--- title: Christopher Lee's 5 Greatest Roles description: The actor's greatest roles include Dracula, Lord of the Rings and more canonical: https://time.com/3917785/christopher-lee-5-greatest-roles/ author: Esther Zuckerman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-11T17:53:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:08:03.198Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Watch 5 of Christopher Lee's greatest roles og:description: Revisit some of Christopher Lee's triumphs og:url: https://time.com/3917785/christopher-lee-5-greatest-roles/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4689920867bf5dd/6988542235ba6f1f12c0db5c/gettyimages-559534691.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Christopher Lee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch 5 of Christopher Lee's greatest roles twitter:description: Revisit some of Christopher Lee's triumphs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4689920867bf5dd/6988542235ba6f1f12c0db5c/gettyimages-559534691.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch 5 of Christopher Lee's Greatest Roles by [Esther Zuckerman](/author/esther-zuckerman/) ## Esther Zuckerman Zuckerman is a contributor for TIME. Jun 11, 2015 5:53 PM CUT  Christopher Lee, portrait, backstage at the Golden Gods Awards at the O2 in London on June 15th 2014\. (Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns) Christopher Lee, portrait, backstage at the Golden Gods Awards at the O2 in London on June 15th 2014\. (Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns)Mick Hutson—Redferns by [Esther Zuckerman](/author/esther-zuckerman/) ## Esther Zuckerman Zuckerman is a contributor for TIME. Jun 11, 2015 5:53 PM CUT Christopher Lee, who died [Sunday at the age of 93](http://time.com/3917472/christopher-lee-dies-at-93/ "undefined"), spent generations in the entertainment industry, playing parts ranging from his notable bad guys to [Sherlock Holmes](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100597/?ref%5F=nm%5Fflmg%5Fact%5F76 "undefined") to [George Seurat](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044926/fullcredits?ref%5F=tt%5Fcl%5Fsm#cast "undefined"). To list just five of his roles is only to scratch the surface, but in honor of his life and career, here are some to remember. **Dracula**The actor first played Dracula in 1958’s _Horror of Dracula_, starting his long run of appearing in the Hammer Horror movies as the character, reprising the role in films like 1968’s _Dracula Has Risen From the Grave_ and 1972’s _Dracula A.D. 1972\._ Though Lee said that working for Hammer was “fun” in an interview with [_Total Film_](http://web.archive.org/web/20070612192345/http://www.totalfilm.com/features/the%5Ftotal%5Ffilm%5Finterview%5F%5Fchristopher%5Flee "undefined")_,_ he also explained how the role became frustrating. “I did have a big problem after the first two,” he said. “I said to my agent, ‘I don’t want to do this part again.’ Because all they do is write a story and try and fit the character in somewhere, which is very clear when you see the films. They gave me nothing to do! I pleaded with Hammer to let me use some of the lines that Bram Stoker had written. Occasionally, I sneaked one in.” **Lord Summerisle**In 1973’s _The Wicker Man,_ Lee played the creepy pagan Lord Summerisle. Describing Lee’s performance of “Summer Is Icumen In,” at the end of the film, TIME’s Ben Cosgrove, [wrote](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/03/18/questionable-authority-10-crazy-leaders-in-movies/slide/the-wicker-man/ "undefined") “Lee seems not so much to be acting the part as inhabiting the body and soul of a true believer caught in the throes of pantheistic ecstasy.” **Scaramanga**Lee was the Bond villain Scaramanga—notable for possessing three nipples—opposite Roger Moore in the 1974 film _The Man With the Golden Gun_. Speaking to [IGN](http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/02/10/christopher-lee-interview "undefined"), Lee said that the character in the movie “is a great improvement on the character in the book. He’s attractive to women. He has a sense of humour. He’s the dark side of Bond and yet he could be amusing. He was almost like a child in some ways. The way he shoots the cork out of the Champagne bottle, ‘Aha, this toy!'” Lee also had a familial connection to Bond: he was Ian Fleming’s cousin. **Saruman**A Tolkien lover himself, who had actually encountered the author, Lee played Saruman, the traitorous wizard, in the _Lord of the Rings_ and _Hobbit_ films. Peter Jackson’s epics saw Lee going head to head with another legendary Brit, Ian McKellen. He told [Cinefantastique](http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2010/06/sir-christopher-lee-on-saruman-the-white-and-the-other-great-wizards-of-the-lord-of-the-rings-trilogy/ "undefined") in 2010 in an [interview](http://mashable.com/2015/06/11/christopher-lee-lord-of-the-rings/ "undefined") being [circulated](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/11/christopher-lee-lord-of-the-rings%5Fn%5F7560822.html "undefined") following his death, “Of course I would have loved to play Gandalf, but I don’t think \[Jackson\] ever had me in mind for Gandalf, because \[by\] that time I was too old.” **Count Dooku**Dracula wasn’t the only Count D Lee played in his lifetime. He showed up in the _Star Wars_ prequel films _Attack of the Clones_ and _Revenge of the Sith_ as Jedi-gone-evil Count Dooku. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3917785/christopher-lee-5-greatest-roles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3917785/christopher-lee-5-greatest-roles/"},"headline":"Watch 5 of Christopher Lee's Greatest Roles","datePublished":"2015-06-11T17:53:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:08:03.198Z","description":"Revisit some of Christopher Lee's triumphs","url":"https://time.com/3917785/christopher-lee-5-greatest-roles/","keywords":["movies","Star Wars topic","James Bond","Lord of the Rings"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4689920867bf5dd/6988542235ba6f1f12c0db5c/gettyimages-559534691.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Esther Zuckerman","jobTitle":"Zuckerman is a contributor for TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/esther-zuckerman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4689920867bf5dd/6988542235ba6f1f12c0db5c/gettyimages-559534691.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Christopher Lee","caption":"Christopher Lee","creditText":"Mick Hutson—Redferns","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3917785/christopher-lee-5-greatest-roles/","name":"Watch 5 of Christopher Lee's Greatest Roles"}}]}] ```