RIP Christopher Lee

[Vandal]

British actor Christopher Lee has died at the age of 93, according to MULTIPLE media reports.

Lee, who starred in films including the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Dracula, passed away in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, on Sunday after being treated for respiratory problems, the Telegraph reported, citing sources close to his family.

Lee rose to fame playing Dracula and Frankenstein in a series of Hammer Horror films from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Link.

[silverscreenselect]

British actor Christopher Lee has died at the age of 93, according to MULTIPLE media reports.

Lee, who starred in films including the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Dracula, passed away in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, on Sunday after being treated for respiratory problems, the Telegraph reported, citing sources close to his family.

Lee rose to fame playing Dracula and Frankenstein in a series of Hammer Horror films from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Link.

One of my favorite actors and, as I used as a clue in one of my puzzles, at the time of his death, he had appeared in films with more different actors than anyone else.

He was the villain in the James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun, and actually was a cousin of Ian Fleming and, supposedly, the inspiration for his character in the film.

Many of his Hammer horror films hold up quite well today, and if you are fortunate to get any of his audio commentaries on DVD, he was quite a skilled and witty raconteur.

Other great roles were opposite Edward Woodward in the original, far superior version of The Wicker Man and as Mycroft Holmes in Billy Wilder's underrated Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes (not surprisingly, he also played Sherlock in a couple of TV movies). A very fine actor who didn't get his full credit due to his being pigeonholed in horror movies.

[macrae1234]

One of the all time greats very underrated his WWII career was interesting aso

[Bob Juch]

[SpacemanSpiff]

Ironically, he and Vincent Price shared the same birthday (not the same year, of course).

And when I first saw this on the online news this morning, I got panicky -- that's the name of my oldest stepson (Judy's oldest).

[silverscreenselect]

I'd forgotten about this one; here's Lee in another good role in The 3/4 Musketeers, the best film versions made of the Dumas novel. And by the way, you don't see sword work like this in current movies; it's all mile-a-minute editing.

[Spock]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee

Lee had a very active WW2. Bookended by volunteering to serve with the Finns in the Winter War and involvement in the Nuremberg Trials.

There are intimations he served with the Long Range Desert Group and the SOE-Special Forces.

[littlebeast13]

The NES is the only reason I know who Christopher Lee even is...



Yes, the names were intentionally played off of...

lb13

[gsabc]

It was in a review of Lee's first appearance either as Saruman or Count Dooku that I read what I considered the perfect description of him. The reviewer wrote of the character being portrayed by "the ever-classy Christopher Lee". He (and his magnificent voice) will be missed.

[Estonut]

He has 281 credits on IMDB from 1946 to some in production for 2016. Wow! What a career. RIP

[Spock]

I'd forgotten about this one; here's Lee in another good role in The 3/4 Musketeers, the best film versions made of the Dumas novel. And by the way, you don't see sword work like this in current movies; it's all mile-a-minute editing.

Can't let this one pass-The screenwriter of 3/4 Musketeers was George MacDonald Fraser-he of Flashman/Quartered Safe/Private Macauslin fame.

[silverscreenselect]

He has 281 credits on IMDB from 1946 to some in production for 2016. Wow! What a career. RIP

According to the "Oracle of Bacon," Lee ranks 24th on the list of the most connected actors in Hollywood. This rating is determined by calculating the number of people who appeared directly with Lee, within one degree of Lee, etc. Per IMDB, he appeared with 4998 different actors in his career.

To put that in perspective, Kevin Bacon is #411 on the list, and he's appeared with 3045 people.

#1 on the list is Eric Roberts, who's appeared with 8474 different actors in his career. Samuel L. Jackson at #5 has "only" appeared with 6088 different actors, and Michael Caine at #10 with 5164. Danny Trejo really gets around. He's appeared with 6906 different actors in his career.

The top actress on the list is Sally Kirkland at #47.

A big factor in the totals of actors like Trejo, Roberts, and Michael Madsen are the large number of quick, cheap, direct to video movies in which they've appeared. Older actors don't fare that well, in large part because the IMDB records are sketchy the further back they go. It's generally accepted that actors like John Carradine and Donald Crisp had huge totals but the records simply aren't there. Carradine in particular appeared in a number of schlocky foreign horror films late in his career for which he would fly in for a day and film a handful of (usually mad scientist) scenes that would get cut into numerous movies, so Carradine himself probably never knew how many films he was actually in.

The top 20:

Eric Roberts (I) (2.83285)
2. Michael Madsen (I) (2.85125)
3. Harvey Keitel (2.85789)
4. Danny Trejo (2.85820)
5. Samuel L. Jackson (2.86360)
6. Robert De Niro (2.86777)
7. Donald Sutherland (I) (2.86991)
8. Udo Kier (2.87229)
9. Malcolm McDowell (2.87378)
10. Michael Caine (I) (2.87567)
11. Martin Sheen (2.87602)
12. Willem Dafoe (2.87956)
13. Seymour Cassel (2.88339)
14. Morgan Freeman (I) (2.88826)
15. David Carradine (2.88939)
16. John Hurt (2.89290)
17. Dennis Hopper (2.89446)
18. Christopher Plummer (I) (2.89467)
19. John Savage (I) (2.89628)
20. Max von Sydow (I) (2.89663)

[Estonut]

He has 281 credits on IMDB from 1946 to some in production for 2016. Wow! What a career. RIP

According to the "Oracle of Bacon," Lee ranks 24th on the list of the most connected actors in Hollywood. This rating is determined by calculating the number of people who appeared directly with Lee, within one degree of Lee, etc. Per IMDB, he appeared with 4998 different actors in his career.

To put that in perspective, Kevin Bacon is #411 on the list, and he's appeared with 3045 people.

#1 on the list is Eric Roberts, who's appeared with 8474 different actors in his career. Samuel L. Jackson at #5 has "only" appeared with 6088 different actors, and Michael Caine at #10 with 5164. Danny Trejo really gets around. He's appeared with 6906 different actors in his career.

The top actress on the list is Sally Kirkland at #47.

A big factor in the totals of actors like Trejo, Roberts, and Michael Madsen are the large number of quick, cheap, direct to video movies in which they've appeared. Older actors don't fare that well, in large part because the IMDB records are sketchy the further back they go. It's generally accepted that actors like John Carradine and Donald Crisp had huge totals but the records simply aren't there. Carradine in particular appeared in a number of schlocky foreign horror films late in his career for which he would fly in for a day and film a handful of (usually mad scientist) scenes that would get cut into numerous movies, so Carradine himself probably never knew how many films he was actually in.

The top 20:

Eric Roberts (I) (2.83285)
2. Michael Madsen (I) (2.85125)
3. Harvey Keitel (2.85789)
4. Danny Trejo (2.85820)
5. Samuel L. Jackson (2.86360)
6. Robert De Niro (2.86777)
7. Donald Sutherland (I) (2.86991)
8. Udo Kier (2.87229)
9. Malcolm McDowell (2.87378)
10. Michael Caine (I) (2.87567)
11. Martin Sheen (2.87602)
12. Willem Dafoe (2.87956)
13. Seymour Cassel (2.88339)
14. Morgan Freeman (I) (2.88826)
15. David Carradine (2.88939)
16. John Hurt (2.89290)
17. Dennis Hopper (2.89446)
18. Christopher Plummer (I) (2.89467)
19. John Savage (I) (2.89628)
20. Max von Sydow (I) (2.89663)

I assume they are using "appeared with" loosely. That is, having credits in the same movie, rather than necessarily sharing a scene together.

[Spock]

http://www.steynonline.com/7001/fangs-l ... ry-papilla

Yes, Steyn is a conservative commentator, but he also writes extensively about movies/songs/etc

Pull quote

>>>> On the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, he was the only member of the cast who'd actually known Tolkien. Yet my favorite moment in the series isn't even on camera, but in the DVD commentary. It's the scene on top of the tower where Lee's Saruman gets stabbed in the back by Grima Wormtongue, for which the director, Peter Jackson, wanted Lee to let out a scream.

The actor felt obliged to explain to Sir Peter why that would be all wrong. He proposed to let out a small groan, a quiet gasp, as the air is pushed out of his punctured lungs. The director was resistant, so Lee said: "Peter, have you ever heard the sound a man makes when he's stabbed in the back?"

"Um, no," replied Jackson.

"Well, I have," said Lee, "and I know what to do.'" And from somewhere deep in the recesses of his memory an old SOE agent conjured the sound a Nazi makes when you plunge the knife in.

A full life, on-screen and off.<<<

[SportsFan68]

Wow. Thanks, Spock.

I love those TCM memorials. There were only two movies I recognized, one of them, of course, being a scene from the Rings trilogy, but it was still a very impressive montage.

One of my favorite things about Sir Christopher is that he re-read the trilogy every year and became a prized resource of Rings lore. This is the first I'd read about the Saruman death scene. It's not the way I remember it from the book, but I have to admit, that way would have been awkward and difficult to portray.

[earendel]

Wow. Thanks, Spock.

I love those TCM memorials. There were only two movies I recognized, one of them, of course, being a scene from the Rings trilogy, but it was still a very impressive montage.

One of my favorite things about Sir Christopher is that he re-read the trilogy every year and became a prized resource of Rings lore. This is the first I'd read about the Saruman death scene. It's not the way I remember it from the book, but I have to admit, that way would have been awkward and difficult to portray.

The movies omitted the "scouring of the Shire" and Saruman's death was a bit different.

"But at that something snapped: suddenly Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog he sprang on Saruman's back, jerked his head back, cut his throat, and with a yell ran off down the lane...

"To the dismay of those that stood by, about the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered, and rising slowly to a great height like smoke from a fire, as a pale shrouded figure it loomed over the Hill. For a moment it wavered, looking to the West, but out of the West came a cold wind, and it went away, and with a sigh dissolved into nothing.

"Frodo looked down at the body with pity and horror, for as he looked it seemed that long years of death were suddenly revealed in it, and it shrank, and the shrivelled face became rags of sking upon a hideous skull."

[SportsFan68]

Wow. Thanks, Spock.

I love those TCM memorials. There were only two movies I recognized, one of them, of course, being a scene from the Rings trilogy, but it was still a very impressive montage.

One of my favorite things about Sir Christopher is that he re-read the trilogy every year and became a prized resource of Rings lore. This is the first I'd read about the Saruman death scene. It's not the way I remember it from the book, but I have to admit, that way would have been awkward and difficult to portray.

The movies omitted the "scouring of the Shire" and Saruman's death was a bit different.

"But at that something snapped: suddenly Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog he sprang on Saruman's back, jerked his head back, cut his throat, and with a yell ran off down the lane...

"To the dismay of those that stood by, about the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered, and rising slowly to a great height like smoke from a fire, as a pale shrouded figure it loomed over the Hill. For a moment it wavered, looking to the West, but out of the West came a cold wind, and it went away, and with a sigh dissolved into nothing.

"Frodo looked down at the body with pity and horror, for as he looked it seemed that long years of death were suddenly revealed in it, and it shrank, and the shrivelled face became rags of sking upon a hideous skull."

Thanks, Ear.