 Christopher Lee is one of the more unlikely graduates of the Rank Charm School, J. Arthur Rank's training institution for young film actors.
He appeared in small roles in numerous British films from the late 1940s onwards before landing the apparently thankless role of the mute creature in Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein (d. Terence Fisher, 1957). The success of this film led to Lee's being cast in the role that made his name, the vampire in Hammer's Dracula (d. Fisher, 1958). The film offered a more explicitly sexual version of vampirism than had earlier versions, and Lee's brooding performance was a vital contribution to its worldwide success.
Wary of type-casting, Lee refused to play Dracula again for several years and instead appeared in character roles until his vampiric comeback in Dracula Prince of Darkness (d. Fisher, 1965). This was the first of several increasingly poor Dracula sequels, and Lee himself later expressed some disappointment over the quality of the material he had to work with.
He appeared to much greater effect in The Devil Rides Out (d. Fisher, 1968), one of the best Hammer horrors, and was also a notable presence in the cult film The Wicker Man (d. Robin Hardy, 1973).
Since the 1960s Lee's career has been mainly an international one, but his star persona still has strong links with British horror, as his casting in Sleepy Hollow (US, 1999), Tim Burton's homage to Hammer horror, testifies. He was awarded a CBE in 2001.
Peter Hutchings, Encyclopedia of British Film
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