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Vale: Christopher Lee

World-famous character actor Christopher Lee, best known for a career as Count Dracula, has died, aged 93.

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World-famous character actor Christopher Lee, best known for a career as Count Dracula, has died, aged 93.

The veteran actor died on Sunday in London following respiratory problems and heart failure.

Lee appeared in 10 films as Count Dracula, first in 1958’s Horror of Dracula and ending with 1976’s French film Dracula and Son.

After his service in the RAF, it was suggested to Lee to take up acting. While his mother protested, Lee pointed to the success of his great-grandmother Marie Carandini, who had been a successful opera singer in Sydney and Melbourne.

He built a career on horror and related films including The Mummy, The Devil Rides Out, To the Devil a Daughter, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I Monster, The Creeping Flesh, The Wicker Man, Meatcleaver Massacre, and House of the Long Shadows.

But there were other genres including Hamlet, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Julius Caesar, Hannie Caulder, The Man With the Golden Gun, 1941, Sleepy Hollow, The Three Musketeers, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Jinnah, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars: Episode III.

Television credits include How the West Was Won, The Pirate, Saturday Night Live, The Tomorrow People, Street Gear, Ivanhoe, The New Adventures of Robin Hood, Around the World in 80 Days, Shaka Zulu, Space: 1999, The Avengers, Pope John Paul II, Les redoutables, Gormenghast, Soul Music and The Odyssey.

Lee, who was knighted in 2009 and received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011, has 281 credits listed on IMDb.

He still has one film yet to be released, fantasy film Angels in Notting Hill, directed by Michael Pakleppa.

Source: Variety

4 Responses

  1. Was sad to hear the news last night at a friends place – I have grown up with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing..
    That is now the end of the Horror 4 as Christopher was the last.

    Thank you TVTonight for getting the information correct about when he passed away.
    All the details I have seen from Australian Media says he passed away over night

    Hmmmmm

  2. Great actor, sad to see him go, 93 is pretty good ago tho, even better that he was still acting. I would never of guessed he was that old, I would of thought late 70 at most. He was great in starwars and LotR

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