Shooting the Breeze: Meeting a legend
The voice is unmistakable. He's a cinema legend with a career spanning almost 6 decades.
One of the most recognised voices, and faces, in cinema history. Christopher Lee was happy to explain how he has cultivated 'that' voice.
"It's genetic. Another reason is that I talk a lot!
"I learned to use my voice in the theatre. My great grandparents set up the first opera company in Australia, they were all opera singers. My mother had a very good singing voice so it's all in the voice.
"I've sung in films, made records and did opera in America. I did the King and I in England. I did Peter and the Wolf with the great Yehudi Menuin. I did a single called 'Wandering Star' because I was the only one who could hit the notes. I also did a single - 'It's Now or Never' which was based on the famous melody for O Sole Mio.
He is most proud of films like The Wicker Man, The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, The Man with the Golden Gun, 1941 (a film with Steven Spielberg), and the Lord of the Rings films. He is also proud of one of his first film roles in A Tale of Two Cities.
"These were all highs." said Mr Lee.
He acknowledges that there have been lows in his career, notably the sequels to the Dracula films made after producers begged him to think of the other cast and crew who would be out of work if he did not agree to appear.
"It's been 32 years since I played a certain strange gentleman from Eastern Europe." he said.
Lee is, of course, well known for working with his best friend, Peter Cushing.
"Peter Cushing was one of the most wonderful human beings I've known in my life, and one of the most superb actors I've worked with. We had a very, very close relationship. I miss him enormously to this day.
"He wasn't an easy person to get to know, he was very private until you got to know him.
"We used to have the most incredible conversations on the telephone - he was a wonderful man.
Peter Cushing was born the day before Christopher Lee, who shared his birthday with a fellow cinema legend Vincent Price.
One of Mr Lee's more famous roles was that of the villainous Francisco Scaramanga in The Man With the Golden Gun - with Roger Moore as James Bond.
"The film was great fun. I've known Roger for 55 years. He's a UNICEF ambassador. I'm now involved with UNICEF but not to the extent that Roger is, and certainly not to the extent that my good friend Peter Ustinov was.
"Roger was very deservedly knighted. He said it wasn't because of his acting but he's a much better actor than a lot of people think. You can tell within five minutes of doing a scene with someone you don't know if they can't act."
Christopher Lee's latest film release was actually made 7 years ago. Like The Wicker Man before it, this is one which he feels very strongly about.
Jinnah is a uniquely structured biopic of Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah which seeks to bring light to a figure who was previously little known outside of Pakistan besides a rather one dimensional portrayal in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi.
"You only see Jinnah in Gandhi briefly as a malevolent figure who is threatening civil war. I was determined to present Jinnah as he was. I can't answer why that happened in Attenborough's film." said Mr Lee.
Christopher Lee at 6'4" is much taller than Mohammed Ali Jinnah but the facial resemblance and the sterling acting performance, including a final scene which Lee himself claims was not merely acting, made the audience and indeed, passersby while the film was being made, believe in him.
While it has had limited release in most of the world, including a popular run to packed theatres in Pakistan itself, Jinnah has never gained a general release outside of Pakistan and only recently became available to purchase on DVD.
Painstakingly restored from a cinema print, Jinnah was carefully researched by Christopher Lee as preparation for the role. Lee learned Jinnah's mannerisms and two of his key speeches in full in order to ensure that his portrayal of the man was as accurate as possible.
Lee had a lot of respect for Jinnah, particularly for his views on religious freedom and the right to worship in any way a person should see fit.
He was a proud and honourable man and one who was against religious intolerance - a man worthy of research.
At 82 years young he is still working on films, the next of which is a remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton but Lee is tight-lipped on what role he is expected to play.
"It was a pleasure to work, even briefly, with Tim (Burton), who I admire enormously." he said of the last time he did a film with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp - Sleepy Hollow. Mr Lee also had the greatest respect for Johnny Depp's acting talent.
Mr Lee could not elaborate on his role in Tim Burton's film.
"Confidentiality agreements." he says before explaining that he had signed an agreement not to divulge any detail of certain forthcoming films.
He did, however, speak about his role in The Return of the King - the final part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
"I did an entire nine minute sequence, vitally import to the story, but my final confrontation with the heroes was cut out of the theatrical version of the film. I have still not had an explanation as to why."
The scenes will be restored in the forthcoming Extended Edition DVD of The Return of the King.
Both Lord of the Rings and the new Star Wars trilogy have ensured that Christopher Lee is known to a new generation of film fans who may not have seen much of his earlier work.
