Christopher Lee Quotes & Sayings

Making films has never just been a job to me; it is my life. I have some interests outside of acting - I sing and I've written books, for instance - but acting is what keeps me going: it's what I do; it gives life purpose. — Christopher Lee

What's really important for me is, as an old man, I'm known by my own generation and the next generation know me, too. — Christopher Lee

Acting as a profession came to me by chance: in 1946, after the war, I was having lunch with my cousin, who was the Italian ambassador, and he asked, 'What are you going to do now you're out of uniform?' I said, 'I'm pretty inventive, and I can imitate people,' and he said, 'Have you thought about being an actor?' — Christopher Lee

Somebody once asked me how I found Peter Jackson, and I said: 'Well, I parted his hair, and there he was.' — Christopher Lee

I dont want to sound gloomy, but, at some point of your lives, every one of you will notice that you have in your life one person, one friend whom you love and care for very much. That person is so close to you that you are able to share some things only with him. For example, you can call that friend, and from the very first maniacal laugh or some other joke you will know who is at the other end of that line. We used to do that with him so often. And then when that person is gone, there will be nothing like that in your life ever again. — Christopher Lee

I lived for 10 years in Los Angeles, and the one element that surpasses everything else - that you are very conscious of - is fear. You can smell it. — Christopher Lee

I'm still asked a great deal about 'The Wicker Man' because it's become one of the great cult movies of all time. That's the story of my career, really, making cult movies. And I've always said it's the best film I've ever made. — Christopher Lee

People should not pass judgment until they have seen the film. — Christopher Lee

In 1956, the success of the Hammer films kick-started my career. That immediately gave me a name and a face to go with it. I will always be grateful to Hammer for that. — Christopher Lee

It's what you don't see that keeps you on the edge of your seat in any kind of film - leave it to the imagination of the viewer. — Christopher Lee

Ian Fleming was my cousin, and he wanted me to play Dr. No, but by the time he got around to remembering to tell the producers, they'd already cast someone else. Spilt milk! — Christopher Lee

I don't think anyone has ever succeeded in putting Ian Fleming's James Bond up on the screen. The closest in my opinion is Pierce Brosnan. — Christopher Lee

There is something sad about malevolence, to be wicked. I have always tried to make that come across in the villains I have played. — Christopher Lee

I've done a lot of films that have become iconic, not necessarily because of me. — Christopher Lee

I've seen many men die right in front of me - so many in fact that I've become almost hardened to it. Having seen the worst that human beings can do to each other, the results of torture, mutilation and seeing someone blown to pieces by a bomb, you develop a kind of shell. But you had to. You had to. Otherwise we would never have won. — Christopher Lee

The thing I have always tried to do is surprise people: to present them with something they didn't expect. — Christopher Lee

Every actor has to make terrible films from time to time, but the trick is never to be terrible in them. — Christopher Lee

I've worked with Tim Burton five times, and it's just like being part of a family; life doesn't get much better than that. — Christopher Lee

Peter Jackson's instincts are extraordinary, as is his stamina. — Christopher Lee

Not every Hammer film was perfect. — Christopher Lee

The secret to a long marriage in the film industry? Marry someone wonderful, as I did. And always have her come along on location. — Christopher Lee

I'm much softer than people think. I don't present to the world an emotional face. I'm pretty good at self-control, but I am easily moved. — Christopher Lee

My father's family can be traced back to 1400. I've been told by gypsies that there is unmistakeably gypsy blood in me. Lee is a gypsy name, you know. — Christopher Lee

The first 'Charlemagne' album is metal, of course, but what I sang was more symphonic. — Christopher Lee

I didn't want to be known as a man who only made horror films. I made some - very few. — Christopher Lee

You can learn Elvish, if you want. It's a language like Italian and English. You can learn to read it, you can learn to write it, and you can learn to speak it. — Christopher Lee

If I had any deadly secrets, I wouldn't still be alive. — Christopher Lee

I wasn't a spy. I'd have been spotted in five seconds. Yes, I was in intelligence, but that covered a multitude of things. — Christopher Lee

On the Italian side, we can trace the family back 2,000 years. I have a cousin in Rome, a famous archaeologist, Count Andrea Carandini, who was in Lombardy and came across some pottery with the original name of the family, Carandinus, painted on it. — Christopher Lee

I turn to the 'Telegraph's' obituaries page with trepidation. — Christopher Lee

A whole new career opened up for me when I was in 'Lord Of The Rings' and 'Star Wars.' — Christopher Lee

I associate heavy metal with fantasy because of the tremendous power that the music delivers. — Christopher Lee

I stopped appearing as Dracula in 1972 because in my opinion the presentation of the character had deteriorated to such an extent, particularly bringing him into the contemporary day and age, that it really no longer had any meaning. — Christopher Lee

I think that - apart from the fields of science and medicine - we live in an age of decline. Look at the world. There is decline in morals, ideals, manners, respect, truthfulness: just about everything, in fact. — Christopher Lee

I was always interested in enchantment and magicians and still am. — Christopher Lee

It's a band singing on how metal should be played, the effect it has on the band and its listeners. — Christopher Lee

I was attached to the SAS from time to time, but we are forbidden - former, present, or future - to discuss any specific operations. — Christopher Lee

As far as I am concerned, Don Quixote is the most metal fictional character that I know. Single handed, he is trying to change the world, regardless of any personal consequences. — Christopher Lee

The Dracula movies are probably some of the most famous and enduring ones there are and I am very grateful to them, for sure. — Christopher Lee

The saddest country I went to was Romania, years ago, during Ceausescu's rule. — Christopher Lee

The most important film I made, in terms of its subject and the great responsibility I had as an actor, was a film I did about the founder of Pakistan called 'Jinnah.' — Christopher Lee

One of the first things a British visitor to Southern California discovers is that he must have a car. Freeways. Bad public transport. I took driving lessons. — Christopher Lee

When I was very young - around the age of nine - my family used to go to a house in Somerset that my stepfather rented every summer. There was fishing, lakes and riding. — Christopher Lee

I haven't spent my entire career playing the guy in the bad hat, although I have to say that the bad guy is frequently much more interesting than the good guy. — Christopher Lee

I learned early that the one truly international quality among people of all races is xenophobia. — Christopher Lee

We don't live in a particularly attractive world. I don't really remember, except as a small boy, anything but a pretty grim world. — Christopher Lee

I don't really like long flights any more - I find them too tiring. Flying always involves the same things these days - huge crowds at airports, waiting around, late take-offs, weather problems, and so on. I don't really enjoy travelling. I don't imagine anyone does except young children. — Christopher Lee

Someone asked me yesterday if Dracula met Saruman and there was a fight, who would win. I just looked at this man. What an idiotic thing to say. I mean, really, it was half-witted. — Christopher Lee

When I first read 'Lord of the Rings,' I wanted to see a film of it. But at that time, the technology wasn't there; there was no such thing as CGI. — Christopher Lee

I knew Vincent Price from films - he was a big movie star - but the first time I met him was when we filmed 'The Oblong Box.' — Christopher Lee

I thought that people should know about the dangers of Satanism, and diabolism does exist - there's no question about it. — Christopher Lee

I am never going to stop playing the villain. I would be foolish to do so because the audiences apparently enjoy watching me, and who am I to say no? — Christopher Lee

I haven't done lots of horror. — Christopher Lee

Before 'Lord of the Rings,' some people would have just classed Peter Jackson as a horror director. But there is a mind there. — Christopher Lee

I don't play long parts. They must be short parts, but they've got to be parts that mean something, that matter, where people will notice when I'm on the screen, and people will remember the character after they've seen the film. — Christopher Lee

There was a gap of seven years between the first and second Dracula movies. In the second one as everybody knows, I didn't speak, because I said I couldn't say the lines. — Christopher Lee

There is a dark side in all of us. And for us 'bad' people, the bad side dominates. I think there is a great sadness in villains, and I have tried to put that across. We cannot stop ourselves doing what we are doing. — Christopher Lee

I did play Ramses II once, who lived to be 91 and had 120 children, but he died 4,000 years ago. — Christopher Lee

There are certain things producers ask you to do, and when I was starting out, I said yes to everything. I was asked, for 'Quo Vadis,' to drive a chariot. I said, 'Oh yes. I'm licenced for all vehicles.' Two days later, I was sitting in this dustbin with two very aggressive horses. I didn't stay in it for long. — Christopher Lee

I've been for 10 years trying to make something out of my life as an actor. I've learned a lot but I haven't done much that's worthwhile. So maybe if I make people wonder what I really do look like and make myself unrecognizable, they will be interested and intrigued, which eventually, of course, happened. — Christopher Lee

My great-grandmother was born in London, the daughter of a Brixton coachman, and became the most famous singer in Australia. Her name was Marie Carandini, Madame Carandini. — Christopher Lee

We don't always get the kind of work we want, but we always have a choice of whether to do it with good grace or not. — Christopher Lee

Ian Fleming was my cousin, you know. He was in naval intelligence. — Christopher Lee

I did radio, I did television, I did opera, I did films in which I had very, very little to say. But I had a lot of experience in front of the camera, and that's what really counts — Christopher Lee

Let's just say I was in Special Forces and leave it at that. People can read into that what they like. — Christopher Lee

I've always acknowledged my debt to Hammer. I've always said I'm very grateful to them. They gave me this great opportunity, made me a well known face all over the world for which I am profoundly grateful. — Christopher Lee

To be a legend, you've either got to be dead or excessively old! — Christopher Lee

I still think 'The Lord of the Rings' is the greatest literary achievement in my lifetime. Like so many other people, I couldn't wait for the second and then the third book. Nothing like it had ever been written. — Christopher Lee

Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff didn't like the word 'horror'. They, like I, went for the French description: 'the theatre of the fantastique'. — Christopher Lee

I have made a lot of movies, but I don't see any point in talking about films I don't think are terribly good. I have been in a few. I don't know any actor that hasn't. — Christopher Lee

Comedy is the most difficult thing to do. Easily the most difficult. — Christopher Lee

When the Second World War finished, I was 23, and already I had seen enough horror to last me a lifetime. I'd seen dreadful, dreadful things, without saying a word. So seeing horror depicted on film doesn't affect me much. — Christopher Lee

There are many vampires in the world today ... you only have to think of the film business. — Christopher Lee

I have been metal all my life, only I did not know about it. The people in this album (Charlemagne) and I, share the same values. — Christopher Lee

My favourite country is Finland because once you get to a certain point, you can drive for hours without seeing a single person. I love peace and quiet - something I don't get very often. — Christopher Lee

Films are now made by accountants. They pick a pretty young female or male face out of the air and give them a part - not because they think that person is right for it or is ready for it, but because they think that person will make them money. — Christopher Lee

'The Impossible Dream' is, in my opinion, one of the greatest songs ever written. Here is a man, an old man, a very old man full of daring, bravery, courage, determination, romanticism and dreams. — Christopher Lee

I made three films with Boris Karloff. He was absolutely wonderful. — Christopher Lee

'The Wicker Man' for me, as an actor, was definitely the best film I've ever done. — Christopher Lee

Johnny Depp, as far as I'm concerned, is number one. Of his generation, there's no one who can touch him. Some performers, today, it's like looking at holes in the air. — Christopher Lee

The song 'My Way' is a very remarkable song. It is also difficult to sing because you've got to convince people that what you're singing about is the truth. It's a man who is very proud of having achieved everything that he's achieved his way. — Christopher Lee