Posted on 06/11/2015 5:38:58 AM PDT by Jonty30
Christopher Lee: he could turn schlock into Shakespeare
Christopher Lee, who has died at the age of 93, brought dignity and gravitas to the most fantastical of roles.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
... and God bless him for his courage in serving in World War II. I hear he suffered greatly from the horrors he witnessed.
I loved Famous Monsters! Produced in Horrorwood, Karloffornia!
4E did a great job on that mag.
cheers
Jim
A multi-talented man who had an amazing career. Saw him in an episode of the Avengers just a couple of weeks ago on Cozi tv.
Spotted him the other night, uncredited I think, in some goofy pirate movie with Burt Lancaster. The Crimson Pirate I think. Man he was in a lot of movies
RIP Saruman
RIP. I always liked him in the (original) Wicker Man and many other roles.
That would have been very cool, indeed.
I remember when “fans” would supposedly dump on him for coining “sci-fi” and the ubernerds thought it unserious and wanted the genre to be called “scientifiction” or something like that.
He was a big influence on my childhood and a mentor via his pages for my punning.
cheers
Jim
I have a Sherlock Holmes dictionary.
The forward was written by Lee. I have read that he was an expert on Holmes.
RIP to a true actor.
Sure was!
cheers
Jim
I always felt bad for him that by the time they finally got to film LoTR, something he dreamed about for years, he was too frail to play Gandalf.
May God have mercy on his soul!
Did Wormtongue finally do him in?
Same here, in fact I've still got them laying around here in a box somewhere.
#notahoarder
I’ve forgotten the complete title of Lee’s autobiography which I got from him, a take-off on “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, but in it he describes his WW2 experiences from being in the British SAS (Special Air Services = commandos) to flying both the British Spitfire and the American P51 Mustang which he preferred (new, advanced Merlin Rolls Royce engines).
He was a classically trained actor (all serious British actors had to learn and do Shakespeare first in their professional training before moving on to other types of acting).
As one poster mentioned, Patrick Stewart was and still is a Shakepearean actor. So too is Jeremy Bullock, the original Babba Fett of “Star Wars”. I might add that Star Trek: Deep Space 9’s Avery Brooks is a great Shakespearean actor. Saw him in “Othello” in DC many years ago and he was terrific. Also got his autograph when he left the theater. A real gentleman.
With the loss of Christopher Lee, “class” in acting has taken a major loss. He will be remembered not only for his many roles and movies, but for his “Renaissance man” life.
Somewhere in Heaven there is one heck-of-a Shakespearean Theater with an All-Star Cast.
Ian McShane was also brought up as a Shakespearean actor, and is still one of my favorites who is still active..
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