If there’s one actor that can be classed as the most iconic and well known no matter what genre, then that actor is Christopher Lee.

There’s not a single person in history who has lived a more significant and crazy life than Mr Lee; from music, acting, and the army, he’s done it all.

Lee was born in May 1922 in London to parents Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Lee and Countess Estelle Marie. Born into wealth and high class. He spent part of his childhood living in Switzerland before moving back to the UK.

He attended Summer Fields School, where he performed in school plays, and after that he attended Wellington College on a scholarship. He didn’t act during this time and instead pursued various sports.

During the outbreak of World War Two, Lee enrolled in the army to fight for the Finnish Army against the USSR. He then went back to work in the United States before returning to the UK and joining the Home Guard in 1940 and then the RAF a year later.

During this time, Lee saw active service overseas, fighting in several battles, including the Allied Invasion of Italy in 1943. Lee would remain in the RAF until 1946, earning the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

During lunch one day with a relative, He had the idea to try acting. His mother’s cousin was friends with film producer Filippo Del Giudice, who agreed to work and train with Lee.

He made his film debut in the 1948 film Corridor Of Mirrors. Like most actors in the studio system, Lee worked on several films each year, his debut saw him appear in 8 films and by the time he had his breakthrough role in 1952’s Moulin Rouge, which earned an Academy Award nomination, he had appeared in 19 films from 1948 and would go on to appear in more than 30 more in the net ten years.

He would first work with Hammer Film Productions in 1957, playing the Creature in The Curse Of Frankenstein, and in 1958 he would appear in one of his most famous roles, Count Dracula, in Hammer’s Dracula. A role he excelled at. He would play the role of Dracula 10 times between 1958 and 1976. Lee would work with Dracula director Terence Fisher for another iconic role as Sherlock Holmes in the 1962 film Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, making him one of the only actors to play Sherlock, his brother Mycroft, and an antagonist in a Sherlock film.

1973 saw him star in one of the best British horror films in history, playing Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man, which launched the titular burning figure into popular culture and has been featured in many songs since.

Even as the years progressed and he got older, he was still active and involved in multiple loved film franchises. He played Saruman in the three Lord Of The Rings films and two Hobbit films and Count Dooku in two Star Wars films.

His later acting career saw him work with Tim Burton on five films, which included Dark Shadows and Corpse Bride.

In addition to his acting career, he also pursued a music career. He released his first album, Christopher Lee Sings Devils, Rogues & Other Villains, in 1998 and Revelations, a solo cover album, in 2006. Both were classical music.

He would then delve into heavy metal with 2010’s Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross and 2013’s Charlemagne: The Omens of Death.

He and his wife, Birgit Krøncke, married in March 1961 and were together until the end.

After a career that spanned almost 70 years and 250 feature films, Christopher Lee passed away in June 2015. His legacy and impact will never be forgotten.