--- title: Tim Burton Pays Tribute to Christopher Lee description: He had a lot to say about Lee's voice. canonical: https://time.com/3923335/time-burton-christopher-lee-tribute/ author: Katy Osborn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-16T19:35:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:15:48.332Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Tim Burton Pays Tribute to Christopher Lee: 'I Just Loved Being Around Him' og:description: The legendary actor died on June 7 og:url: https://time.com/3923335/time-burton-christopher-lee-tribute/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ceef1cb26637f80/698854c43c1639efa245865f/christopher-lee-tim-burton.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 56th BFI London Film Festival: Press Room og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tim Burton Pays Tribute to Christopher Lee: 'I Just Loved Being Around Him' twitter:description: The legendary actor died on June 7 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ceef1cb26637f80/698854c43c1639efa245865f/christopher-lee-tim-burton.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tim Burton Pays Tribute to Christopher Lee: 'I Just Loved Being Around Him' by [Katy Osborn](/author/katy-osborn/) ## Katy Osborn Jun 16, 2015 7:35 PM CUT  Tim Burton and Christopher Lee during are seen during the 56th BFI London Film Festival Awards at the Banqueting House on Oct. 20, 2012 in London. Tim Burton and Christopher Lee during are seen during the 56th BFI London Film Festival Awards at the Banqueting House on Oct. 20, 2012 in London.Gareth Cattermole—Getty Images by [Katy Osborn](/author/katy-osborn/) ## Katy Osborn Jun 16, 2015 7:35 PM CUT Hollywood continues to mourn legendary actor Christopher Lee, the _Lord of the Rings_ star who died on June 7 at age 93. The [latest tribute](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/16/tim-burton-tribute-christopher-lee "undefined") comes from filmmaker Tim Burton, who reminisced with _Entertainment Weekly_ about Lee’s prolific six-decade career, saying “The parts he played in my movies weren’t huge, but I just loved being around him.” Burton opened up about watching Lee’s early films as he grew up, what it was like to work with him—on movies including _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ and _Alice in Wonderland—_and the majesty of his voice. “I remember I said to him once, ‘Would you do my phone message for me?'” Burton recalled. “(I really did ask, but I didn’t make him do it.)” [Read more at _Entertainment Weekly_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/16/tim-burton-tribute-christopher-lee?xid=IFT-Trending "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3923335/time-burton-christopher-lee-tribute/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3923335/time-burton-christopher-lee-tribute/"},"headline":"Tim Burton Pays Tribute to Christopher Lee: 'I Just Loved Being Around Him'","datePublished":"2015-06-16T19:35:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:15:48.332Z","description":"He had a lot to say about Lee's voice","url":"https://time.com/3923335/time-burton-christopher-lee-tribute/","keywords":["remembrance","movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ceef1cb26637f80/698854c43c1639efa245865f/christopher-lee-tim-burton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katy Osborn","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katy-osborn/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ceef1cb26637f80/698854c43c1639efa245865f/christopher-lee-tim-burton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"56th BFI London Film Festival: Press Room","caption":"56th BFI London Film Festival: Press Room","creditText":"Gareth Cattermole—Getty Images","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/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3923335/time-burton-christopher-lee-tribute/","name":"Tim Burton Pays Tribute to Christopher Lee: 'I Just Loved Being Around Him'"}}]}] ```