Offscreen Notes
Christopher Lee RIP: May 27, 1922 - June 7, 2015
He’s bandaged from head to toe and appears to be struggling to stay upright on the floor as the Baron opens his laboratory door; the creature’s hand slowly rises to its face and in a violent move, rips the bandages off its disfigured and scarred features. A little boy, about 8 years old, screams in terror prompting his grandfather to shut off the black and white television on which this spectacle is unfolding much to the annoyment of his elder brother.
That was my first introduction to both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and although this story is about Mr. Lee’s passing, Peter Cushing cannot help but be in the same frame since both are so closely linked to each other’s international success. Their combined effort in the Hammer gothics of the late 50’s and early 60’s assured their screen immortality for ever (despite Christopher Lee’s reluctant appreciation of that fact on occasion). However it is at that point that Mr. Lee decided to stretch out into various other cinematic roles and try to break free from his Hammer past so to speak. He went to Europe and had leading roles in various European horror films as well as police crime thrillers and the full on historical costume dramas that were to be a large part of his mid-70’s output.
He then moved on to lucrative work in the U.S. in the 80’s before returning to the U.K. and then starring in gigantic epics such as the Star Wars prequels and the Lord of the Rings films.
He was an apparently gifted operatic singer as well and lent his voice to many heavy metal projects in later life.
Christopher Lee came of age in the cinema as the horror film had resurgence in the early 60’s on both sides of the Atlantic; both Peter Cushing (1913-1994) and Vincent Price (1911-1993) in the U.S. were also part of that now defunct trio of major horror stars.
Although Lee was often reluctant to praise his luck at being associated with Hammer Film Productions, unarguably it was the success of their films which allowed him to stretch out across borders to act in other material which he considered more highbrow.
It was my exposure to these horror films that seeded my interest in filmmaking and exposed me to the wondrous world of all types of cinema as I grew up, and for that alone, I shall always be grateful for that moment where I simply could not continue to watch Christopher Lee strangle Peter Cushing in that paraphernalia filled, gothic laboratory, that became the staple of what horror cinema was going to look like for the next 10 years.
The moment that I keep watching again often is the interview he gave on his friendship with Peter Cushing (which is included on the new Arrow bluray of The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1959) where he says that he misses him dearly, and you can see in his eyes that he realizes his mortality at that moment; a truly honest expression of feeling for a lost friend.
Christopher Lee has now shuffled off this mortal coil and rejoined his friends who have preceded him; he leaves a tremendous legacy behind him which I hope will be remembered and passed on to future generations who will rediscover that lonely castle on a hilltop which is cared for by his trusty servant Klove…..awaiting….the moment when…visitors to these stories will find the hidden passage….that leads back in time to a world of imagination the likes of which we may never see again.
Mark Penny (June 11-2015)
