Christopher Lee net worth
What is Christopher Lee’s net worth?
Sir Christopher Lee was an English actor and singer who passed away in 2015 with a net worth of $25 million. Christopher Lee is probably best known for playing multiple villains in many popular and profitable films. Notable roles include Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, Saruman in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Count Dooku in the final two films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
He was knighted in 2009 for his contributions to theatre and philanthropy, a BAFTA fellowship in 2011 and a BFI fellowship in 2013.
He considers his best performance to be that of Pakistani founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biographical film Jinnah, while his best film is the British horror film The Wicker Man.
Early life and military service
Christopher Lee was born in London, England in 1922, the son of Countess Estelle Marie and World War I veteran Goeffrey Trolllope Lee school. He is of English and Italian descent and has a younger sister named Xandra. When Li was four years old, his parents separated. Subsequently, his mother took him and his sister to live in Wengen, Switzerland. He later went to Miss Fisher’s College and then returned to London, where he attended Wagner’s private school at Queensgate. Meanwhile, his mother remarried the author Ian Fleming’s uncle, Harcourt George Saint-Croix-Ross. At the age of nine, Lee attended Summer Fields School, a preparatory school in Oxford. As a young man, he attended Wellington College and was awarded a scholarship in Classics. However, he still had a year to leave after his stepfather went bankrupt. After this, he was sent to the French Riviera, where he lived with the princely family in exile. After returning to London, he worked as an office clerk for the American shipping company.
When World War II broke out in 1939, Lee was studying at a military academy and volunteered for the Finnish army against the Soviet Union. However, he and other British volunteers stayed away from combat. Lee therefore returned to work for American Shipping and then joined the Beauchamp Company as an office clerk and switchboard operator. After his father’s death in 1941, Lee volunteered to join the RAF. As an intelligence officer, he was attached to the RAF 260th Squadron. In 1946, he retired with the rank of flying lieutenant.
Beginning of an acting career
Lee signed a seven-year contract with the Rank Organisation after being turned down by filmmaker Joseph Somlow. In 1947 he made his debut in the gothic romance “Gallery of Mirrors”. Lee played mostly supporting and background roles in his early acting career. He appeared in Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet in 1948 and played the Spanish captain in Captain Horatio Hornblower RN in 1951. Another uncredited character appears in the historical epic “Quo Vadis”, in which he plays a chariot driver. In 1952, Lee played a larger role as French painter Georges Seurat in John Huston’s Moulin Rouge.
(Abdul Haksena/AFP/Getty Images)
hammer horror movie
In the late ’50s, Lee became known for starring in horror films produced by Hammer Film Productions. His first film for the studio was 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein, in which he played Frankenstein’s monster, opposite actor Peter Cushing. The two actors have starred in more than 20 films together. Next, in 1958, Lee co-starred with Boris Karloff in “The Corridor of Blood.” That same year, he made his debut as Count Dracula in Terrence Fisher’s critically acclaimed film Dracula. In 1965, Lee returned to the role of Dracula in “Dracula: The Dark Prince”; he continued to play Dracula in “Dracula from the Grave”, “Taste of Dracula’s Blood”, “Dracula’s Scar” , “1972 Dracula” and “Dracula’s Satanic Ritual” as the Count in Hammer films. After the latter title, Lee stepped down from the role, arguing that the quality of the films had declined.
In addition to Dracula, Lee also starred in Hammer’s “Demon Ride” and “To the Devil’s Daughter,” both based on Dennis Whitley’s novel. The latter was Hammer’s last horror film and marked the end of Lee’s partnership with the studio.
Important roles in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s
Lee’s other notable film roles include Rasputin, who played him in 1966’s “Rasputin the Mad Monk,” and Sir Henry Baskerville in “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” He also played Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace from 1962. Later, he appeared as the yellow-faced villain in the Fu Manchu series of films. In the ’70s, Lee played Jekyll and Hyde in “I, Monster”; Lord Summers in “The Wicker Man”; Count De Rochefort in “The Three Musketeers”; and the James Bond films” The Assassin Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun.
After moving to Hollywood, Lee appeared in the disaster film Airport ’77. He then starred in films such as “The Return of Wushan”, “The Return of Captain Invincible” and “Howl 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf”. In the early 1990s, Lee reprised the role of Sherlock Holmes in Victoria Falls and Sherlock Holmes. Later in the decade, he played the founder of Pakistan in the film Jinnah.
Lord of the Rings and Star Wars
Lee had two of his most iconic movie roles in the 2000s. In the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, he played the malevolent Saruman in white. Another major villain appears in “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,” in which he plays Count Dooku. In 2005, Lee reprised the role in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. He also reprised the role of Saruman in the 2010s “The Hobbit” film.
later roles
Later in his career, Lee starred in a variety of films, including “The Golden Compass,” “Boogie Woogie,” “The Diversion,” “Season of the Witch,” “Hugo,” and “Night Train to Lisbon.” and “The Maidens of Nagasaki.” Notably, he’s been in several Tim Burton-directed films, including “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Zombie Bride,” “Alice in Wonderland,” and “Shadows.” “.
music career
Thanks to his opera bass, Lee has achieved success in his music career. He sang the soundtrack to “The Wicker Man” and sang the ending song for the horror film “The Funny Man.” He later appeared as a backing vocalist on four albums by Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire. In 2010, Lee released his own symphonic metal album Charlemagne: The Sword and the Cross. It was followed by 2013’s Charlemagne: The Omen of Death. In 2014, to celebrate his 92nd birthday, Lee released a cover EP called Metal Knight.
personal life
In the late 1950s, Lee became engaged to Henriette von Rosen. However, shortly before the wedding, Lee called off the engagement due to financial insecurity. Later, in 1961, Lee married Danish painter and former model Birgit Krøncke; two years later, they had a daughter named Christina.
In 2015, Lee was admitted to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital with respiratory problems and heart failure. He died in early June at the age of 93.
