On Friday, May 27, 2005, Christopher Lee turned 83. I’d like to dedicate this column to the last survivor of the cinema’s great horror stars whose name goes alongside Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, his friend and frequent co-star Peter Cushing to name a few.
In the past, the horror genre was geared toward adults and starred adults; now it’s all about drawing the teen audience, particularly young girls, by casting a “hot” young cast and making sure the MPAA rates it PG13. Despite this shift, Lee’s career has taken on new life with his villainous roles in the recent Lord of the Rings and Star Wars films. The IMDB lists him as having more than 225 film roles. That is amazing even in light of the fact that he’s been acting for more than 57 years. Certainly, he’s made his share of crap—probably to collect a paycheck—but in the end, when you see his name in the credits, you know you want to see what the film has to offer. He always brought something extra that made him mesmerizing to watch. His Dracula performances were fantastic and frightening. I’ve always considered Karloff to be the greatest horror star, but you have to put Lee on the same level. A total pro, a wonderful villain, a consummate actor.
For any readers who would like to check out some of Lee’s work, here are some of my favorites that are easy to find on DVD:
1. “Horror of Dracula”/“The Curse of Frankenstein”/“The Mummy” (1958/1957/1959)—These were the roles that launched him to stardom as the next Boris Karloff. Unlike Lugosi’s sleek, suave Dracula, Lee in “Horror of Dracula” was a ghoul of few words who elicited an animalistic sexuality with his bloodshot eyes. Add to that the stellar Peter Cushing performance, beautiful widescreen lensing and some graphic bloodletting and you have a horror film classic. “The Curse of Frankenstein” and “The Mummy” were both instant classics too as Lee took each Monster to a level that didn’t simply mimic Karloff’s—they improved on them by being faster, more hideous and more savage.
2. “The Lord of the Rings”/“Star Wars Episodes II-III”(2001-2003/2002-2005)—I put these two series together because there isn’t a world of difference between Lee’s Saruman and Count Dooku characters. Both film trilogies allow Lee’s booming voice to make his evil performances that much more chilling. Few actors of his age could pull these characters off as convincingly.
3. “The City of the Dead” (aka “Horror Hotel”) (1960)—Put aside some of the lousy acting in this film and concentrate on how Lee’s singularly dark portrayal of a professor of witchcraft helps raise the quality of the entire film.
4. “The Wicker Man” (1973)—Lee considers this picture his best work. It is an eerie tale about a detective who encounters a strangely ritualistic people while searching for a missing girl in a remote island community.
5. “The Whip and the Body” (1963)—Mario Bava’s beautifully lensed chiller features Lee as a sadistic nobleman who returns to his family castle where his torments of his father, his brother and his ex-lover (who has married his brother) continue even beyond the grave. Scary, atmospheric and shocking, “Whip and the Body” is a fantastic horror collaboration of direction (Bava) and performance (Lee).
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