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
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.
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.
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.
Peter Jackson's instincts are extraordinary, as is his stamina.
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'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.
I haven't done lots of horror.
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.'
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.
I did play Ramses II once, who lived to be 91 and had 120 children, but he died 4,000 years ago.
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.
The first 'Charlemagne' album is metal, of course, but what I sang was more symphonic.
Not every Hammer film was perfect.
To be a legend, you've either got to be dead or excessively old!
The thing I have always tried to do is surprise people: to present them with something they didn't expect.
I thought that people should know about the dangers of Satanism, and diabolism does exist - there's no question about it.
