{"id":6088,"date":"2010-01-11T18:10:17","date_gmt":"2010-01-11T07:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/?p=6088"},"modified":"2010-01-11T18:16:04","modified_gmt":"2010-01-11T07:16:04","slug":"christopher-lee-gets-heavy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/11\/christopher-lee-gets-heavy\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Lee Gets Heavy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/newstopics\/celebritynews\/6944436\/Dracula-star-Sir-Christopher-Lee-to-make-heavy-metal-album.html\" target=\"_blank\">UK Telegraph<\/a> has revealed that British actor Christopher Lee &#8212; iconic as Dracula in Hammer&#8217;s series of horror films, mostly playing against Peter Cushing&#8217;s Van Helsing, but also taking significant roles in genre films both large and small ever since &#8212; is a featured singer on a heavy metal album about Charlemagne, the First Holy Roman Emperor.<\/p>\n<p>87-year-old Lee described his performance in the heavy metal album as &#8220;pretty unexpected&#8221;. Written by Italian    producer and composer Marco Sabiu, <em>Charlemagne: By the Sword And the Cross<\/em> would be \u201csymphonic metal\u201d, he said, and added:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s fascinating for me that at this stage in my life, people are    beginning to look upon me as a metal singer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/dracDM2610_468x584.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6089 aligncenter\" title=\"dracDM2610_468x584\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/dracDM2610_468x584.jpg\" alt=\"dracDM2610_468x584\" width=\"248\" height=\"310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/dracDM2610_468x584.jpg 468w, https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/dracDM2610_468x584-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 248px) 100vw, 248px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Among his many roles, and besides Dracula (above), Sir Christopher Lee (who was knighted by the Prince of Wales in 2009) has played Frankenstein&#8217;s monster in Hammer&#8217;s <em>The Curse of Frankenstein<\/em> (1957):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/christopher-lee-curse-of-frankenstein-sigler.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6097 aligncenter\" title=\"christopher-lee-curse-of-frankenstein-sigler\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/christopher-lee-curse-of-frankenstein-sigler.jpg\" alt=\"christopher-lee-curse-of-frankenstein-sigler\" width=\"354\" height=\"208\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/christopher-lee-curse-of-frankenstein-sigler.jpg 558w, https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/christopher-lee-curse-of-frankenstein-sigler-300x176.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>The Mummy<\/em> (1959):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/mummy.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6091\" title=\"mummy\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/mummy.gif\" alt=\"mummy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/mummy.gif 320w, https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/mummy-300x225.gif 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>the evil Fu Manchu, beginning with <em>The Face of Fu Manchu<\/em> (1965):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/fu-manchu.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6092\" title=\"fu-manchu\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/fu-manchu.gif\" alt=\"fu-manchu\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/fu-manchu.gif 320w, https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/fu-manchu-300x225.gif 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Rasputin, The Mad Monk<\/em> (1966):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/rasputin.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6098 aligncenter\" title=\"rasputin\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/rasputin.jpg\" alt=\"rasputin\" width=\"460\" height=\"259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/rasputin.jpg 600w, https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/rasputin-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lord Summerisle in <em>The Wicker Man<\/em> (1973) and the in-production <em>The Wicker Tree<\/em> (2010):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/thewickerman_lordsummerisle.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6093 aligncenter\" title=\"thewickerman_lordsummerisle\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/thewickerman_lordsummerisle.jpg\" alt=\"thewickerman_lordsummerisle\" width=\"460\" height=\"247\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/thewickerman_lordsummerisle.jpg 800w, https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/thewickerman_lordsummerisle-300x162.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>the Bond villain, Francisco Scaramanga, in <em>The Man with the Golden Gun<\/em> (1974):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Christopher-Lee-Francisco-005.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6095 aligncenter\" title=\"Christopher-Lee-Francisco-005\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Christopher-Lee-Francisco-005.jpg\" alt=\"Christopher-Lee-Francisco-005\" width=\"306\" height=\"403\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>the alien Captain Zandor in two episodes of <em>Space 1999<\/em> (1976):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/spe29644.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6102 aligncenter\" title=\"spe29644\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/spe29644.jpg\" alt=\"spe29644\" width=\"427\" height=\"311\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/spe29644.jpg 720w, https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/spe29644-300x219.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sherlock Holmes (in 1962 and in the 1990s on TV):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/1adh.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6099 aligncenter\" title=\"1adh\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/1adh.jpg\" alt=\"1adh\" width=\"376\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/1adh.jpg 500w, https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/1adh-217x300.jpg 217w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Saruman in Peter Jackson&#8217;s <em>Lord of the Rings<\/em> trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/SarumanLOTR.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6100 aligncenter\" title=\"SarumanLOTR\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/SarumanLOTR.jpg\" alt=\"SarumanLOTR\" width=\"322\" height=\"381\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/SarumanLOTR.jpg 405w, https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/SarumanLOTR-253x300.jpg 253w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 322px) 100vw, 322px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Count Dooku \/ Darth Tyranus in <em>Star Wars: Episode II &#8211; Attack of the Clones<\/em> (2002):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Count-Dooku-christopher-lee-2511927-1024-768.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6101 aligncenter\" title=\"Count-Dooku-christopher-lee-2511927-1024-768\" src=\"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Count-Dooku-christopher-lee-2511927-1024-768.jpg\" alt=\"Count-Dooku-christopher-lee-2511927-1024-768\" width=\"481\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Count-Dooku-christopher-lee-2511927-1024-768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Count-Dooku-christopher-lee-2511927-1024-768-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 481px) 100vw, 481px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>and much else besides, including the Jabberwock in Tim Burton&#8217;s upcoming <em>Alice in Wonderland<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p>Read more about the Charlemagne album <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/newstopics\/celebritynews\/6944436\/Dracula-star-Sir-Christopher-Lee-to-make-heavy-metal-album.html\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. Looking rather weatherbeaten but as imposing as ever, Lee talks about it in the following YouTube video:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/6eE5EPznv80&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/6eE5EPznv80&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Source<\/strong>: via Cat Sparks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UK Telegraph has revealed that British actor Christopher Lee &#8212; iconic as Dracula in Hammer&#8217;s series of horror films, mostly playing against Peter Cushing&#8217;s Van Helsing, but also taking significant roles in genre films both large and small ever &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2010\/01\/11\/christopher-lee-gets-heavy\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,26,3,27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6088"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6088"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6106,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6088\/revisions\/6106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}