Throughout his storied career, Sir Christopher Lee has established himself as one of Britain’s greatest comedians. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Lee became one of Hollywood’s go-to villains in horror films such as Frankenstein’s curse (1957), Horror of Dracula (1958), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) and The wicker man (1973). In his later years, Lee reached a new generation when he played Saruman in the The Lord of the Rings series, as well as Count Dooku in the star wars prequel movies.
But Christopher Lee will forever hold a special place in the hearts of headbangers everywhere for his enduring support of heavy metal – a passion he discovered late in life. In 2014, he tells metal hammer“About ten years ago I was approached by a group called Rhapsody because they wanted me to do storytelling. The stories were very The Lord of the Rings-as. It is, of course, fantasy, which I love.
In his 80s, Lee began working on a series of heavy metal albums. The first one, Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Crosswon him the Spirit Of Metal Award at metal hammer‘s 2010 Golden God Awards, featuring Hammer interviewing him alongside metal icon Tony Iommi backstage of the show. This album was followed by that of 2013 Charlemagne: Omens of Death. In 2014, at the age of 92, Lee released an EP titled metal knight — a series of metal covers of old standards such as My path And the impossible dreamof Don Quixote.
Lee died in 2015 at the age of 93. Along with a titanic amount of work, Lee also left in his wake some cautionary advice for those interested in black magic. He gave that chilling warning in 2011, when he was awarded an Honorary Life Membership of the Law Society of University College Dublin.
During a Q&A with the audience, Lee is asked if it’s true that he has one of the largest collections of occult books in the world. “I don’t,” Lee interjects. “Someone wrote that I had 20,000 pounds. I don’t… I should live in a bath! »
Addressing the rumor later, Lee said, “I don’t have a big library of the occult, no. Look, the Internet and the media, if they can’t find something to do, they invent it. If they can’t think of something to say, they make it up. I don’t know who thought that. Looks good in print, I guess, but it’s not.
Lee states that his collection of “occult” books is “maybe four or five”, and throws out a few innocuous titles, including a copy of the 1934 horror novel, The devil is leaving signed by author Dennis Wheatley. In 1968, Lee starred in a film of the same name, based on this book. He also names a biography of Wheatley, titled The Devil Is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of Dennis Wheatley. Lest anyone still suspect that Lee was a latter-day Aleister Crowley, he continues, “I’ve met people who claim to be Satanists, who claim to be involved in black magic, who claim they knew about it. not only a lot about it. But like I said, I certainly wasn’t involved and I’m warning you all — never, never, never. You won’t just lose your mind, you’ll lose your soul.
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