Italian #44: Christopher Lee

What? The consummate Englishman from all those Hammer Horror movies? Saruman the White? Count Dokku? Scaramanga? Yes, the towering actor was half Italian. His mother was Countess Estelle Marie Carandini di Sarzano, an Italian citizen who married an English army officer.

I think the hosts of Stuff You Missed in History Class cover the essentials you need or want to know about Christopher Lee. His upbringing, his involvement in WWII and his very prolific acting career. To cut to one chase, he was Ian Fleming’s cousin by marriage, I always thought they shared DNA.

Meanwhile, I want to go over the things I remember him for.

First was all those Hammer movies. When I was growing up in Champaign-Urbana, one or two weeks of every year was dedicated to these films starring him and Peter Cushing via The Early Show. This program was the CBS affiliate’s afternoon movie slot from three to five. It was the Seventies so the world wasn’t as child-proofed yet. Of course, the gore in these interpretations of Dracula and Frankenstein is pretty tame thanks to Eli Roth. Did he scare me? Not much. I did remember his name for another favorite instance…

Lee was a guest host on SNL, a very radical move. I may have been a tweener but understood the comic possibilities his appearance presented. I remembered three bits very clearly: his monologue containing movies he turned down (the cast acting them out); him playing death and apologizing to a little girl (Laraine Newman) for taking away her pet; and the best for last, portraying a Van Helsing type out to put a stake through Nixon’s finished memoirs before they go to press.

The villains I listed earlier, Lee was definitely their embodiment. Of the three, he wasn’t utilized to good effect in Star Wars and the name is subject to ridicule.

Check out the podcast though. They did a fantastic job and it only runs about 30 minutes.

¡Ciao! Until next year, I’m open to suggestions on other famous Italians to research.

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