Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE, CStJ (born May 27, 1922) is an English actor. He 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, Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequel trilogy as well as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Lee's most important role, according to him, was his portrayal of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah. His most recent film is The Golden Compass , where he plays the Magisterium's First High Councillor. lee_biog.html" target="_blank">Extensive biography at Tiscali UK Despite a critically acclaimed career that spans over seven decades, Lee has never been nominated for an _Academy Award.

Christopher Lee (born 1941) is a British writer, historian and broadcaster, best-known for writing the radio documentary series This Sceptred Isle for the BBC.

Lee's career began as a defence and foreign affairs correspondent for the BBC. Leaving his career in journalism for academia, Lee was the first Quatercentenary Fellow in Contemporary History and Gomes Lecturer in Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He is currently researching the history of ideas at Birkbeck College in the University of London.

Lee is the originator and writer of the BBC Radio 4 trilogy This Sceptred Isle, which recounts the history of Britain from the Romans to the death of Queen Victoria, the 20th Century and the British Empire.

His recent books include the three accompanying volumes of This Sceptre Isle. In 2003 was published 1603, the history of the death of Elizabeth I and the arrival of the Stuarts. In 2005, Nelson and Napoleon described the events that led to the Battle of Trafalgar and also in the same year he published the autobiographic Eight Bells and Top Masts and the Bath Detective thriller trilogy.

He is currently writing an authorized biography of Lord Carrington. In 2006, he gave a "Platform" talk on history writing and teaching at the National Theatre as a prelude to Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys and a new stage play set in the London of 1912.

He is also the writer of more than 70 Radio 4 plays and series including, The House for Timothy West, Julian Glover and Isla Blair, Colvil & Soames for Dudley Sutton and Christopher Benjamin, Our Brave Boys for Martin Jarvis and Fiona Shaw and the Los Angeles production of his The Trial of Walter Ralegh which Rosalind Ayres produced with Michael York in the title role.

When not in London, Christopher Lee is either at his house in Sissinghurst or sailing his classic sloop, Fly of Beaulieu.

Christopher Lee Ming Shun ( ; born 23 July 1971), also spelt Lee Meng Soon or commonly shortened as Christopher Lee, is a Malaysian of Chinese descent born in Malacca, Malaysia.

Christopher Lee is a leading Australian TV writer who has written for Police Rescue, Cody, Big Sky, Secret Life of Us and the relatively short-lived soapie Echo Point. His hour of Bodysurfer won an AFI Award and he co-wrote the telemovie, Secret Men's Business, and the mini-series, Do or Die. In 1980 he wrote the novel Bush Week. He is the son of a country doctor, grew up in western New South Wales and was educated at Newington College and attended the Australian Film and Television School.

The British actor Christopher Lee was born in 1922 in London, England, where he and his older sister Xandra were raised by Estelle Marie and Geoffrey Trollope, a professional soldier, until their divorce in 1926. Later, while Lee was still a child, his mother married (and later divorced) Harcourt George St.-Croix (nicknamed Ingle), who was a banker. After attending Wellington College from age 14 to 17, Lee worked as an office clerk in a couple of London shipping companies until 1941 when he enlisted in the RAF during World War II. Following his release from military service, Lee joined the Rank Organisation in 1947, training as an actor in their "Charm School" and playing a number of bit parts in such films as Corridor of Mirrors (1948). He made a brief appearance in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), in which his future partner-in-horror Peter Cushing also appeared. Both actors also appeared later in Moulin Rouge (1952) but did not meet until their horror films together. Lee had numerous parts in film and television throughout the 1950s but didn't achieve stardom until his association with Hammer Film Productions, which started with Curse of Frankenstein, The (1957), Dracula (1958), Mummy, The (1959), and Hound of the Baskervilles, The (1959), all co-starring Peter Cushing. Lee continued his role as "Dracula" in a number of Hammer sequels throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s. During this time, he made numerous appearances as Fu Manchu, most notably in the first of the series Face of Fu Manchu, The (1965), and also appeared in a number of films in Europe. With his own production company, Charlemagne Productions, Ltd., Lee made Nothing But the Night (1972) and To the Devil a Daughter (1976). By the mid-1970s, Lee was tiring of his horror image and tried to widen his appeal by participating in several mainstream films, such as Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The (1970), Three Musketeers, The (1973), Four Musketeers, The (1974), and the James Bond film Man with the Golden Gun, The (1974). The success of these films prompted him in the late 1970s to move to Hollywood, where he remained a busy actor but made mostly unremarkable film and television appearances, and eventually moved back to England. Lee's career was revitalized in the early 2000s by his appearances in two blockbuster film franchises: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) (as Saruman the White) and Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) (as Count Dooku). In 2001, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his contributions to the film and television industries.

Christopher Lee is perhaps the only actor of his generation to have starred in so many films. Although most notable for personifying bloodsucking vampire, Dracula, on screen, he has portrayed other varied characters on screen, most of which were villains, whether it be Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film, Man with the Golden Gun, The (1974), or Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), or as the title monster in the Hammer horror picture, Mummy, The (1959). Born in England on May 27, 1922, Lee attended Wellington College for three years, and then worked as a office clerk in a couple of London shipping companies. He subsequently enlisted in the RAF during the Second World War and, on finishing his army services, sought to become an actor. 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, it was when playing the monster in the Hammer film, Curse of Frankenstein, The (1957) that proved to be a blessing in disguise, since the movie did successfully, leading to him being signed on for future roles in Hammer Films Productions. Lee's association with Hammer 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 Dracula (1958), or John Banning and Kharis the Mummy respectively in Mummy, The (1959). Lee went on to play Count Dracula in a number of Hammer sequels up until the early part of the 1970s, when he finally retired from Hammer Productions. This, of course, didn't mean that he was through with the film business. He continued to play roles, mostly as villains, in Man with the Golden Gun, The (1974), opposite Roger Moore (I), Three Musketeers, The (1973) and Four Musketeers, The (1974). The triumph of these movies prompted him to Hollywood, though he didn't fare well in the film business, culminating in his returning back to England. However, the beginning of the New Millennium has relaunched his career to some degree, during which he has played Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and as Saruman the White in Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lee is committed to act as Count Dooku again in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and as Johnny Depp's character's father in the upcoming Tim Burton (I) film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).