Famous horror actor Christopher Lee has died
Sir Christopher Lee, the screen legend whose career took him from Hammer horror to Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and a role as one of the great Bond villains, has died. He was 93.
The veteran actor died at 8.30am on Sunday at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, sources close to his family said.
He had been treated there for respiratory problems and heart failure over the preceding three weeks and turned 93 in hospital.
Lee's filmography reads like a romp through film history. He first became famous playing Dracula in the Hammer House of Horror movies, from the 1950s onward.
He was also Lord Summerisle in the 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man. And he played Bond villain Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun.
More recently, his sonorous tones and creepy demeanour were introduced to a new, younger audience when he played Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and Saruman in 2002's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and its sequel.
He was also a favourite of director Tim Burton, who cast him in Alice in Wonderland and Sleepy Hollow.