People
Christopher Lee
Acting · follow into films and chains
Biography
Christopher Lee (May 5, 1922 – June 7, 2015) was an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films. Other notable roles include Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973), Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Count Dooku in Star Wars episodes II and III (2002, 2005) and Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003). Lee considers his most important role to have been his portrayal of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah (1998). He is well known for his deep, commanding voice. Lee has performed roles in 266 films since 1948 making him the Guinness book world record holder for most film acting roles ever. He was knighted in 2009 and received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011.
Notable films
Where to start
Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
As Saruman
Corpse Bride
As Pastor Galswells (voice)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Appears in a KinoChain journey
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
As Saruman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
As Saruman the White
The Wicker Man
Appears in a KinoChain journey
The Golden Compass
Appears in a KinoChain journey
Sleepy Hollow
As Burgomaster
Chains
KinoChain journeys
Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.
The Discs That Changed How Britain Watched
When DVD landed in Britain in 1997 it promised cinema in your living room. The discs that followed rewired what collectors expected from a film at home.
10 films
The Wicker Shadows of Folk Horror
From a wartime farce to sunlit cults and lighthouse madness, a journey through rural dread and the rituals that bind us.
8 films
The Quiet Art of the British Character Actor
Eight films that celebrate the scene-stealers, the scene-setters, and the soul of British cinema: the character actors who make every frame richer.
8 films
Solar Cinema: From Dawn to Destruction
A curated journey through cinema's most radiant and ruthless suns, from the cosmic dawn of 2001 to the scorching end of Sunshine.
5 films
When Studios Marry: Films Born of Corporate Chaos
From the ashes of mergers and acquisitions come some of cinema's most fascinating experiments. This chain traces how boardroom decisions shaped the art on scree...
8 films
What We Make Monsters Of
A creature feature is rarely about the creature. From Na Hong-jin's Hope to a Scottish island burning its own kindness, this is a chain about communities that d...
8 films
The Ghosts We Carry
A journey through stop-motion films that turn loss into art, from mainstream masterpieces to hidden gems.
8 films
Moana and the Sea as Mirror and Crucible
Taking the core premise of Moana (the ocean as a living force that tests, transforms, and reveals who you are) and steering it into far darker territory, this c...
8 films
Topics
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Related people
Collaborators & neighbours
Acted
Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters
2024 · Self (archive footage)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
2014 · Saruman the White
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2012 · Saruman the White
Everything or Nothing
2012 · Self
Dark Shadows
2012 · Clarney
Hugo
2011 · Monsieur Labisse
The Resident
2011 · August
Season of the Witch
2011 · Cardinal D'Ambroise
Alice in Wonderland
2010 · Jabberwocky (voice)
The Colour of Magic
2008 · Death
The Golden Compass
2007 · First High Councilor
The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby
2005 · The Lord Provost
Corpse Bride
2005 · Pastor Galswells (voice)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2005 · Dr. Wonka
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
2005 · Count Dooku
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002 · Saruman
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
2002 · Count Dooku
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001 · Saruman
Gormenghast
2000 · Flay
Sleepy Hollow
1999 · Burgomaster
Ivanhoe
1997 · Lucas de Beaumanoir
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
1990 · Doctor Catheter
House of the Long Shadows
1983 · Corrigan
Goliath Awaits
1981 · John McKenzie
1941
1979 · Capt. Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt
Caravans
1978 · Sardar Khan
Return from Witch Mountain
1978 · Victor Gannon
The Pirate
1977 · Samir Al Fay
Airport '77
1977 · Martin Wallace
The Four Musketeers
1974 · Rochefort
The Three Musketeers
1973 · Rochefort
The Wicker Man
1973 · Lord Summerisle
Horror Express
1972 · Prof. Sir Alexander Saxton
Dracula A.D. 1972
1972 · Count Dracula
The House That Dripped Blood
1971 · John Reid (segment 3 "Sweets to the Sweet")
The Devil Rides Out
1968 · Duc de Richleau
Theatre of Death
1967 · Philippe Darvas
Ten Little Indians
1965 · Mr. U.N. Owen (voice)
The Gorgon
1964 · Prof. Karl Meister
The Whip and the Body
1963 · Kurt Menliff
Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace
1962 · Sherlock Holmes
Hercules in the Haunted World
1961 · King Lico (Licos)
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll
1960 · Paul Allen
The City of the Dead
1960 · Prof. Alan Driscoll
Uncle Was a Vampire
1959 · Baron Roderico da Frankurten
The Mummy
1959 · Kharis, the Mummy
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1959 · Sir Henry Baskerville
Dracula
1958 · Count Dracula
The Curse of Frankenstein
1957 · The Creature
Alexander the Great
1956 · Nectenabus (voice)
Moulin Rouge
1952 · Georges Seurat (uncredited)
The Crimson Pirate
1952 · Joseph - Military Attaché
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.
1951 · Spanish Captain
Trottie True
1949 · Hon. Bongo Icklesham
Hamlet
1948 · Palace Guard (uncredited)
Scott of the Antarctic
1948 · Bernard Day