Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
One of Lee’s best-known roles was as the wizard Saruman in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. While once a friend to Gandalf the Grey, Saruman’s experience in the Palantír of Orthanc changes his views on the world and on his alliances. As Gandalf comes to Saruman for help, a tense conversation turns violent as Saruman attacks his former friend.
Dracula
While younger generations will remember Lee as Saruman, his biggest role throughout his career was as the premiere vampire, Count Dracula. He’s starred as Dracula in numerous projects, but it was his starring role in the Hammer Horror series‘ 1958 film that began his long career. The video above shows Dracula’s death scene, which looks fairly cheesy by modern standards but is still an outright classic.
Star Wars
Lee’s deep voice and intense presence made him a perfect fit for the role of the villainous Count Dooku in Star Wars episodes two and three. A former Jedi, he turns over to the dark side when he feels his former allies have failed in their duties. Eventually it leads to a huge confrontation with his mentor, Yoda, as well as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
The Man with the Golden Gun
Lee’s biggest roles have unsurprisingly been as a villain, and while his forte is horror and sci-fi, he also had a starring role in the James Bond series of films. In 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun, he plays the calm, cool and collected Francisco Scaramanga. In the above scene, Scaramanga calmly assembles his signature weapon while being berated by his boss. Anyone can expect what happens next.
Jinnah
Though lesser-known than his other roles, Christopher Lee said in an interview that he considers his best role to be that of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, in the titular 1998 biopic. In a short clip from the project, Jinnah sternly confronts a protester who is convinced Pakistan will be led into ruins.
