Lee still gets his fangs into roles
CHRISTOPHER LEE, the gold standard Dracula, turns 90 on May 27. Most people would have put their feet up by that age, but not Lee — his latest project is playing the part of a gnarled old fisherman in Tim Burton’s latest goth-spoof movie Dark Shadows. This will be his 196th film — he has appeared in 200 altogether, but the last three are still filming and in post-production. And yes, he’s in the Guinness Book Of Records for his prolific film output. He has also done lots of television, voice work, video games and music — but remains most famous for his many roles as that infamous Transylvanian.
If Vincent Price was the Roger Moore of vampire movies — a bit kitsch, a bit camp — then Christopher Lee was the genre’s Sean Connery, the undisputed king of the bloodsuckers. With his elegance, depth and style, he was the consummate gentleman vampire, a Hammer Horror legend of fangs, cape and deadly seduction.
