NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Christopher Lee!!!! Still he made so many movies I've only see a fraction of the them but he did make any film he was in better. RIP Mr. Lee...

I also regret losing the " KING " of horror ! No , Not to be outdone By Lon Chaney or Bela Lugosi !

I think he was the best Dracula just as Johnny Wertmuller was the best Tarzan.  

I was watching 'The Man With The Golden Gun' a few months ago, IMHO the worst Bond movie- I think Lee as the villain is one of the few things that make it watchable. Roger Moore used to work with Lee in the theater and the two men knew each other fairly well. Well, Moore as a big practical joker and cut-up kept poking fun of Lee as 'Dracula'. Seems it came to a head when they're walking into the cave that serves as the entrance to Lee's hideout on the South Pacific island and a huge flock of bats flew out. Moore quipped that Lee slowly turned back toward him, looked him in the eye and gave him the 'I don't even want to hear it' look...

He was indeed a great actor - undoubtedly capable of far greater breadth than his movies ever demonstrated.

Somewhere I have a "book on tape" (remember those?) of Christopher Lee reading short stories of Edgar Allan Poe. I once listened to it while I was making a drive through the foothills of western Maryland. A thunderstorm, with dark clouds and lightning, broke out. The combination of thunder, lightning, Poe, and Christopher Lee literally made my hands start to shake.

I'll have to dig out that tape and listen to it. I still have a cassette recorder/player in my study, for just such occasions.

Rest in peace. He will be missed.

Later edit: I found those old cassettes! The package consists of a set of two, containing "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Black Cat," "The Pit and the Pendulum," and "The Cask of Amantillado." The tapes and the tape player still work perfectly. Now I know what I'll be listening to in my next modeling session.

I had no idea Lee had been so active in recent years. Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, and so many other projects.

I always thought of him as an actor from my childhood. How wrong was that. RIP indeed.

And don't forget Star Wars. He will be missed indeed.

Lee was an Intelligence Officer in the RAF during the war.  He wanted to be a pilot, but a medical condition prevented him flying.

I remember a friend was reading his biography when she asked us what "very lights" were.  It seems that Lee and his squadron-mates were firing them off to celebrate the end of the war.

I read somewre that he read lotr front to back once a year. He will be missed

That was mentioned in the reporting of his death yesterday. And he was the only member of the caste from any of the LOTR and Hobbit movies who had meet Tolkien.

I was watching the local news yesterday morning while surfing the internet. The tagline was "police are looking for a hit and run driver!" I looked up and they had a picture of Mr. Lee as Saruman on the screen! True story! I think he would have been amused.

I had dinner with Mr Lee in 2011 or so after he recorded a special guest spot on our album "Battle Hymns MMXI", in Germany where he was a guest of the band for a concert appearance. He was an absolute gentleman, and he entertained us all with stories of his considerable wartime experiences in WWII. It was quite impressive, all the anecdotes and knowledge that he had to share.I was honored to have met him and worked with him.

Here's his vocal appearance in the song "Dark Avenger". It starts at around 2:30.

Dark Avenger w Christopher Lee

Now that's a claim to fame Karl. And in all these years, I never realised you were in a band as well. I was just looking it up and there you are.

And you even have your own Wikipedia page. Is there no end to your talents.

Bish

Now that's a claim to fame Karl. And in all these years, I never realised you were in a band as well. I was just looking it up and there you are.

And you even have your own Wikipedia page. Is there no end to your talents.

Rubbing shoulders with guys like Mr Lee is definitely a bonus, however. :)

Thanks for sharing that story, Karl.

Many fond memories of Mr. Lee in so many things over the years, but my favorite is probably his delightful turn hosting the classic-years episode of "Saturday Night Live." His dry wit and tongue-in-cheek good humor were given full play in the wonderful monologue and several sketches, but the best moment by far came in the sketch where he played the Grim Reaper,  who had come to apologize to little girl Penny (played by the late, great Gilda Radner) for having had to take her dog Tippy. After many moments both funny and sweet, the little girl finally asks "Mr. Death" if he will kiss her goodnight before he leaves. Mr. Lee replied, in his most (mock-) menacing tone, "Penny...don't press your luck."

Wow Karl, you'd said you were a member of a rock band and toured the world but I had no idea you met Mr. Lee- I am totally envious of you sir!!!

Having Christopher Lee on my mind, I happened to think about one of his earliest (and least characteristic) roles, in the fine 1956 war movie "The Battle of the River Plate" (American title: "Pursuit of the Graf Spee." Mr. Lee plays a bartender turned radio reporter in Montevideo.

The movie is very much worth seeing. It's about as accuracies as the 1950s limitations on movie making would permit. It stars Peter Finch and Anthony Quayle, among other respected British actors. (Finch plays Captain Langsdorf, the captain of the Graf Spee.)

It has one feature I haven't seen before: starring credits to the ships. The opening titles tell us: "HMS Sheffield as HMS Ajax, HMS Jamaica as HMS Exeter, HMIS Delhi (formerly HMS Achilles) as HMS Achilles, ... and... U.S. Heavy Cruiser Salem as the Graf Spee." The Achilles had been transferred to the Indian Navy, but was loaned back for use in the movie.

The Wikipedia article on the movie has all sorts of information about it. It apparently was regarded as one of the biggest movies produced in Britain at that time.

As is my wont, when I started thinking about the movie I started surfing the web looking for it. Barnes and Noble has it on DVD for about $15.00. My copy is on order. Highly recommended - and it will give you a new perspective on Christopher Lee.

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I have not seen that movie in years and i never realise that was Lee playing the bartender. But I can picture the character you mean.