Legendary Movie Star Christopher Lee Dies, Aged 93
British actor, singer and author Sir Christopher Lee, whose career spanned for eight decades, has died aged 93, his family has said.
LONDON, June 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sir Christopher Lee, who has starred in almost 300 movies including 'The Lord of the Rings', 'Star Wars', 'The Man with the Golden Gun', 'Dracula' and 'The Wicker Man', passed away on Sunday, 7th June.
Born on 27th May 1922, Lee served in the Royal Air Force as Intelligence Officer during WWII. He was attached to the Special Operations Executive and the Long Range Desert Patrol (the precursor of the SAS), as well as Popski's Private Army. His missions remain classified to this date. He was decorated for distinguished service and held the rank of Flight Lieutenant.
After demobilisation in 1946, Christopher Lee entered the film industry in 1947. As a member of Rank's "Charm School", he made his screen debut in the Gothic romance 'Corridor of Mirrors', directed by Terence Young that same year. Most recently, he reprised once more the role of Saruman in 'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies'. This was to be his last major role.
Lee was due to start work in the drama 'The 11th' later on this year, with Uma Thurman about the lead-up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America. Sadly, this was not to be. At 8.30am GMT on Sunday morning, Lee died in London of natural causes. The previous day, he had been with his family laughing and joking as usual and watching the cricket. Despite his advanced age, his death was totally unexpected.
In recent years Sir Christopher walked with a cane, after an accident that left him with a damaged knee and vertebrae. He often refused to take painkillers because these affected his balance and slowed down his speech.
As one of the hardest working actors on both sides of the Atlantic, Lee was unstoppable. When he was not working in movies, Sir Christopher was either recording voice overs for games, helping raise money for Unicef, doing concerts throughout Europe or recording heavy metal albums. Lee fulfilled his ambition of living long enough to watch the last of the Hobbit movies and never retired.
Sir Christopher Lee is survived by his wife Gitte and daughter Christina. On behalf of the Lee family, we trust that you will respect their wishes for privacy at this very difficult time.
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SOURCE Charlemagne Productions Ltd
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