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' (qv)'s (qv) 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: The Lord of the Rings (as Saruman the White) and Star Wars (as Count Dooku). In 2001, he was a made a Commander of the Empire in recognition of his contributions to the film and television industries.
Look for Lee in the upcoming Tim Burton films "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and the "Corpse Bride". He will also be starring in "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith". All three films set to open in 2005.
