Christopher Lee ~ This Is Your Life

This is your life, and that's a fight I've got to stop in the next few seconds. Not so much to catch my man alive, but at the point where fiction becomes fact. Now, one of the fencers on that film set down there is top fight director William Hobbs, who's worked on some of the most famous films, television, and theater productions the world over. The other man he's fencing with is a world-famous actor himself, no mean swordsman either. A man who's provided many a spine-chilling moment in the cinema. But it's very, very important that I go through the right door on that set at the right moment when he's hidden there for a matter of seconds. So, here goes. Gentlemen, put aside your weapons, timely rescue, Christopher, because tonight this is your life. That is a conspiracy. Outrageous conspiracy. Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you. Well, Heyman, you are the last person I expected to see come through that door. Oh, I enjoyed that scramble. I came out of it alive. I'm beginning to wonder if I ought to have done that. First of all, my thanks to my fellow conspirator, Bill Hobbs. He told me it was just a workout, but it looked a pretty tough fight to me. Well, if I'd known how it was going to end, it would have ended differently when we did it, I can promise you. Very differently. I tell you, I was a bit nervous coming through that door anyway. Well, Heyman, in my professional life, I've opened a few doors. I've been behind a few, but I think the joke's on me this time, isn't it? Well, it's not a joke. It's a very great story, and it is your story, Christopher Lee, your life. And you've just received an accolade that's always a high point for stars of the film business, a presentation to royalty at a royal premiere. Your latest picture, The Three Musketeers. You were among the international stars presented to the Queen Mother. And for the millions of fans who know you best as Dracula and as the star of horror movies, here was a new Christopher Lee. That's you in the role of Rothschild. You're there, of course, with great Charlton Heston. And from that star-studded cast, here tonight is another special pal of yours, Oliver Reed. Oliver, you played Mathis in that film, but it wasn't, by any means, the first time that you'd worked with Christopher. No, it wasn't. I think Christopher really worked for us, because in the old days when I first worked for Hammer, I used to sit outside an air terminal in Cromwell Road. He picked us up and he used to charge us five shillings each to go down to Hammer Studios. It'll be much more now. And five shillings back in an old white Mercedes and constantly sing, I'm a deer, a female deer. And then he used to knock us and say, of course, you know, dear boy, I want to be an opera singer. Want to be? I had been. Thank you very much, Oliver Reed. Well, now, Oliver's a chum from that picture, and from the other side of the Atlantic, if you look at that screen, the man that we saw with you a few moments ago, you'll see him again, Cardinal Richelieu, himself Charlton Heston. Hello, Christopher. I really hate not being here in person. This performance is on film to my deep chagrin and disappointment. I look forward to coming to London for the premiere of Three Musketeers and also to staying over for this big night for you. Unhappily, I'm stuck here in California doing another film, but I remember with great pleasure the time we spent last summer shooting in Spain on Three Musketeers. Well, I did love working with you, Christopher, and I do hate not being there tonight. Good luck to you and everyone else. See you soon in another film, I hope. Thank you, Charlton Heston. I love watching Part II. Great man, great actor. I agree. That Part II play marks a big departure from the spine-chillers you've played in scores of films like The Curse of Frankenstein and roles like Fu Manchu, Rasputin the Mad Monk, and, of course, your most famous portrayal of all, Count Dracula himself. Offscreen, it's a very different story, as we can prove by meeting the ladies who star in your real life. And here they are, your wife, Gitta. Your mother, Estelle. Your sister, Zandra. And your 10-year-old daughter, Christina. Always surrounded by women. Yes. Now, Gitta, after starring in so many horror pictures, is Christopher often picked out, you know, as the dreaded Count Dracula when you're out together? Well, normally, yes, but there was one time, I remember, when we were at Disneyland, remember that? And we were walking around with Robert Quarry, and nobody recognized him, not at all. And then Christina got this Mickey Mouse hat, and Robert said to Christopher, I bet you dare not put that one on. He said, of course I do, put it on, and he was carrying Christina's teddy bear anywhere. At that moment, everybody in Disneyland came up and said, Oh, Mr. Lee, we love your films. You know, with that stupid hat and the teddy bear. And I was wearing a hat with Christina written on it, carrying a teddy bear. He wasn't the only one. Tell me, does Christina, in fact, get to watch her dad playing in horror pictures? No, not very often, but she did see Dracula the other night. And, you know, we were rather worried whether she would have some nightmares or bad dreams or what have you. Christina, did you dream? Yes, I dreamt about Don Osmond. She dreamt about Don Osmond. Now, it was a great night for the family, Christopher, when you took your place at the Royal Premiere, but there was just one member of the family unable to watch that proud occasion, because he was 6,000 miles away at his home in South Africa. But he's not there tonight. From Johannesburg, your younger brother, Nicholas. Now, Nicholas, although you are now an executive with an electronics firm in South Africa, you're still able to follow your brother's film career. Yes, I do. I followed him pretty well from the beginning, when, by watching a film very, very carefully, called The Corridor of Mirrors, I got a fleeting glimpse of your backside. Thank you, Nicholas Lee. Anyway, that's the family reunited, Christopher. So let's go back to where it all began in the Belgravia district of London. Your late father is an army officer, and you're christened Christopher Frank Carandini Lee. Appropriately enough for a man who's to play so many aristocratic roles, you have connections with European nobility. Mrs. Rose, what was the connection with the Carandini family in Italy? Well, I was born Carandini, you see, because my father was really an Englishman, but his father was a pure Italian. And that's the name, you see, that's the family name is Carandini. Well, now, Sandra, I believe that even as a very young boy, Christopher was showing an interest in dramatics. He was showing an interest, but he was quite a little boy in those days, and I hate to say it, but I was much older. And so, I was the boss, and I got all the good parts. In fact, I played a glamorous part of the Scarlet Pimpernel, and Christopher was the innkeeper's wife, in the bathroom, just spitting on the floor and saying, Well, uh, later... Christopher, you attend Summerfield School in Oxford, and here at Oxford, you get the chance of some much better roles with the School Dramatic Society. It's at that school, where you're only eight years old, that you make friends with a fellow pupil, and he's determined even then to go on the stage when he grows up. He's out in Hollywood now, and though he can't be here tonight, we asked him what he remembered of young Christopher Lee, and here's what he has to say. This is a picture here of Chris Lee. It was taken in 1930, and he was eight. We were at a preparatory school in England called Summerfield Oxford, which had many distinctions, but one of its distinctions for us was that they did Shakespeare plays. I played Henry V when I was eight, and he played Cassius, and I played Brutus, I think, when we were nine. And I was always surprised that he became an actor. I always expected him to be a diplomat or something very distinguished. He's got that wonderful, marvellous voice and a very distinguished mien. And I think he's a very fine actor. I saw the Billy Wilder Sherlock Holmes, for instance, and his range, I would have said, we've all seen the most famous parts of his range, but I think he has an acting life beyond that which is going to surprise and delight many people. It's marvellous for me to say hello, and very good luck and best wishes, Chris. Thank you, Patrick Whitney. We go on to Wellington College, and we have a picture of the future star of horror movies looking very clean-cut on holiday, aged 16. At that time, Christopher, I believe the family had a very different career in mind for you. I think Patrick and Minnie had guessed it, in fact. Yes, I think I would have made an absolutely disastrous diplomat, in point of fact. I'm quite sure of it, in fact. Ask my family or anybody who knows me. But instead, your family fortunes take a tumble and you have to leave school after eight years as a classic scholar and start looking around for a job. Now, with your background, it's not hard for you to get a job as something in the city, except that that something is a messenger boy with a shipping line. Do you remember your starting salary? Yes, it was a pound a week. A pound a week. At those wages, the big treat of the week for you and your friends in the mailing department is a meal out in a certain restaurant in the city, and on paydays, you go along there with your chums. Not bad value in those days, was it, Christopher? One and sixpence for a three-course lunch? One of those same chums to meet you again for the first time in 35 years, John Lovell. Now, John, you were to stay on that company for 30 years to become a manager. Did you ever think that young Lee here would go on to become a famous name in pictures? Well, I always thought he was destined for higher things. Well, taller things, anyway. Well, taller, yes. Rather than just be a messenger boy in the city. But I expect you still remember the very cheap three-course lunches at Slater's for one and sixpence. As a matter of fact, yes, Lenhall Street. I remember very well indeed. That's it. Yes, and I remember the stamps I licked too. Thank you, John Lovell. Thank you. Christopher, more breaks are to join the RAF, and with a fluent command of no fewer than five languages, it's no surprise that your first active service posting is as intelligence officer with 260 Fighter Squadron in the Western Desert. And though it's tough out there, it's not all work and no play. One day, stationed now in Tunis, you order your driver to take you by truck to Algiers to buy wine for the officer's mess. But rounding a corner in the Atlas Mountains, you find yourself looking straight down the barrel of a submachine gun. Your driver stops, turns, and addresses you, the senior officer on this mission, with these words. Well, what do we do now, cock? That same driver to meet you again for the first time in 15 years. Taxi. Yes, aircraftsman, fetus surgeon, better known to you as you said, taxi. Taxi, as he called you. In that tricky situation, what was Christopher's first command? Well, he fingered his same customer's stars and said, Taxi, as a senior officer in charge of this truck, I command you to drive straight on. Down the barrel. Anyway, drive on we did. Round the corner, we come spangling into an American roadblock. Now, the Yanks who owned our address thought they had captured three German prisoners. Two? There were only two of us. Three of us in that truck. Were there three? Yes. I was too frightened to remember. Well, we know that's true. German prisoners of war. We know it's true, Chris, because we have found prisoner number three from that skirmish, and he's here to meet you for the first time in 20 years, ex-flight lieutenant Bobby Brown. Good. Thank you. Bobby, will you take up the story from there? Well, as you know, Christopher was in charge of this expedition, and he handled the mix-up with his customary aplomb. We were under guard for, what, about ten hours? Oh, a long time. And then we were released by a commander of the Royal Navy who came to our rescue, but Christopher had insisted that as we were going to be imprisoned, that we'd be imprisoned in the American officer's mess. We had a super day, didn't we? They were very hospitable. The best rations I've ever had. But there was another day when he probably could have used a drink or rations. Oh, you mean the night when he got a telephone call from HQ telling him as he spoke fluent Russian, do you remember this? Yes. That he was being sent on a secret mission. And so secret that it couldn't be discussed over the phone, so there was a plane to be flown in the next morning. He was told he had to be at the end of the runway, dressed in full flanket, winter comms, the lot. So the next morning, there was Christopher at the end of the runway, in about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, sitting in full uniform, you know, with everything on, and not telling anybody what he was doing. So that plane never did... It still happens, that kind of thing. The plane never did turn up, Christopher, because as you now know, the telephone call didn't come from HQ. It came from another pile of yours, and he's here too. Former squadron leader, George Black. George, that call was one that Christopher obviously fell for. Absolutely fell. I disguised my voice as a group captain, Chris, do you remember? It's not sublime. We woke our batman up at 5 o'clock in the morning, do you remember? Yeah, I do. And looked at Chris, and he was there for five hours, you know. After breakfast, he came and had a look at him. Absolutely. Thank you, George Black, Bobby Brown, and Dr. Brady. Along the war end, Chris, you're demobilized with the rank of flight lieutenant. You also have a mention in dispatches for your war service, but your ambition now is to make a start in acting. But your first roles in films are scarcely as the star. For example, in the famous film version of Hamlet, can you remember the speech you had to deliver? Yes, it was one word, lights. And I think I was one of about 40 people who said it in the dark. It's not till 57 that the break comes along, which is to change the whole direction of your career and start you on the road to international fame. The picture, The Curse of Frankenstein, made by Hammer Films, and you appear like this. Get back! Get away from me! From that moment on, you're on your way, and it's in that picture, too, that you first make friends with another star of the horror movie scene who offstage often greets you in this style. Mr. Andrews, that's the boy you got in your hand. Aaron Frankenstein himself, a great mate of yours ever since Peter Cushing. Peter, it's very nice to think of Baron Frankenstein and the monster enjoying a joke together. That was my very bad impersonation of dear Christopher's brilliant impersonation. And you know, when you're at the studios at about 7 o'clock, it's half past 6, and you know you're going down into dungeons and dark places. It's so wonderful to be amused by my dear friend. The story does go that I first met Christopher in that make-up you just saw, and at lunchtime you took it off, and when he came into the restaurant, I screamed. Thank you, Peter Cushing. Well, it's with Peter, too, that you put together your greatest horror characterization of all, Count Dracula. This is where Peter gets the last laugh. The film Dracula, the first of a series of six Hammer films about the famous vampire. But let's not forget that after that scene, the vampires have their good times, too. It was Dracula who gave me my first scream kiss. Your co-star in Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Veronica Carlson, and with her, two more members of the most attractive blood group in pictures, stars of The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Valerie Van Ost and Joanna Lumley. How was that first kiss? Right here, and very interesting. Well, all three of you had necking sessions, of course, with Count Dracula. How was the experience for you, Valerie? Oh, it was rather shattering, actually, because after Christopher had kissed me and bitten me, I turned into a vampire as well, and I ended up with a stake through the heart. And how about Joanna? Did you suffer the same kind of fate? Well, no, my dear. You see, I was spread out on an altar with my neck all bare. I was actually unconscious, and just as Christopher was about to plunge them in, the roof exploded. And so I was saved. Thank you, Veronica Carlson, Valerie Van Ost, and Joanna Lumley. Thank you. Just a little away from the cameras, there's someone who thinks of you as another kind of demon. Quite right, Eamon. He's definitely my idea of a demon bowler. Your good friend and fellow cricket enthusiast, international star of stage and films, Trevor Howard. Trevor Howard. On the cricket field here, Count Dracula provides a few surprises. Yes, but then he is an actor offstage as well, you see. And he's a very fine sportsman in all directions. He's a super golfer. Now, I was captaining a side about, oh, a long time ago. Christopher was playing in, and he wanted to open the bowling, so I threw him the ball, and I was amazed. He walked practically to the side screen, and took a very long run, and when it came to the ball being bowled, it went backwards. Thank you, Trevor. Your film career goes along a lot more smoothly, and in 1972, you're invited to America to share star billing on television with one of the greatest performers in the world. Although he couldn't make the journey to England tonight, we can hear now just how he feels about Christopher Lee. Sammy Davis, Jr. Hi, Chris. It's kind of nice to be here, at home for a change, a home that you and your wife and daughter have visited so often. It gives me a chance to just say they couldn't have picked a better cat to say this is your life to. I wish I could have been with you, but you know my schedule is always hectic. This week, however, I'm only doing eight days in the one week, so it's very, very slow. For you nice viewers who may be watching this, let me tell you that I love that man very, very much, the man that you're honoring tonight. I am a fan, and as a friend, he and his family have been very close to my wife and my family and myself. So until we meet again, Chris, which I hope will be very soon, keep writing that story that we're going to do eventually together, and to show you that I'm prepared, dig. Thank you, Sammy Davis, Jr. Time for his big break is right at the top of the tree. Let's look for a moment at the masterful way you deal with another great name of the hair-raising game in this scene from the picture Scream and Scream Again. There is only time for nightmare. Vincent Price, of course, and when we told him out at his home in California we were paying this tribute to you, he said he was falling over backwards to be here. And he is. 8,000 miles from Hollywood to prove you two have a friendship able to survive anything, Vincent Price is out. Now, as two of the all-time greats of horror movies, you have something else in common, haven't you? Yes, we do, Raymond. You know, it's a very peculiar thing. I don't know whether it's supernatural or just perhaps ecological, but we share the same birthday, May 27th. A few years apart, of course. As Chris will always remind me, yes. But you know, we once celebrated our birthdays together in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds. It was a lovely party. Vincent, how would you rate Christopher's success? Well, I tell you, maybe it could best be illustrated by a story that actually happened to me the other day. I go on a lecture tour every year all around the United States, and I got on a plane, fell asleep immediately to avoid fear, and a man came and shook me and woke me up and said, hey, you're Boris Karloff, aren't you? And I looked at him and said, no, Boris has passed on. He said, he has? He said, well, then you're Christopher Lee, aren't you? And I said, no, I'm not. And he said, well, then who the hell are you? And he went and sat down and never bothered to ask. But you know, quite seriously, I really welcome this opportunity to be here, Chris, and to pay a tribute to a man who has made a magnificent contribution to a very classic genre of the cinematic art, the horror film, to a warm and wonderful human being and a master of his craft. What's your name? Christopher Lee is your name. This is your life, Chris. Congratulations.