles in small films.

'And then there were

the uncredited roles.'

These years were not

without their high points.

'I parried with Errol Flynn.'

LANDIS: He was quite a good fencer.

Although how many people have told

you when Chris would go like this,

he'd say, and he'd point

at his damaged finger

and he'd say,

"Errol Flynn did that to me."

Which he did in a duel

in some movie. (CHUCKLES)

Errol Flynn, you know...

was not an excellent fencer.

But these were not roles that

I could... (CLEARS THROAT)

get my teeth into.

It was a living, and it was work.

The notion of film acting,

especially in Britain at that time,

as being in any way glamorous or

indicative of a luxurious lifestyle,

is entirely false.

Back then, maybe still today,

I don't know,

there's a slight whiff of

disreputability, if that's a word,

clung to the acting thing.

I think there was a bit of him

saying, "I suppose you think

I'm not worthwhile because

I'm just an actor." You know?

Which of course that's reversed

much now, where you know,

you get a lot of people go,

"Oh gosh, actors."

(CHUCKLES)

"They're really exciting people."

But in my father's day, there was

a bit of snootiness about actors.

Of course, he always told the story

that when he went to his mother

and announced his intention to

become an actor, and she literally,

in a very actressy way, she struck

a melodramatic pose

and possibly, you know, the back of

the hand to the forehead,

and said, "An actor.

Oh, Christopher, just think of all

the appalling people you'll meet!"

'It was work.

'It was work,

which I generally enjoyed

'and work in which I became

increasingly proficient.

'But it was 9:00am to 6:20pm.

'with a 15-minute tea break

and one hour for lunch.

'It was a job.

'And seven years on a job without

notable progression

'would be frustrating to anybody.

'But it was not just my lack

of progress which frustrated me.'

I really wanted to sing.

(SINGING MOZART'S 'THE ABDUCTION

FROM THE SERAGLIO' IN GERMAN)

My love for opera had blossomed.

And with my film career

barely advanced

in the best part of a decade,

I petitioned a professor at

the Royal College of Music for help.

Too tall, too foreign-looking,

and now, too old.

My dream was dead,

dead, dead.

But that was, I suppose, alright,

death was calling me

to another destiny.

It was almost time for me to be

death's emissary in modern cinema.

Now, to understand

the story of my Dracula,

you have to understand

the story of Hammer.

'Hammer was a film production

company which, by the mid-50s',

'had been around some two decades.

'It had been established

by the comedian William Hines

'in the early '30s, a name

for his stage persona Will Hammer.'

Post-w*r, Hammer Film Productions

were devoted to second features.

Yes, what would previously have

been called Quota Quickies.

They began, really,

with very forward thinking.

They began by adapting already

popular BBC radio subjects.

But in among all that,

they also got together

with an American producer

called Robert Lippert,

and they started making

second features

that were aimed, quite specifically,

at the American market.

Robert Lippert would send

over fading American actors,

and they would be leads

in the pictures,

which would allow a sale in America.

And so, there was a whole series

of pictures that Hammer had done,

which are, you know,

not bad pictures but not exemplary.

But they didn't make

much of a splash.

Curious little films,

which nowadays are very often

identified as Neo-noirs.

To some degree

they were certainly were that.

But of course,

the question mark was,

how long could you

continue in that vein?

They needed a kind of new hook,

a new formula.

And well, it came along

in the mid-'50s.

'Hammer was always in search of

that golden goose,

'which they eventually found

'when they turned their hand

to the macabre.

'Having adapted the BBC's

Quatermass Xperiment

'to film in 1955,

it became very evident

'that scary films might be

where their fortune lay.'

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(SCREAMS)

'What better subject matter

to begin with

'than that of Baron Frankenstein

and his creature?

'Peter Cushing was cast

in the lead role as Frankenstein,

'but who was to play his creature?

'Where might they find a tall,

odd-looking soul

'with the chops to pull off

such a role?

'Oh, yes!'

RIGBY: In the case of Lee, they had

a man for The Curse of Frankenstein,

who fulfilled

the basic casting brief,

which was a very tall man

with a knowledge of

and skill in movement and mime.

And, uh... And that was Lee to a T,

if you like.

'Now, I did not go into this lightly.

'I was aware of the greatest

risk of becoming a monster player.

'That of typecasting.

'My dear friend, Boris Karloff,

'argued that to be a type

was to always be in employment.

'And considering his quarter century

in the wilderness as an actor,

'he really was qualified

to talk on the matter.

'He had acted in over 80 films before

his performance as the monster

'for Universal Pictures launched him

into the stratosphere.

'Crucially, he was also tall

and foreign-looking.

'So, I took the role.

'I wouldn't say it did the same

for me as it did for Boris,

'but it was a satisfying experience

'and the film performed

remarkably well.'

Hammer didn't really have

an identity

until The Curse of Frankenstein,

where it said,

"A Hammer Film Production."

And we remembered that

and that became... a calling card.

What's interesting is that

it's a very well made movie.

He played it like somebody

with a... with a damaged brain.

It was described

in the British press

as looking like a road accident,

which is not entirely untrue.

It's a strange effect

that he had as the creature

because he looked so hideous

and yet there was a sort of-

there was a kind of forlorn

quality about him.

In part because of that,

but also because he was just

such a remarkable physical actor.

He was very sympathetic,

although he was really terrifying

and I had nightmares

for a long time.

'Yes, it courted controversy

with its violence and gore,

'but this was tempered

by a favourable critical response.'

And it really put Hammer Films

on the map internationally

because it was a huge hit, even

though it didn't cost a great deal.

But it looked good and the acting

was obviously top-notch

because they had British players and

nobody made fun of it,

nobody sent it up.

It was all done completely straight

and that made it

even more compelling.

FILM NARRATOR: His unwilling

collaborator was Paul Krempe.

I can't prove you m*rder*d him.

But I can stop you using his brain.

Why? He has no further use for it.

Don't be a fool!

Be careful!

You'll damage it!

Only two women ever entered

this house of evil.

Elizabeth! Come back!

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

'Did this lead to my most

iconic casting?

'Actually, no.

At least, not directly.'

SERAFINOWICZ: (AS LEE) 'Following

Frankenstein, I scored a plum role

'in a lavish remake

of A Tale of Two Cities.

'This was a big movie.'

FILM NARRATOR:

Betty Box and Ralph Thomas,

whose names have been associated

with the very best

in film entertainment

for almost a decade,

have turned

to the ever-popular works

of Charles Dickens

for their latest, greatest film.

'I was to share the screen

with the likes of Dirk Bogarde

'and several legends whose fame

has sadly dimmed through the years.

'My role was that of villain,

'the Marquis St. Evremonde,

'a nasty piece of work, a cruel,

sneering aristocrat.'

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

'This film was also well-received

'and finally broke the reticence

on the part of the studios

'to trust me

with more significant roles.

'With my monstrous and aristocratic

credentials so well-established,

'I was finally an obvious candidate

'for that delicious title role

to come my way.

'Eight minutes.

'Just eight minutes,

and my life was changed forever.

'My total screen time in

the whole of that first Dracula movie

'was just eight minutes.'

FILM NARRATOR: This is

the story of Dracula.

A creature who destroys

all whom he touches.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Dracula, the terrifying, the feared,

who sleeps in the tombs

of the dead by day

and arises at night

to inflict his terror

upon the innocent

and the unsuspecting.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC STING)

It was really the Dracula movie

that I think...

made him a household word.

Even though he's not

in it that much,

he hung over it like a shroud and...

made an incredible impression.

I love his entrance

'cause you just cut to the stairs

and he comes down the stairs.

He says, "I am Dracula.

I welcome you to my house."

And it's so great!

Wonderful! I mean, he's just, wow.

It's, you know-

Do you ever hear him talk about it?

"You have to bring the fire."

'I was recognised everywhere I went,

'and it was a certain type of fame.

'I don't say this

out of pride or vanity,

'but I had become somewhat iconic.

'Meaning that, to some degree,

'it wouldn't matter what

I now went on to do with my life.

'Indeed, had I retired

from acting in that very moment,

'I would still,

for the rest of my life,

'have been recognised

on a daily basis as...'

FILM NARRATOR: Dracula! Bedevilled

master of all that is evil.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

When that film came out

in the summer of 1958, you know,

the impact was enormous.

He's suddenly appearing

in the fan magazines.

You know, there are lots and lots

of questions about him.

Picturegoer actually heads

a piece about him and calls it,

"Scream Boy? No! Dream Boy."

Because of course,

so many young women were fascinated

by his Dracula, you know?

Because he was

an irredeemable monster,

one of the most evil Dracula's

ever put on film.

But at the same time, of course,

he was extremely sexy.

FILM NARRATOR: How do you

destroy a fiend

who has so far proven

himself indestructible?

Those who come to end his reign

of terror

stay to become his victims.

Hammer suddenly became a...

a place for people to go to see

a certain kind of movie.

And that's not to belittle

the fact that

they were actually making other

kinds of movies at the same time,

but these particular Gothic movies

were especially popular.

'The American premiere

took place in New York

'where Universal threw their

full might behind its release.

'It was my first trip to America,

and I was quite overwhelmed.

'Not just by the city,

but by the clamour of the fans.

'Dear Peter and I

damn near destroyed our wrists

'with all of the autograph signing.

'By that point, Mr Cushing

and I had become good friends.

'I think the public often made

the mistake of assuming

'that we were rather gloomy people,

'humourless and severe.

'But nothing could have been

further from the truth.

'From the day we met, Peter and I,

'more than anything else, laughed.'

But we also did a lot of this

kind of thing...

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(BOTH GRUNTING)

(GROANS)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC BUILDING)

(SCREAMS)

(SCREAMS)

He and Chris became a kind of...

a kind of a couple

in the sense that they would

often end up

in the same picture together.

I think, I can't remember, 17,

how many pictures they did together.

But they were like

Laurel and Hardy, you know?

They were just-You would seldom

see one without the other.

They were like chalk and cheese.

Very different, different styles of

acting, different ways of acting,

and obviously totally

different characters,

but it just gelled, you know?

The whole thing with them gelled

and they had huge respect

for each other.

They always brought total conviction

to whatever crap they were in.

So, if they're in a terrible movie,

they're still good.

You know? They're still good.

Do you know what they used to do?

They loved Looney Tunes cartoons.

Peter and Chris, and they'd get

together and watch, you know,

Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and

all the classic Looney Tunes,

and they really knew them.

You could-

I was on a phone call

with the two of them

and they did like the whole thing

of "What's Opera, Doc?"

It was amazing.

'In some ways,

Hammer became a family to me,

'replete with all

the eccentricities, bickering,

'resentments and frustration,

'but also a warm, encouraging,

and friendly bunch.'

They tended to have the same crews,

you know?

They tended to have the same

DPs and the same...

makeup and hairdressers,

and so it was a nice

kind of continuity to it.

And all the crews knew each other

so they worked so well together.

And Hammer made a lot of-not a lot,

but Hammer made a number

of good films.

And they had tremendous success

with a lot of stuff.

'I worked for other studios

during this period also.

'I was in some demand,

but my path was laid out for me now.

'I would be successful,

but I would be... sleazy.

'Any notion of romantic leads or

matinee heroes was behind me now.

'I had given the public

and the studios what they wanted,

'and that would be all

they required from me.

'Which is not to say there

was no room for manoeuvre,

'for, as I discovered,

there are so many types of sleazebag.

'Considering the limitation placed

on me that I always be wicked,

'I was rather pleased

with my range and breadth.

'Later on in the '60s,

I befriended Vincent Price.

'Vincent had established himself

as a gentleman of horror

'long before I came along.

'And when I did come along,

along with me,

'came for him the daily indignity

of being recognised as me.

'People would stop him

in the street and say,

"Mr Lee, might I have your

autograph?"

'But Vincent was so much more

than a horror star.

'He gave lectures on painting,

sculpture, and cookery.

'At the height of his success,

'he had a job on the side as

an art buyer for Sears Roebuck.

'Vincent knew how to enjoy

his work and enjoy his life.

'He enjoyed his public image

and played up to it deliciously,

'but he also took relish

in switching it off.

'I never heard him complain.

'Perhaps the one thing that

I envied him and Peter

'was their ability to be so

comfortable

'with the public's

perception of them.'

I never quite was.

I think for a long time,

horror fans,

particularly horror fans,

liked Christopher Lee the least.

Not because of his performances,

but because of his attitude to his

own performances and to the genre.

He sort of kidded himself

as a result.

In some interviews he actually said,

you know, in the late '60s,

as late as that, he was suggesting

that The Curse of Frankenstein

was the only REAL

horror film he'd been in.

And I think as a result,

fans found him rather ungracious,

which is a bit of an irony

because ungracious is the one thing

Christopher Lee would never

want to be thought to be.

'And then... there was Gitte.'

(ROMANTIC GUITAR MUSIC)

'She was a painter

and a photographer.

'She modelled for Balenciaga

and Dior,

'and her father was a director for

the Tuborg Brewery in Copenhagen.

'After a couple of

missed opportunities,

'our paths finally crossed,

and entwined they would happily stay

'until the end of my life.

(GUITAR MUSIC CONTINUES)

'My fame at this point was

undoubtedly becoming global

'and when international filmmakers

became aware

'of my ability to speak

in several other languages,

'I found myself in demand.'

This was fortunate,

as I unexpectedly found myself

under attack from a monster

the likes of which Hammer

could never have envisioned.

He left England for Switzerland

as a tax refugee.

He came out with quite

a lot of standard, you know?

Conservative stuff that it was...

the politics of envy

and this level of taxation

couldn't...

you know, couldn't be maintained

for any longer.

'With appropriate irony, the first

role I was contracted to play

'as a non-domicile was one

of the great fictional Englishman.

'It was my turn to don

the deerstalker

'and interpret Sherlock Holmes...

'into German.'

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

'Despite my perfectly

adequate German delivery,

'they decided to dub my voice.'

(DUBBED GERMAN VOICE)

'From Germany to Italy.'

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

(FILM NARRATOR SPEAKING IN FRENCH)

'The Crypt of the Vampire

was shot in Avezzano

'at the Castello de Balsorano.

'The film was good,

but the location, divine.

'I would come to know the castles

of Europe rather well

'as it transpired that many of the

filmmakers who wanted to work with me

'may not have wanted me

to play Dracula,

'but certainly a derivative thereof.'

Going to Europe in 1962 was a very

good idea because, you know,

the early Hammer horror films

and the other British horror films

that grew up around Hammer

were enormously venerated in France

and also had made

a huge impact in Italy.

He's in all these German and French

and Spanish movies, Italian movies,

where they're not movies

we even know about

because they were never

dubbed into English

and he's speaking French or

Italian or German or Spanish.

They are quite interesting because

they're all fractured versions

of the persona that he first

showed in the Hammer films.

Italy, of course, was an industry

that would always go for what was

the now thing and how can we

produce our own version of it.

Well, one very good way to produce

it was to get Christopher Lee in.

So, you know, there he was

by the shores of Lake Geneva

during his Swiss exile, and he was

constantly popping down to Italy.

Italy was a perfect place.

There were wonderful locations,

et cetera.

And who was the number one star

in horror pictures?

Christopher Lee.

So, I reached out for Christopher

and when I met him,

we just became fast friends.

And I... raised some money

and put together the first budget

for Castle of the Living Dead.

And that's how it happened.

FILM NARRATOR: The Castle

of the Living Dead.

In an atmosphere of horror,

the story of a man who violates the

forbidden frontiers of science...

...to arrive at a frightful

but lucid madness

and atrocious inhuman crime.

Starring the unforgettable

creator of Dracula.

'The great joys of my experience

in Europe, were my partnerships

with the Italian director Mario Bava

and the Spanish Jess Franco.

He made quite a few pictures

with Jess Franco,

who obviously he must have respected

and liked on some level.

Very few of them are at the top

of the heap of the movies

that he would wanna be

remembered for.

But interestingly,

he changed his mind about

doing a Dracula picture

because he did one for Jess.

MAN: And, action!

(WHIRRING OMINOUS MUSIC)

The idea was that this was

going to be 'the' Dracula picture,

based on the book, which was

always a bugaboo of his,

is how few things from the book

ended up in these movies.

And it was another thread-bearer

kind of a movie.

Although Pere Portobella made a

really interesting documentary

about the making of that movie,

which is actually much more

interesting than the movie itself.

(EERIE MUSIC STING)

(EERIE MUSIC STING)

'To the continental filmmakers,

'sex and death went hand-in-hand

'along with pain and pleasure.

'Accusations of downright perversity

were levelled at some of these films,

'but it was merely the European way.

'Their art and literature

have been infused with sex

'as far back as can be remembered.

'My films from this time

have a distinctly different feel.

'Sometimes dreamy, delirious,

or demented,

'it was a heady

and creative time for me.'

MAN: A film of mystery!

A film of thrill!

A film of terror!

He made some amazing films,

and he was delighted to be working

in particular with Mario Bava.

But I think he was very aware

that this was really just...

...a continuation, if you like, of

what he called his graveyard period,

because he was very much

looked upon as a Gothic personage.

SERAFINOWICZ: (AS LEE)

'On the 22nd of November 1963,

'Gitte gave birth to our wonderful

daughter, Christina.

'We were now a family.

'The idea of leaving them,

for even a small amount of time,

'filled me with anxiety.

'Death started to mean

something different to me.

'For the first time,

I truly feared it.

'For the idea of not living

to see Christina bloom and conquer

'was unimaginably painful.'

The charms of Switzerland

had worn off by now

and taxman be damned,

we just wanted to be home.

So, we returned to London

and took a flat

a stone's throw from Mr Karloff.

My career had gone international,

yet I didn't seem

to have moved a step.

The allowance of days

that I was given as a tax exile

by the government to work in the UK

had all gone to Hammer

and my return made me feel as

if perhaps, I had never even left.

But then a new character beckoned me.

And although he certainly

was of the shadows,

it was as far from typecasting

as I could reasonably hope.

'I was not the first to bring

the evil Dr Fu Manchu to screen.

'Seven screen Fus had preceded me,

'including a memorable turn by Boris.

'It is perhaps unimaginable

that such a film be made today,

'not just the racial

characterisations,

'but the very fact that

the main role, a Chinese man,

'be played by a Caucasian Englishman.

'I can only say that

I have never played Fu Manchu

'in any way that the Chinese

could find offensive.

'However, I can understand

their objection to the character

'being referred to as

'the Yellow Peril'.

'I played Fu over the course

of five films

'and very much following

the pattern of my involvement

'with the Hammer Dracula series,

'it was a case of steadily

diminishing returns.

'In fact, these two franchises,

in the modern parlance,

'overlapped throughout

my 1960s and '70s.'

(THUNDER RUMBLES) (DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(BAT SCREECHING)

(WOMAN WHIMPERING)

DANTE: Hammer, which was not exactly

in the business of making art,

decided that this was a vein

that they wanted to mine.

And so, they ended up...

essentially remaking those

pictures like seven, eight times,

and they ended up doing kind of

the same thing that Universal did,

which is sort of running it

into the ground after a while.

There was always less of Dracula

in every one of the movies

until you get to Taste the Blood of

Dracula, which is not a bad movie,

it looks like it was conceived

without Dracula.

And indeed, it had been. (CHUCKLES)

"No, we're not gonna have to."

But Warner Brothers, the distributor

said, "We can't distribute

this picture without Christopher

Lee. It's a Dracula movie!"

There's a couple of real sh*t

Hammers that he's in

that he gives you

this long story about.

Someone calls him and says...

"Chris, you have to come,

you have to be Dracula

because the movie's cast,

we've committed the money.

Everyone, the carpenters, you know,

all the group, the family, you know,

it'll fall apart

if you don't do it."

You know they used to guilt him

into these things.

He never gave less than his all.

I mean, he was always good

in the movies.

He did the best job he could.

But I think that he felt after a

while he was just wasting his time

and that he was sort of

sullying whatever...

name value he may have.

He had that ambivalence

towards the role of Dracula.

It had got him where he was,

it had got him recognition,

but it also was the sort of thing

that he could never leave behind

and that so many people

thought was all he could do.

You know, I got him

to sign a poster for me once.

I only got him to sign one poster

and it was a poster for

Taste the Blood of Dracula.

He grumbled a bit

when I asked him to sign it

and the message he wrote on it was,

"Dear Peter,

this is from another life."

You know? He regarded that

as being something that was...

He did but he wanted to

move on from that.

And, you know, personally speaking,

I think the balance, he could've

got the balance a bit better

where he moved on, but not...

not to the point that he somehow

came across as being ashamed

of those films.

'Cause he had nothing whatsoever

to be ashamed about.

He was absolutely the king of his...

of all he surveyed really,

in that niche.

But he wasn't satisfied with that.

It's an interesting conundrum

but I think it's a lot

to do with, you know,

his ancestry where great things

were expected of him

and here he was playing monsters.

Both of us had the same degree of

a certain lack of confidence,

which did come from our family,

I think,

because my grandmother

could be very withering.

I don't know.

Not withering about acting.

In fact, acting was the one thing

that we made our family

proud about, funnily enough.

It was everything else you were

that felt a bit sort of,

"I'm not quite up to scratch."

And I can't define it

and I'd love to have sat down

and talked to him about it.

But it's just a sort of...

aura in the family of sort of...

There's a threat of ridicule

somewhere in the atmosphere.

Here's the funny thing,

he loved playing Dracula.

When you're that good

at playing a part,

and when you have such

command of the screen,

and you can make such

an impact in such a short time,

of course you're going to love

playing that part.

'Hollywood finally came calling,

'and although this time

it would be upon British soil,

'I would actually be working

very closely

'with a certified legendary

Hollywood director.

'Billy Wilder had decided to make

a Sherlock Holmes film.

'He, quite correctly,

saw me as Mycroft,

'Holmes' arguably

more clever, older brother.'

Am I going too fast

with the best brain in England?

Go on.

They planted that on you

quite neatly, I must admit,

so that you could lead them

to their objective, the air pump.

Very much like using

a hog to find truffles.

'It had taken me 23 years

and over 100 films

'before I was to have such a

thoroughly satisfying experience.'

Oh, charming!

Chris was very proud

of Mycroft Holmes,

but what he was proud of

was, although he's wonderful

in the movie,

but he was proud of being

employed by Billy Wilder.

That's what was, you know?

That's what was... "I'm being-

I'm with one of the greats."

The early to mid-70s' were

to offer me two roles

which could hold their own in the

iconic stakes against old Dracula.

Finally, I was to go up against

Britain's finest secret agent.

But before we go into that.

It is time to keep your appointment

with the Wicker Man.

'Now, I've never been shy

about proclaiming

'this as my favourite of all

the films I've appeared in.

'There are many reasons for this.

'Firstly, it's a brilliant story,

expertly told.'

You can't land here

without written permission!

I, as you can see,

am a police officer.

A complaint has been registered

by a resident of this

island of a missing child!

Now that makes it a police matter,

private property or not!

Now, will you send a dingy, please?

(QUIETLY) Need to tell his lordship.

'The great playwright

Anthony Shaffer found a novel

'in which he saw a kernel

of a story which intrigued him.

'We bought the rights,

and he made it his own.'

(CLOCK TICKING)

(FLUTE MUSIC)

Good afternoon, Sergeant Howie.

I trust the sight of

the young people refreshes you.

No, Sir.

It does not refresh me.

Oh, I'm sorry.

One should always be open

to the regenerative influences.

'He conceived of the role

of Lord Summerisle for me.

'I assure you that this is

an extreme rarity in the business.

'To have a part not just

handed to you,

'but inspired by you

is a rare moment,

'especially one this good!'

In that case, you must go ahead.

The Wicker Man really drew

from a lot of his past

as a horror icon...

...because The Wicker Man is

unquestionably a horror film.

And at the heart of it,

of course,

you've got Lee playing,

you know, the laird

who lives in the castle

at the top of the hill,

to whom the unsuspecting innocent

person has to travel by coach.

Is this reminding

you of anybody? You know.

It's a very clever manipulation

of his image.

And I think to a degree,

Lee was aware of that,

but he was aware that in

manipulating his image like that

Shaffer had given him

some beautiful dialogue

and a marvellously ambiguous

character to play.

What my grandfather had

started out of expediency,

my father continued out of... love.

He brought me up the same way.

To reverence the music and the drama

and the rituals of the old gods.

To love nature and to fear it.

And to rely on it and to appease it

when necessary.

He brought me up-

He brought you up to be a pagan!

A heathen, conceivably,

but not, I hope,

an unenlightened one.

SERAFINOWICZ: (AS LEE) 'How different

could two film shoots be?

'From the grey wind-swept

hills of coastal Scotland

'to the sun-drenched beaches

of Thailand?

'Famously, the 007 films

were lavish Pan Global productions,

'which shot for months

with a travelling team of hundreds.

'The producers were Cubby Broccoli

and Harry Saltzman,

'by now millionaires many times over

'thanks to their shrewd licencing

of my cousin Ian Fleming's books.

'Oh, yes, Ian and I

were quite the pair.

'I've heard talk that certain

elements of the James Bond character

'were in fact based upon me

and my own wartime experiences.

'But of course, I couldn't possibly

comment on such matters.

'Sadly, by now, Ian was dead

'and never did get to see me

play one of his characters.

'But here I was now

squaring off against Roger Moore,

'and what a match we made.'

You live well, Scaramanga.

At a million dollars a contract,

I can afford to Mr Bond.

You work for peanuts.

A hearty, "Well done"

from Her Majesty the Queen

and a pittance of a pension.

Apart from that, we are the same.

To us, Mr Bond.

We are the best.

He was kind of thrilled to be

The Man with the Golden g*n...

...because it was a big Hollywood

international production

and Cubby Broccoli and, you know,

it was the biggest thing going

and he was delighted to be in that.

And I would say,

"Chris, it was the third nipple

you're delighted by, isn't it?"

(IMITATING LEE)

"What are you talking about?"

(CHUCKLES) He was pretty

easy to tease.

'My performance has regularly

been singled out

'as one of the better Bond villains,

'and that is a compliment

I don't take lightly.

'My star had risen. I had arrived.'

I think the first time he ever got

ever any kind of nice treatment

by the critics in the UK

was The Man with the Golden g*n.

He was a very sensitive man

and he'd been, really,

cruelly treated by the critics

and everything for years.

There's a little, little

touch of bad luck even here

because finally Christopher

is playing a Bond villain

and he's being, to my mind,

one of the very best Bond villains,

but he's in a Bond film that is...

(GROANS)..a bit of a curate's egg.

You know, I mean, look,

by comparison to most

of Christopher Lee's films,

The Man with the Golden g*n

made squillions of dollars.

But by comparison to the other

James Bond films up to that time,

it was a little bit of a damp squib,

even commercially.

So, you know, there were these-

these little touches of bad luck

sort of drop through

even at the moments of zenith.

But maybe-maybe that's, you know,

the actor's lot in many ways.

On my return to Britain,

all that awaited me

were more dismal deaths

in dank dungeons.

And to be honest,

not so many of those

since Hammer was in steep decline.

'In our mutual interest,

I had picked up the rights

'to some of Dennis Wheatley's

literary properties

'and hoped to motivate Hammer into

action on a more modern type of film,

'which might compete

with the likes of The Exorcist.'

(SCREAMING)

'Well, they dragged their feet,

but eventually got it made.

'A tepid adaptation which

angered Wheatley.'

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

(SCREAMS)

(WIND WHISTLING)

'It would be my last film for Hammer,

the end of an era.

'They had managed to snare

Richard Widmark as leading man,

and he joined

the Transatlantic Chorus,

'started a decade ago by Billy Wilder

and finally convinced me

'that it was time to up sticks

and move, lock stock to America.'

America, where I was

appreciated, respected,

and where Hollywood

seemed ripe with promise.

He had a decent life here.

It wasn't...

a life of discotheques

and things like that.

It was a life of work

because he did work quite a bit

when he came to Hollywood.

It was a very fruitful period

for Christopher.

It really was.

He loved being in Hollywood

and he was working.

He got to work with Jack Lemmon

and Lee Grant, you know?

Real actors and real

Hollywood stars,

and he really enjoyed it.

'My first film was a huge

movie for Universal,

'Airport 77.

'The Airport films were

the original and finest exponents

'of the very popular, new

'disaster movie' genre.

'The format was simple and effective.

'A large cast of popular celebrities,

old and new,

'are thrust into

a cataclysmic situation.

'The fun of these films

was the absolute unpredictability

'as to who would survive

and who would die.

'I would be sharing the screen

and the first-class lounge

'with Jack Lemmon,

Olivia de Haviland,

'Joseph Cotton, and Jimmy Stewart.

'To absolutely nobody in

the world's surprise,

'I died.

'But it was a good death,

'a hero's death, a new death.

'I had to train for a week

in a water tank to accomplish it.

'And upon completion,

I received an award

'more meaningful to me than an Oscar.

'The hallowed Stunt Team belt buckle,

'a recognition that

you were one of them.

This is a good start! I mean,

it's a slightly silly disaster film

of the period, but nevertheless

it's a big thing. But because of

Christopher's workaholic tendencies,

the next thing he does involves

going to Canada

to appear in something called

Starship Invasions.

(CHUCKLES) Um...

And you know that film is

an embarrassment on many levels.

However, there are some wonderful

things happening for him in the USA.

He goes over to NYC to be guest host

on Saturday Night Live

in March 1978.

'I had a wonderful time but was

grateful to learn after the fact,

'that the audience viewing figures

were as high as 35 million.

'By far my largest audience for

anything I had ever previously done.

'Had I known such

a figure before taking part,

'I'd have been a babbling fool.

'My appearance, seen by really

everyone who was anyone,

'announced to the American film

and TV industry that I was alive,

'that I was available,

and that I was perhaps

'more versatile than

they might have expected.'

Having shown America

my capacity for humour,

the phone started ringing

and one of those calls

was from Steven Spielberg.

'His next film was to be a comedy.

'Set around the confusion

in the immediate aftermath

'of the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

It would see me paired

'with the legendary Japanese actor,

Toshiro Mifune.

'I played a German U-boat captain,

'speaking entirely

in the German language.

'Mifune played my begrudging partner,

'a Japanese submarine commander

'who spoke entirely in,

of course, Japanese.

'Now, the joke was that

we railed against one another

'in our mother tongues but could

understand each other perfectly.

'And therein lies the problem.

'It's not a particularly

funny concept.

'True to its subject matter,

the movie bombed.

'Serial was a very modern

satire of life

'for the Baby Boomers

in 1970s San Francisco.

'I played Luckman,

a local businessman,

'respected and successful,

who, on weekends,

'donned leathers and became Skull,

'fearsome leader of the local

h*m* motorcycle g*ng.'

Might I say that

I'm old-fashioned...

(SINGS IN FRENCH)

'My run of strange and wonderful

pictures continued

'with a jaunt to Australia to film

The Return of Captain Invincible.

'I was firmly back in mad

fascistic villain territory,

'but the rest of the film

was truly bizarre.'

I built a fish!

Hit the dirt!

'Only Captain Invincible can stop me,

if he can kick his addiction

to the booze.'

If you don't name your poison

I'll have to get the boys in

The spirit of adventure

opens one's eyes

If you don't name your poison...

'To finally sing on film,

'do you think I might have been

enjoying myself?'

Sunrise

There's no one that is in any

doubt of how versatile he was

and the fact he was capable

of other things. You know?

But I think a lot of the movies

he made from the 1970s onwards

were really a reaction

of getting as far away

from those horror movies

as he possibly could.

Christopher was very keen

on playing,

as he called them, Short roles.

He didn't carry a film.

He punctuated a film

in an enormously exciting

and brilliant way.

But he punctuated stories

rather than carrying them.

Short roles enabled him to go

from film to film, to film, to film,

sometimes to make

multiple films at the same time.

'My antagonistic services

became very much in demand.

'Now, admittedly, not all

of the roles I played were in

'what one might consider

premium quality productions.'

I wouldn't hesitate to sh**t

this young lady, you know?

As you can hear,

I don't have very much choice.

(SIRENS IN DISTANCE)

That's better. Easy does it.

(DOG BARKING)

(GASPING)

I would say maybe

half the movies that he made

are more or less forgettable.

And he once said to me

that he pitied me

because I had seen

so many of his movies.

I think he had such a hunger to...

to keep doing things,

such a curiosity about doing things.

He didn't always say, "Is there

any artistic merit in this?"

He didn't wanna be left out.

He just... He just felt that,

"The next one is gonna be the...

a better one."

I think he just took

the rough with the smooth

all the way through his career.

And things didn't quite work out

how he always wanted them

to work out, you know?

He put that in perspective

with his wartime experiences

and so what?

SERAFINOWICZ: (AS LEE) We had spent

almost a decade in America,

and I had somewhat

stretched my wings there,

but life, as it will,

conspired to bring me back home.

'I was in Las Vegas sh**ting

the movie Jocks

'when I felt quite unwell.

'I was getting tired very easily

and walking became quite exhausting.'

(HEARTBEAT THUMPING)

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

'I went to see a doctor.

'She told me that my mitral valve

in my left ventricle

'wasn't closing correctly.

'In that moment, I realised that,

quite literally,

'my heart was no longer in it.

'Our departure was swift.

'Back in London I took

to Harley Street,

'province of the private clinician,

'where, at great expense,

'I was pricked and prodded

and invaded and examined,

'and the decision was taken

that surgery was essential.

'I campaigned against one of those

new-fangled plastic valves

'as I had heard terrifying tales of

recipients of such

'dropping dead mid-sentence.

'As an aspirational raconteur and a

connoisseur of the act of death,

'I could think of no worse

way to expire.

'So, they offered me

the valve of a pig,

'which I gladly accepted.

'In the moment, however, they decided

to mend rather than replace.

'So much of my life had been

spent as a purveyor of fear,

'terror, darkness, and blood.

'Here I was now at their mercy.

'I was scared.

'I wrote letters

to Gitte and Christina

'should the worst happen, and then

as I waited for the hour to come,

'I took comfort in that

which has always given me comfort.

'I first read The Lord of the Rings

upon publication.

'All three volumes were released

in quite quick succession

'within a year or so,

and I absolutely devoured them.

'I was obsessed to the degree

that I read the full trilogy

'every single year

for the rest of my life.

'I met Tolkien in the '50s

quite by chance.

'I was in Oxford with friends.

'We were drinking merrily

in the Eagle and Child Pub

#when the door opened

and in he walked.

'You see, I recognised him from his

photograph on the dust jacket.

'In he came and somehow, he joined

our group for a couple of ales.

'All I could say was,

"How do you do?"

'That is it, all I could manage.

'I had so many questions for him

I didn't know where to start

'and really didn't know how it

might end up.

'So, I just smiled and nodded

and enjoyed his presence.

'I enjoyed being in his presence

and I have no regrets.

'I could well have scared him

away or upset or annoyed him

'and that I would've

regretted to this day.

'No, it was quite alright

just to have been around him.

'It is a very good memory.

'So, before my operation

and in my sick bed

'and during my recuperation,

'I mentally transported myself

to Middle Earth.

'And The Fellowship with all

of their goodness and decency,

'played a role in my recovery

and recover I did.

'My return to London also marked

a return to old friends.

'House of the Long Shadows,

'really more of

a Gothic chamber piece

'with the occasional unfortunate

demise and a risible ending.

'This project would see me

reunited on screen,

'not just with Peter,

but also Vincent.

'Who could say no

to a family reunion?

They were such gentlemen.

You know, so respectful

of each other's talent and...

and of all the crew.

And modest, all very modest,

about their talent.

'Cause they are, yes, as we said,

the Holy Trinity of Horror.

'I was the youngest

of the trio by a decade.

'Vincent was the youngest in spirit.

'But it was clear

that Peter was winding down.

'Peter, if we're truthful,

had been winding down

'since the death of his beloved wife,

Helen, a decade earlier.

'He never recovered.

Had no desire to recover, you see.

'From the moment he lost her,

'he was just passing time until

they could be reunited in death.

'He kept busy.

'He had a huge success

appearing in Star Wars,

'but I don't think he cared.

'He cared about being professional

and giving a great performance.

'He just didn't care

about his standing

'or the acclaim or the money.

'He lived a quiet life

in Whitstable, by the sea there.

'He painted his miniatures,

and he passed the time.

'Ultimately, he waited 23 years

'until he could join his dear Helen.

'He was truly a special man,

'and he was my friend.

'His last job was to narrate

a documentary

'about Hammer films with me.'

- I was in Cannes for two days recently.

- Say that louder.

(SHOUTS) I was in Cannes

for two days recently.(LAUGHS)

- And everybody gave me a big welcome.

- What were you doing there?

- Well, talking about you.

- That's it for you.

- As usual.

- Yes. - And somebody said to me,

(FRENCH ACCENT)

"And how is Mr Cushing?"

(NORMAL VOICE) I said,

"I don't know."

This is happening all over the world.

People say to me,

"How is Mr Cushing?"

Sometimes they say,

"Good morning, Mr Cushing."

(LAUGHTER)

Sometimes they do that too. It's

either that or Mr Price.

Always. Always.

'We had a wonderful day together.

'But as we said, goodbye,

I had a premonition.

'I knew it would be the last time

I would see him.

'And it was.'

I did not wind down.

He really loved doing movies.

Not just the movie itself,

the whole process.

From reading the script

to meeting the people at the set,

meeting other actors,

exchanging ideas.

At home, he would be bored.

He would have nothing to do.

He was restless.

He was in a situation in where

he was not getting

any prominent movies.

In other words, he was getting...

meaningless parts.

The majority of people

thought that he had passed away

'cause he had not been

really in the mainstream.

At the time, I'm talking 1995.

From 1995 maybe to 1998,

around that time.

He didn't wanna do any

more horror movies

because he had done

everything already.

There wasn't anything else

to be done.

He thought that he had so much more

to give than just that,

so, he wasn't getting

the type of work that he wanted.

He came to see me playing

at Stratford-on-Avon

in the Royal Shakespeare Company,

and he came afterwards.

Afterwards, he said,

"I'm so jealous of you...

because, you know,

I'd love to have done

some of the great

classical roles on the stage."

He was very, very keen

to play Don Quixote.

I think that would've been

a fantastic part for him, actually.

Can you just see him sitting astride

that knackered old horse, you know?

In his Spanish armour,

tilting at windmills.

The whole idea-I think in

a way that role spoke to him.

'Cause the whole idea of

tilting at windmills, i.e.

at conventional film stardom,

was something that he understood.

He did have a lot of rejection,

um, which people don't know about.

And so, you do, you know,

you could spend hours of your day

being sad about where you didn't go.

And he did sometimes

get into that place.

He was jealous.

He was jealous of certain actors.

He was jealous of Michael Caine.

I said, "Christopher, why are you

jealous of Michael Caine?

Michael is a brilliant actor.

You're a brilliant actor."

He would never give me the reasons.

He just thought that Michael Caine

got more attention.

At this time, I actually turned

largely to my great hobby of singing

and took a serious stab

at making a go of it.

He did a narration

for Rhapsody of Fire.

That was the first time

that he worked

with a mainstream heavy metal band.

They were huge.

And they're still huge.

They are pioneers of

Symphonic and Power Metal.

He liked the music because...

it's very similar to the music

that he liked.

He loved Wagner. And in his opinion,

Wagner and heavy metal

are interconnected.

The music is very powerful,

big stories. So, you know,

that's how he knew about metal.

'I was hooked.

'A few years later,

I formed The Charlemagne Project.

'What would become two full albums.'

Christopher had worked before in

several albums,

several projects,

he wanted to do some more.

So there is where we came in, huh?

The project started with

Charlemagne: By the Sword

and the Cross,

and then the second heavy metal

album, which was more heavy,

if that's a phrase.

Now the first album was more

symphonic metal.

Four thousand men

all dead in one day

They would not renounce

their heathen ways...

We first, we did the symphonic one,

and there are two

generations of fans.

Some loved it because it was

symphonic.

It's light, they like that.

But the more extreme,

the more heavier fans, ah,

they were disappointed.

"Oh, this is not metal!

This is symphonic."

We had to do it heavier.

And also, Sir Christopher said,

"This needs to be one.

This needs to be heavier.

Needs to be much, much heavier!

The music is not powerful enough.

The orchestra, we need more power!"

Remember he said, "More power?"

"You know, I can sing much

louder than that," right?

I shed blood of the Saxon man

I shed the blood of the Saxon men

I shed the blood of the Saxon man

But in between

the Charlemagne albums,

he sung heavy metal singles.

You know, we started with the

Heavy Metal Christmas then

- Heavy Metal Christmas Two, with Jingle Hells.

- Oh yeah.

Jingle hell, jingle hell,

jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

in a one-horse open sleigh

He actually went number 18 on the-

The American Billboard charts.

- On the billboard single charts in America.

- Number 22,

and then number 22, and then from

the PR of getting to number 22,

he went to number 18

in the Billboard charts.

It meant that Christopher became

the oldest, now careful here,

recording artist,

not somebody that wrote some music

and all of a sudden, you know, at 90

his music appears on the charts,

he was 92-

91 and a half years old

when he recorded,

and he became the oldest

performing artist

to have ever charted.

In the name of Jesus Christo,

our lord

On a day on Verden, no mercy given

Victory for the chosen people

Every single music magazine

in the world...

...started to refer to him

as a heavy metal star.

Right? So, he started

as somebody who wanted to sing...

...and at the end, he was respected

by every single

heavy metal musician.

'One of the founding

members of Black Sabbath, Tony Iommi

'presented me with the

Metal Hammer Golden God award.'

I think it was probably

the most memorable day

that I can remember

in the whole of my life.

He was born again,

he felt the energy of the place.

I remember that we were in the

changing rooms with Tony Iommi

and Sir Christopher,

they were talking.

They had a very long conversation

in the changing room.

Sir Christopher said to him,

"You invented heavy metal,

you are the father of metal."

He said. And Tony Iommi replied,

"No, you were the one that created

heavy metal with your movies,

I was inspired by your movies."

Sir Christopher, "My movies?

The good ones I hope!"

(LAUGHTER) He always said this,

"The good ones I hope!"

By 1998, I was 76-years-old

and it could well have been assumed

that my most fruitful years

were behind me.

But then, something happened.

Something wonderful

and quite unexpected happened.

I received an invitation to tea

at the Basil Street Hotel

in Knightsbridge.

My hosts there were

the head of Islamic studies

from Cambridge university,

Akbar Ahmed

and his friend,

the film director, Jamil Dehlavi.

They had a question for me.

"What do you know about Jinnah?"

' "Well," I replied.

'"I know that Mohammed Ali Jinnah

was the Baba-e-Qaum,

'forefather of the nation

of Pakistan,

'the state he founded in 1947

'and became the first

Governor General of.

'It was his committed endeavour

to create a separate state

'for Indian Muslims.

'I believe him to have been an

extraordinary man

'of determination and brilliance.

' "We should like you to play Jinnah."

They replied.

'Jinnah was by far the most

important film I made

in terms of its subject and the great

responsibility I had as an actor.

'I am immensely proud

of this picture.

'I received, really,

the best reviews I've ever had.'

He was reminding you that

he could do these longer parts,

these more conventional

dramatic roles

and he could bring nuance and...

subtlety and, you know,

statesmanship in that particular

instance, playing Jinnah.

He could bring all that to a

role in a more conventional vein.

But you see...

because he'd done

so many short parts,

I don't think casting directors,

very often, saw him that way.

'The film was a smash hit

with the critics

'but barely saw

the inside of a cinema.

'It seems many could not accept

the notion of a white Englishman

'playing such an important

Indian icon.

'It passed largely unseen.'

Had this been the coda

to my career in film,

well, it would have been

a most satisfactory one.

But Jinnah was not the end.

It was the beginning of the end.

And what an end it was to be.

Almost a decade earlier, Vincent had

enjoyed a magical last act revival.

After a decade of films which

were often beneath him,

his final film, his final role,

his final moment on the silver screen

was a work of great beauty.

'Edward Scissorhands was

an early picture

'from two of cinemas great artists.

'Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.

'It would be my good fortune

to not only work with them

'but to call them friends.

'Our first picture together was,

Sleepy Hollow.

'Washington Irving's tale

of Ichabod Crane

'and the headless horseman.

'Their creepy but tongue-in-cheek

Gothic style was, of course,

'familiar and pleasing to me but,

unlike the Hammer films,

'there were no corners cut

and quality was paramount.

'I would go on to appear in four

more Depp-Burton collaborations

'and very fine they were too.'

I also found myself cast in

what would go on to be

the two biggest cinematic franchises

in the entire world

for the first decade

of the new millennium.

One of these was already the biggest

franchise in film history.

I would be following

my friend Peter,

to become a villainous antagonist

in a new Star Wars film

under the creator himself,

George Lucas.

'In the original Star Wars films

in the 1970's,

'Lucas had redefined what could be

achieved with special effects.

'But here, at the dawn

of a new century,

'he was pioneering

what could be achieved

'through digital manipulation

of the image.

'To be working on the cutting

edge of technology was a thrill

'but it was also unfamiliar

and disorienting.

'Forget the absence of other actors,

'oftentimes there weren't even sets.

'When one acts in nothing,

to nothing,

'well, it was a challenge.

'But to be challenged

is no bad thing.

'My high-point in this trilogy

was my duel with the iconic Yoda.

'A fight that didn't take place

'with a creature that didn't exist.

(LIGHTSABERS CRACKLING)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Fought well you have,

my old Padawan.

This is just the beginning.

The critics weren't always

kind to these films,

but George Lucas gave me a gift for

which I remain eternally grateful.

The generation of children who

grew up on these movies

have never even heard

of Hammer films.

He unshackled me from my past

and allowed me to be something

completely new to a modern audience.

My resurrection was becoming

a regeneration,

and it was far from over.

Suddenly I was in demand.

'Stephen Polliakoff wanted me

for Glorious 39.

'Martin Scorsese hired me for his

love letter to early cinema, Hugo.'

But the greatest gift was one

which had come from New Zealand.

My whole career, I had dreamt

of appearing in just one film.

He knew that The Lord of the Rings

was being produced

and he always wanted

to play Gandalf.

He read the books every year.

He was very excited about that.

So he said, "Juan, look,

find out on the internet,

put the word out

that I would like to be

in that movie."

Gandalf, Saruman, whatever,

as long as he was in the movie.

Christopher was someone

that we had in mind for Saruman.

Not just because of his background,

and because I had grown up

loving Christopher Lee's movies.

You know, he was perfect

for that role.

There's no doubt about it. You'd be

hard-pressed to find another actor

that would be better at

bringing Saruman to life.

What surprised us is that it

wasn't just a conversation where

we are trying to persuade him to,

you know,

to do the role

that we wanted him for.

He was super enthusiastic

'cause he was a huge Tolkien fan.

And then he said, "Well, I'd be

very happy to do Saruman, of course.

This is great." But he says,

"But did you ever

consider me for Gandalf?"

Which we hadn't done,

and it put us on the spot a bit

'cause I said, "Oh, really?"

He said, "Yes. I would much

prefer to play Gandalf, you know?"

And I understand why 'cause Gandalf

was pushing him as an actor

whereas Saruman was something,

you know,

we-everyone knows he could do

Saruman. He's perfect for that.

So, he said, "I prepared a scene.

Can you film me?

I'd like to do Gandalf.

I'd like to show you."

He auditioned for us,

which is the last thing we wanted

Christopher to do,

audition for the role of Gandalf.

He was good as Gandalf, but...

better as Saruman.

And what we actually ended

up realising

is that we had other

possibilities for Gandalf.

You know, there were other actors

that in different ways

could do Gandalf

and we were talking to Ian

and he would be certainly

top of the list.

But there is no other actor

we thought of that could do Saruman.

I mean, Christopher

was our only choice.

When he found out that he was

gonna be in the movie,

it was like a dream come true

to him.

He was a geek.

He was a Lord of the Rings geek.

So that was a dream come true.

'It was an incredibly

demanding sh**t,

'requiring four stints of sh**ting

in New Zealand,

'early starts and long days.

I do remember his very first day

of filming...

was interesting. It was a scene

from Fellowship of the Ring

where Saruman and Gandalf are

walking in the Isengard garden

just talking with each other.

There's just the two of them.

So we were in a local park

in Wellington sh**ting

that sequence.

I remember part way through that

first day,

um, Ian came up to me

just in between setups and he said,

"Oh... you might-

you might need to have

a word with Christopher."

And I said, "Really? What? Why?"

I said, "He's going great."

And Ian said, "Christopher's

convinced that he's gonna get fired

at the end of the day. He's

convinced he's doing a terrible job.

He's convinced himself

that you don't like it,

and he's absolutely sure

that he's gonna get fired

when the day's finished."

Which was a terrible thing to hear

when we're only halfway

through a day, so.

I just started to really reassure

Christopher he was doing great.

It was quite a surprising

insecurity about him.

For somebody who'd done

200, 250 films,

however many he'd done at that

point, over decades of work,

he was still a very nervous,

insecure actor.

It was almost like

it was his first day

on the set of any film ever.

That's the way that he sort of,

he came across.

The first two had come out and

Christopher was great as Saruman.

Everyone loved the character,

and everyone was looking forward

to that third Lord of the Rings

film. But we were struggling

with the edit of it to really make

the best film we possibly could.

And it was very, very long.

I mean...

our first cut of Return to the King

was over four hours long,

and it was just too long.

And so, something-

We had to sort of,

had to condense it.

We had the sequences of him

in The Return of the King,

and we had to take time out,

we looked at them and thought,

"Well, this is really not

advancing the storyline."

It's like clearing up a loose

end from The Two Towers

is how it felt a little bit,

looking at it brutally.

So, a really tough decision was made

that we could delete his appearance

in Return of the King, despite

the fact we'd already shot it.

Chris was terribly upset about it.

And I remember saying to him

at the time,

"Hello! You're essential role

in Lord of the Rings.

Now you're part of Star Wars!

Relax!" You know? (CHUCKLES)

He was thrilled to be in all

of the new popular movies

that were popular with, you know?

I mean, the movies,

he was always in popular movies.

Even the Hammer films

were popular pictures,

but they weren't mainstream

popular, like blockbuster popular.

And when you get into

working with George Lucas

and working with Peter Jackson,

I mean, now you're talking about

these are huge budget movies

that are seen by millions of people

in the world over,

and it's the top of the heap.

You really can't get much

higher than that.

And I think he was really thrilled

at that point in his career

to say that, "OK, I did this.

I went from here,

I went from... tiny parts

in swashbuckler movies

in the early '50s to, you know,

the top of the heap in playing

with the most respected directors,

Scorsese included, in the world."

He was very aware that these

were big name directors,

but he seemed to forget that he was

a big name actor or at any rate,

he had a huge heritage

stretching back several decades,

which is why they wanted him.

But it did constitute

an Indian summer.

SERAFINOWICZ: (AS LEE) The Lord

of the Rings, quite rightly,

won many awards.

And then I started to as well.

'I realised that there comes a point

at which they give you awards

'merely for still being alive.

'I was very moved and grateful

for all of them.

'But there is a none-too-coded

message attached

'to every Lifetime Achievement Award,

'which suggests that one might

no longer be considered

'the promising newcomer, and that

one's potential might now be spent.

'The Old Pipe and Slippers Award.'

The knighthood meant a lot to him.

He was a little disappointed

that it wasn't the Queen.

I think Prince Charles knighted him,

but... still, it meant a lot.

It meant a lot.

ANNOUNCER: To receive

the honour of knighthood,

Sir Christopher Lee for services

to drama and to charity.

INTERVIEWER: So, what role would you

like to be most remembered for?

Probably Jinnah.

I think that's the most challenging

and important part I've ever had.

There have been others, of course.

The Man with the Golden g*n,

and of course in

The Lord of the Rings, Saruman,

and Count Dooku.

What's important to me is that...

it seems that now I'm known

to every generation, and after all,

that's what it's all about.

Survival.

Thank you very much

for speaking to us.

So there you have it.

A knight of the realm

but still the King of Horror.

The King of what?

Horror!

Don't say that, dear. I'm not.

But we remember you for-

But I'm not the King of Horror.

I haven't done a horror

film for 34 years.

- Can I get you to say this on camera for me?

- Yes!

And then we can put it straight.

Please don't refer to me

as the King of Horror.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The day before he passed away,

we thought he was coming home.

He was being himself.

I thought he looked good, right?

I thought he was going home.

The doctor said, "He's fine.

He looks good. He looks well."

And that night he said, "Oh!

The Lord of the Rings

is on TV, right?

So, we'll watch The Lord of the

Rings with the nurses, right?

I'll explain to you how the movie

is." Because he loved the movie.

So, he watched that night The Lord

of the Rings with the nurses,

and we went home

and we were already thinking,

"OK, he's coming back."

Then that night,

all of a sudden, I was asleep

and I saw Christina stressed

and saying, "Daddy is gone."

And it was a very-

It actually, it hit us really hard

because we thought that he-

I actually thought

that he was eternal.

I thought that he would...

he would go past 100.

I really did think so.

So, it was a shock. It was more,

I thought, "Well, he's in hospital.

He's got some respiratory problems."

But he's always had problems.

He always had things.

But he just passed away.

That was it.

It was peaceful.

He didn't suffer.

He just went to sleep.

I was coming off stage,

got a message from Gitte

on my answering machine.

I had friends in my dressing room

who'd come to have a drink,

and I suddenly burst into tears

and told everyone to leave the room.

I go to London.

Now part of me always has

in the back of my mind,

"I must give Christopher a call."

You know? I'm still not quite-

'Cause London just, somehow when I'm

in London, I get that thing,

"Give Christopher a call"

gets triggered in me.

And so I still haven't got quite

used to the idea

that he's not there anymore.

Knowing him was a...

one of the perks of being

in the movie business.

I miss him greatly.

Christopher was certainly,

certainly one of those people

that was very much a part of me.

Very deeply much a part of me.

I feel...

just gratified that he was

so much part of my life.

And, uh...

...he made my life that much better.

Last time I saw Christopher?

It was about

four months before he died.

I went to visit him

in his flat in Cadogan Square.

I just felt, I don't know,

I got emotional

because he was talking about dying

and I was saying,

"Will you stop it?" You know?

"Jesus, Chris!

I didn't come to see you

to get depressed." You know?

Actually, he became

pretty funny after that.

And that's the last time I saw him.

I really, I really loved him.

I was delighted

and honoured to know him,

and I miss him terribly.

What really choked me up was

the next day

I looked up something about him

and it said, "Christopher Lee

WAS an actor..."

They changed the 'is' to 'was'

in 24 hours

and that really broke my heart.

Well, there we go.

Our time draws to a close

and the grave beckons me once more.

I do hope you have enjoyed

this exhumation

as much as I have.

Good evening.