:'( :'( :'(
:'( :'( :'(
:'( :'( :'(
:'(
R.I.P.
＊HUGS＊
Odd as it may seem my first thoughts on hearing of his death were of his wonderful appearance on SNL in 1978.
I'm deeply sorry to know that; he was a great actor and I've loved his interpretations in films like The Horror of Dracula, The Hound of the Baskerville and The Lord of the Rings. Rest in peace.
Here's a beautiful article by Christopher Lee on his love for opera.
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/my-music-christopher-lee
Quote from: Camphy on June 11, 2015, 08:01:41 AM
Here's a beautiful article by Christopher Lee on his love for opera.
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/my-music-christopher-lee
When Lee attended a Czech film festival, he sang part of an aria (https://youtu.be/jvZBs3I6KFU?t=27s) from Smetana's
The Bartered Bride. IN CZECH. That particular aria is very famous and beloved here and I remember how my jaw dropped.
Amazing man.
Sad news indeed. :( I had the pleasure of meeting him back in 1972 (or was it 1973) at The Count Dracula Society's annual Ann Radcliffe Awards Dinner. I was on the Board of Governors at that time voting for the awards. Along with Christopher Lee, there were other famous people in attendance like Fay Wray, George Pal, John Carradine, Miriam Hopkins, Robert Wise, Ray Bradbury, Bela Lugosi Jr., Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff's daughter Sara. I was able to get Mr. Lee's autograph on the award dinner's program along with a few others how were there.
My dear Mr. Lee, you will be sorely missed. But I am sure that you have already met up with your old film colleague Peter Cushing as well as with Bela Lugosi who you can compare notes on playing Count Dracula on film.
I met him at a charity golf event when I was 12 and obsessed with horror films. He was very kind to me, spoke to me for ages and let me take his photo with his golfing umbrella. I said that I would like to send him a copy. He gave me his agents address. I sent the photo and received a charming letter back from him. He was a real gentleman and a fine actor.
Quote from: Hollywood on June 11, 2015, 10:00:19 AM
Sad news indeed. :( I had the pleasure of meeting him back in 1972 (or was it 1973) at The Count Dracula Society's annual Ann Radcliffe Awards Dinner. I was on the Board of Governors at that time voting for the awards. Along with Christopher Lee, there were other famous people in attendance like Fay Wray, George Pal, John Carradine, Miriam Hopkins, Robert Wise, Ray Bradbury, Bela Lugosi Jr., Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff's daughter Sara. I was able to get Mr. Lee's autograph on the award dinner's program along with a few others how were there.
My dear Mr. Lee, you will be sorely missed. But I am sure that you have already met up with your old film colleague Peter Cushing as well as with Bela Lugosi who you can compare notes on playing Count Dracula on film.
Dracula A.D. 1972To the Devil... A DaughterTaste the Blood of DraculaThe Scars of DraculaI know the last one gets a bad rap, but, now, at this point, ANYTHING from 1971 is of value, haha!
Yes, so many memories. Consummate.
Let's not forget 'The Wicker Man' (1973)!
And yes, the man himself was always the epitome of European nobility and poise,... and so cultured.
Really, I haaave to go on noting films I've especially enjoyed.
'Crypt of Horror'/'Terror in the Crypt' (1964), and 'Castle of the Living Dead (also 1964), two b+w Italian gothic horrors of the utmost late-night cozy appeal! Can anyone recall the fetid b+w atmosphere of these films, right before everything went to colour? Both are somewhat mediocre, but still linger long because Lee was so attuned to the Italianate culture, being part Italian. One may call him one of the Greatest Italian Actors of All-Time?
The Blood Demon/ The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967)
This may be my ultimate favourite Lee film, also starring Lex Barker, and directed by Harald Reinl. Anyone who has seen this can verify the hallucinatory, surrealistic horror landscape of colours and really cool effects,... such as the forest of hanging corpses, Lee getting drawn-and-quartered in the beginning, and bullet holes vanishing on Lee's chest. What exactly was the title you saw this under?
Starting at 1971...
I, Monster: Classic cheez 4 me,... along with 'The Skull'.
Horror Express: Oh, who doesn't remember this? Almost like Carpenter's 'The Thing'. with Cushing and Savalas
The Creeping Flesh: yet more of the same good stuff. with Cushing
1973 was a busy year!
BUUUUUUUUUUT!
If we skip forward to 1985, we hit the absolute, no questions asked, bottom of the barrel:
Howling II... Your Sister Is A Werewolf ??? :'( Wow, it is everything bad about straight-to-video1980's-hangover,... oy it's bad. :-[
So, looking back, we see that the "Horror 70s" somewhat died with Lee with 1976's 'To the Devil... A Daughter', his last, significant horror role. From there, we have 'Dracula and Son', comedy, and 'House of the Long Shadows' (1983), the very very last ssoft-horror-comedy endoff of the '79s, with Cushing , Price, and I think, Carradine. We all remember the Death of Gothic Horror, and we see it in Lee's career at the time.
THEN THERE'S THE MATTER OF
Circle of Iron... totally hot!!!!!
Jaguar Lives!The Salamander
An Eye for an Eye
AND ALSO THE MATTER OF
Airport '77
End of the World
Starship Invasions
RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAINsO MUCH CLASSIC CHEEZ!!
Ahhh,... so, what are YOU going to watch tonight? I might just have to start with 'Return from Witch Mountain',... mm,... wish I had a copy of 'A.D. 1972',... maybe even 'Starship Invasions', oh, I'm such a sucker for the cheez!!
Salut! :-*
Quote from: vandermolen on June 11, 2015, 01:55:34 PM
I met him at a charity golf event when I was 12 and obsessed with horror films. He was very kind to me, spoke to me for ages and let me take his photo with his golfing umbrella. I said that I would like to send him a copy. He gave me his agents address. I sent the photo and received a charming letter back from him. He was a real gentleman and a fine actor.
what're your favs????
When I was around 8-9 I saw him in a movie called Horror Hotel. It scared the hell out of me. I had trouble sleeping for days, and for about 2 years after, my sister and I would get scared around the time of (according to the movie) Candlemas Eve and the following night, the Witches Sabbath. I believe these nights were in February.
He was usually better than the films he was in, and improved them by his presence.
Quote from: Ken B on June 11, 2015, 06:05:11 PM
He was usually better than the films he was in, and improved them by his presence.
Yep.
(http://furiousfanboys.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Dooku.jpg)
Hell, I don't like what Peter Jackson did to LOTR with his IMO crappy adaptations, yet Christopher Lee shines even in that movie.
I was actually thinking of doing in memoriam-topic for him but I guess I wasn't fast enough...
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on June 11, 2015, 06:25:08 PM
Yep.
(http://furiousfanboys.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Dooku.jpg)
Amen, brother. It's a shame he was in revenge of the sith for total of two minutes. He could have improved that movie too, with having a more prominent role like in attack of the clones.
Quote from: snyprrr on June 11, 2015, 02:51:29 PM
And yes, the man himself was always the epitome of European nobility and poise,... and so cultured.
what're your favs????
The Times obituary of Sir Christopher Lee made me laugh today:
Apparently he came from an aristocratic family and his mother was appalled at his desire to become an actor, saying to him:
'Just think of all the appalling people you'll meet'
Maybe this is why he said that he identified with Count Dracula because they were both embarrassments to an aristocratic family!
As to my favourites; well, he was a hoot as Dracula but my favourite is probably 'The Devil Rides Out' in which Christopher Lee, unusually, plays the aristocratic hero 'The Count de Richelieu' who saves his young friend who had come under the influence of an evil satanist (the wonderfully sinister Charles Gray). The film has a great soundtrack too. It must have been around this time that I met Christopher Lee at the charity event when I was twelve. I remember telling him about my annoyance at not being able to see many horror films as I was too young. I remember him telling me that he thought that the certification of horror films was a good idea. I have the fondest memory of meeting him as he let me pester him for what seemed like a long time and let me take his photo.
PS from today's Appreciaton of CL in The Daily Telegraph:
'The thing about Sir Christopher Lee being dead is that it doesn't immediately strike you as much of a career setback'.
What timing! How many years soever it sat around in my drawer, the "Archive Collection" edition of Band on the Run includes a DVD ... Christopher Lee is one of the celebrities on the album cover. Don't believe I ever knew that before today.
Not the cover shoot, of course:
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/12/07ee1fccb0220a4c5dde90ca0134830a.jpg)
(But, the tiring room for the cover shoot.)
Quote from: karlhenning on June 12, 2015, 06:57:14 PM
Not the cover shoot, of course:
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/12/07ee1fccb0220a4c5dde90ca0134830a.jpg)
Great photo.
As he said many times, The Wicker Man was the best role he ever had and the best film he was ever in.
I doubt the experience of acting in the later fantasy and sci-fi rubbish did his state of mind any favours.
...
[asin]B0000037BY[/asin]
IIRC, Lee was a huge fan of death metal.
Quote from: Alberich on June 12, 2015, 05:10:43 AM
Hell, I don't like what Peter Jackson did to LOTR with his IMO crappy adaptations, yet Christopher Lee shines even in that movie.
I was actually thinking of doing in memoriam-topic for him but I guess I wasn't fast enough...
Please, feel free to add more!
I've been looking through the Filmography and just basking in the past,... ahhhh. Maybe 'Horror Castle' or 'The Blood Demon'.... even Jess Franco's 'Count Dracula'... so much cheez to chooz!
Quote from: vandermolen on June 12, 2015, 12:20:20 PM
The Times obituary of Sir Christopher Lee made me laugh today:
Apparently he came from an aristocratic family and his mother was appalled at his desire to become an actor, saying to him:
'Just think of all the appalling people you'll meet'
Maybe this is why he said that he identified with Count Dracula because they were both embarrassments to an aristocratic family!
As to my favourites; well, he was a hoot as Dracula but my favourite is probably 'The Devil Rides Out' in which Christopher Lee, unusually, plays the aristocratic hero 'The Count de Richelieu' who saves his young friend who had come under the influence of an evil satanist (the wonderfully sinister Charles Gray). The film has a great soundtrack too. It must have been around this time that I met Christopher Lee at the charity event when I was twelve. I remember telling him about my annoyance at not being able to see many horror films as I was too young. I remember him telling me that he thought that the certification of horror films was a good idea. I have the fondest memory of meeting him as he let me pester him for what seemed like a long time and let me take his photo.
PS from today's Appreciaton of CL in The Daily Telegraph:
'The thing about Sir Christopher Lee being dead is that it doesn't immediately strike you as much of a career setback'.
'The Devil Rides Out', yes, a Dennis Wheatley, like 'The Wicker Man' and 'To the Devil... A Daughter'.
SChL really cut such a suave and debonair path... how can we all not say that we loved the man--- by all accounts he was just the most wonderful person-
'End of the World' and 'Starship Invasions'... wow, 1977-1979 was the height schlock all around, wh? lolz!!
Warner: Hammer Horror Classics Blu-ray Box Set Coming Up
Posted June 12, 2015
Warner Brothers Pictures LogoWarner Archive confirmed today that it plans to release on Blu-ray a four-film box set of classic Hammer films later this year. The films in the Horror Classics Volume One box set are: Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), The Mummy (1959), and Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970).
Dracula Has Risen From The Grave: A village trembles in fear. A priest forsakes his vows in the service of evil. Young beauties fall victim to a mysterious seducer. And each night brings the threat of death. Because Dracula Has Risen from the Grave. In his third incarnation as Bram Stoker's infamous vampire, horror great and 55-year movie veteran Christopher Lee goes fang to cross with the forces of good in this atmospheric Hammer Studios film directed with stylish menace by two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Freddie Francis. He and Lee see to it that just as the undead rises in terrifying fashion so will your goosebumps.
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed: Baron Frankenstein's experiment went wrong, dead wrong. Thus, another victim lies in a makeshift grave. Suddenly, a water main bursts, forcing the dead man's arm to the surface. Next the torrent heaves the body upward. Frankenstein's panicked accomplice tries to reconceal the body... but corpses can be so unwieldy. This creepy scene is a highlight of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, horror great Peter Cushing's fifth Hammer Studios Frankenstein saga. Other cast members of note include film-debuting Simon Ward (Young Winston) and Freddie Jones (The Elephant Man) as the scientist's pitiable new creation. Frankenstein pioneers research in brain transplants - but the procedure is imperfect. Which is just perfect for horror fans!
The Mummy: In Hammer Studios' vivid 1959 Technicolor reincarnation of The Mummy, screen horror icon Christopher Lee wraps on the moldy gauze bandages and emerges as the tormented Kharis, an avenger stalking the hills and bogs of Victorian England to track down archaeologist John Banning (Peter Cushing) and other desecrators of his beloved Princess Ananka's Egyptian tomb. "Lee looks tremendous, smashing his way through doorways and erupting from green, dreamlike quagmires in really awe-inspiring, fashion" (David Pirie, Time Out Film Guide). Awe-inspiring, too, was the box-office success of this third Hammer reinvigoration - after The Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula - of a classic screen monster.
Taste the Blood of Dracula: It's the boys' night out, time for bawdy fun. Yet revelry alone can't satisfy these community leaders out on a lark. There's still an adventure they can be duped into trying, one that will transform a certain Count from moldering dust into blood-lusting flesh. Taste the Blood of Dracula, the fourth film in Hammer Studios' cycle of hemogobbling Victorian -Era horror, is a showcase of why Hammer became the name in Gothic terror. The solid cast and rich production design raise goosebumps to real-life fear and otherworldly dread. And Christopher Lee dons his red-lined cape again to become Evil Incarnate. He's Count Dracula, a being neither dead nor alive... but his movies are livelier than ever.
(http://images.blu-ray.com/news/upload/6325_tn.jpg)
Quote from: Sean on June 13, 2015, 12:50:28 AM
As he said many times, The Wicker Man was the best role he ever had and the best film he was ever in.
I doubt the experience of acting in the later fantasy and sci-fi rubbish did his state of mind any favours.
Christopher Lee was a professional. He did what he had to do and did it well, regardless of what it was. I never saw him as a truly great actor, just a very consistent and reliable one. Christopher Lee doing rubbish is not as big of a problem as, say, Max von Sydow doing rubbish, which was just criminal to me.
Quote from: Purusha on June 14, 2015, 11:09:27 AM
Christopher Lee was a professional. He did what he had to do and did it well, regardless of what it was. I never saw him as a truly great actor, just a very consistent and reliable one. Christopher Lee doing rubbish is not as big of a problem as, say, Max von Sydow doing rubbish, which was just criminal to me.
And for so long!
Oh. You mean
after Bergman. Never mind.
I dunno . . . Max von Sydow in both Strange Brew and Flash Gordon . . . nearly redeems the enterprises . . . .
Quote from: karlhenning on June 14, 2015, 02:48:42 PM
I dunno . . . Max von Sydow in both Strange Brew and Flash Gordon . . . nearly redeems the enterprises . . . .
Here's hoping the new
Star Wars use Sydow in a wortwhile way, unlike the prequels wasting Lee.
J.J. Abrams doing anything worthwhile. Hahahahahahaha.
Quote from: karlhenning on June 14, 2015, 02:48:42 PM
I dunno . . . Max von Sydow in both Strange Brew and Flash Gordon . . . nearly redeems the enterprises . . . .
At least DeNiro chucks up the riffs in 'Rocky & Bullwinkle',... oy, how'bout more great actors in ignoble roles? Von Sydow... man... I just can't stand him anymore- he just acts like a Typical DoGood Swede- sickening- and, that accent drives me nuts... "oh, I am the smart one in the movie" He even did an Argento thriller.
I thought von Sydow played it quite well in Minority Report.
But I could see someone thinking, "Cruise and von Sydow? Yeesh."
0:)
I didn't even recognize him in his one scene in the Tim Burton Dark Shadows.
Quote from: karlhenning on June 26, 2015, 06:34:46 AM
I didn't even recognize him in his one scene in the Tim Burton Dark Shadows.
I totally forgot he was in that film. But as soon as I found a photo, I remembered. 8)
(http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsL/10103-30026.jpg)