17 times Christopher Lee was the spirit of metal

Christopher Lee, the man behind some of cinema's most nefarious characters, died on Sunday from respiratory problems aged 93.

He was beloved on and off screen, his bravura performances as evil, malicious villains (Dracula, Saruman, Count Dooku, Death, Fu Manchu, Scaramanga, the list goes on...) going hand-in-hand with his fondness for heavy metal.

Some stand-out moments:

'As a teenager, Lee was a witness at the execution of Eugen Weidmann – the last man to be publicly executed in France by guillotine. Later in life, Lee would also became friends with Albert Pierrepoint – the so-called ‘Last Hangman’ of England. Lee would occasionally drink at his pub.' (link)

'As a child, Lee’s parents introduced him to Felix Yusupov and Dmitri Pavlovich - the killers of Rasputin. Years later, in 1966, Lee appeared as Rasputin in Rasputin the Mad Monk. Years even later than that, Lee was asked to meet Rasputin’s daughter, who confided to him that he looked uncannily like the mad monk (it was the eyes!).'

'While filming a sword fight with Errol Flynn for The Dark Avenger, Flynn almost cut off Lee’s little finger, forever scarring and misshaping it. Years later, a rematch was filmed for Flynn’s TV show. Flynn was supposed to duck while Lee took a swing at him. The swing would go over his head, while lopping the tops off the candles on a candelabra standing behind Flynn. Lee managed the extremely difficult manoeuvre, successfully chopping the candles down. Unfortunately, he also took Flynn’s wig off his head. Flynn walked silently off set. It took over half-an-hour to persuade him it had not been deliberate.'

In a scene on the extended version of Return of the King, Grima Wormtongue stabs Saruman in the back. Director Peter Jackson was coaching his actors on how to approach the scene, when Lee asked Jackson if he knew what it sounded like when someone was stabbed in the back. He then added "Because I do."