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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.

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

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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

20 Home Video Releases Every Film Obsessive Should Own

There was a brief, glorious period in the late 1990s and early 2000s when buying a film on home video felt less like acquiring a product and more like being han...

20 films

Explore by topic

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

The Odyssey

1997 · Tiresias

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

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

Ten Little Indians

1965 · Mr. U.N. Owen (voice)

The Gorgon

1964 · Prof. Karl Meister

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 (attache)

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