Koralie biography of christopher

In a later interview however he did say this. We saw these concentration camps. Some had been cleaned up. Some had not. After what he had experienced over the previous few years, he could no longer bring himself to working in an office. Unsure what to make of his post-military life, the twenty-four-year old found himself dining at the Italian Embassy in London with his cousin, the Italian ambassador to England, Nicolo Carandini.

He decided that he quite liked the idea and mentioned it to his mother. The countess, however, was vehemently opposed. A career in acting was beneath their status she implored and, besides, at 6 feet five he was too tall, he was too foreign looking and it was hardly a steady line of work. But the more she railed against the acting idea, the more her son became determined to make a success of it.

I would be foolish to do so because the audiences apparently enjoy watching me, and who am I to say no? For the next few years he busied himself learning the craft of acting. He swept the theater stage, held prompt cards for the actors on stage and eventually got tiny parts himself. Then came small roles in films. His height did, indeed work against him, with casting directors struggling to find a place for him.

However, the roles did come. Directors managed to find creative ways to hide his height, such as having him sit during his scenes. Some of his roles in these early years were uncredited, while others ended up on the cutting room floor, but they all added to the skills that he would display when the big roles eventually came his way. He was to play the monster created by Baron von Frankenstein, who was to be played by his good friend Peter Cushing.

The movie, called The Curse of Frankenstein, found an immediate audience among lovers of horror, who clamored for more. Hammer decided to satisfy the demand with a cinematic take on the Bram Stoker classic Dracula, with Lee in the lead role. Christopher Lee as the Frankenstein monster. Hammer Films first monster movie. Dracula was the movie that turned the struggling year-old journeyman actor into a star.

It inevitably type cast him — and it tied him to appear in a succession of sequels, each one worse than the last. Lee played the part of Dracula ten times, and increasingly grew tired of the shadow that it cast over his career. It took eight years for the second Dracula to be released, by which time the first movie had made a tremendous impact all over the world.

Yet, when Lee was handed the script for the sequel, he was horrified, not by the murderous things that his character was asked to do, but by the terrible dialogue that he had been given. Lee was also concerned that the character of Dracula was getting further and further away from what Bram Stoker had in mind when he wrote the book.

This was, in fact, his 43rd movie. Other serious roles followed, but he was unable to escape the horror genre for over a decade, appearing in a slew of largely forgettable blood and guts flicks, both for Hammer Studios and other production companies. No Lee enthusiastically accepted, but by the time Fleming told the producers, they had already chosen Joseph Wiseman for the role.

Lee said of his performance, "In Fleming's novel he's just a West Indian thug, but in the film he's charming, elegant, amusing, lethal I played him like the dark side of Bond. That role was eventually given to Jack Nicholson. Years later, Lee told Carpenter that the biggest regret of his career was not taking the role of Dr. Barry Rumack finally played by Leslie Nielsen in the disaster spoof Airplane!

Catheter in Gremlins 2: The New Batch Catheter experiences deja-vu — the audience hears Dracula music. The last project which united them in person was a documentary, Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror , which they jointly narrated, two months before Cushing's death. In the commentary, he stated that for decades he had dreamt of playing Gandalf.

He conceded that he was now too old, and that his physical limitations prevented him from being considered; Ian McKellen , who was in his earlys, was cast in the role alongside Lee, in his mids. The role of Saruman, unlike that of Gandalf, required no horse riding and far less fighting.

Koralie biography of christopher

Lee had met J. Tolkien once, which made him the only person involved in Peter Jackson's films to have done so. Lee acted opposite Hayden Christensen , Ewan McGregor , and Natalie Portman and did most of the swordplay himself, though a stunt double was required for the long shots with more vigorous footwork. The role has been described as "one of the most powerful villains in cinema history", relying on Lee's "physical appearance", in contrast to the Dark Lord Sauron.

These songs were recorded, but eventually cut since Burton felt that the songs were too theatrical for the film. Lee's appearance was completely cut from the film, but Head still had an uncredited one-line cameo. Tolkien for the audiobook version of the novel. Lee had numerous parts in film and television throughout the s. He struggled initially in his new career because he was discriminated as being taller than the leading male actors of his time and being too foreign-looking.

However, playing the monster in the Hammer film The Curse of Frankenstein proved to be a blessing in disguise, since the was successful, leading to him being signed on for future roles in Hammer Film Productions. Lee's association with Hammer Film Productions brought him into contact with Peter Cushing, and they became good friends. Lee and Cushing often than not played contrasting roles in Hammer films, where Cushing was the protagonist and Lee the villain, whether it be Van Helsing and Dracula respectively in Horror of Dracula , or John Banning and Kharis the Mummy respectively in The Mummy Early career [ change change source ] After military service, Lee joined the Rank Organisation in He trained as an actor in their "Charm School".

He played many small parts in movies , for example, Corridor of Mirrors He had a small part in Laurence Olivier 's Hamlet Peter Cushing was also in this movie. Lee and Cushing also both acted in Moulin Rouge but did not meet until later when they did horror movies together. They are well known for working together in horror movies.

Hammer Films [ change change source ] Lee had many parts in movies and television during the s. He did not become famous until he started working with Hammer Film Productions.