Top 40 Christopher Lee Quotes

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.

‘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.

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

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.

Comedy is the most difficult thing to do. Easily the most difficult.

If I had any deadly secrets, I wouldn’t still be alive.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Not every Hammer film was perfect.

The first ‘Charlemagne’ album is metal, of course, but what I sang was more symphonic.

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.

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

To be a legend, you’ve either got to be dead or excessively old!

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.

A whole new career opened up for me when I was in ‘Lord Of The Rings’ and ‘Star Wars.’

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.

Somebody once asked me how I found Peter Jackson, and I said: ‘Well, I parted his hair, and there he was.’

I was always interested in enchantment and magicians and still am.

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.

I turn to the ‘Telegraph’s’ obituaries page with trepidation.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

I’ve done a lot of films that have become iconic, not necessarily because of me.

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.

I thought that people should know about the dangers of Satanism, and diabolism does exist – there’s no question about it.

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.

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.

I didn’t want to be known as a man who only made horror films. I made some – very few.

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.’

Peter Jackson’s instincts are extraordinary, as is his stamina.

Before ‘Lord of the Rings,’ some people would have just classed Peter Jackson as a horror director. But there is a mind there.

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.

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

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