Christopher Lee has died.

[Belesarius]

Saruman is dead.

 

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2015/06/11/christopher-lee-known-for-roles-from-count-dracula-to-saruman-dies.html

 

He worked with SOE in WWII, and my favorite Christopher Lee moment was when Peter Jackson was taking to him m and trying to describe how he should react  to someone dying from a sword,he was like. "I know what someone having their throat cut sounds like."  On his Service in WWII : "I was attached to the SAS from time to time but we are forbidden – former, present, or future – to discuss any specific operations. Let's just say I was in Special Forces and leave it at that. People can read in to that what they like."

 

 

Truly a great character actor, and a great character in his own right.

 

 

 

[Tied]

a long and happy life, a dedicated actor, serivceman and husband. If many of us would live to be half his caliber we would need no heaven, for we would already be amoung it 

 

RIP

[Sturgeon]

I guess the people of Summerisle finally figured out who to sacrifice.

Goddammit.

[Virdea]

A brilliant man.  I met him twice, which is to say I was in his general area twice, but he was so gracious and professional nearly anyone who worked on set with him felt that they were his personal friend.  He was one of those people with an odd gravitas.  The best I can compare it to was when I was in a room with Peter Cushing and he asked if I would mind handing him his glass of water, since he was held down by makeup.  

 

Lee never had the fame he deserved through much of his life, but that turned him into a humble, magnanimous, and hardworking steward of the craft. 

 

And one other thing.  When I met him we were being introduced by Paul Vicci since we were working the next stage and craft was shared.  He stood up to shake our hands - and turned out he is like 2 meters tall.  

[Collimatrix]

Saruman is dead.

 

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2015/06/11/christopher-lee-known-for-roles-from-count-dracula-to-saruman-dies.html

 

He worked with SOE in WWII, and my favorite Christopher Lee moment was when Peter Jackson was taking to him m and trying to describe how he should react  to someone dying from a sword,he was like. "I know what someone having their throat cut sounds like."  On his Service in WWII : "I was attached to the SAS from time to time but we are forbidden – former, present, or future – to discuss any specific operations. Let's just say I was in Special Forces and leave it at that. People can read in to that what they like."

 

 

Truly a great character actor, and a great character in his own right.

 

 

Here is the anecdote in question.  The director and cast interviews on the LOTR DVDs mention it as well.

 

I recall another film cast interview that mentions Lee telling vague campfire stories about derring-do in the desert, and the actor being interviewed figured it was just an old man telling tales.  Up until it came to a part in the film where they had to throw some knives for a scene, that is, and it turned out that Christopher Lee was really, really good at throwing knives.

[Sturgeon]

Lee - not that I think it was a secret - was one of my favorite actors. He and Alec Guinness, another favorite of mine, have in common that one each of their worst performances are both in the Star Wars franchise, which isn't to say that either was a poor performance at all. The Count, and the wise old Jedi master both are simply overshadowed by other roles Lee and Guinness each played that were far more enchanting. One of my favorites by Lee is the Lord Summerisle, a character that in many ways inverted and lampshaded Lee's previous roles as a mysterious nobleman:

Unfortunately, I hadn't watched The Wicker Man until very recently, so I haven't been basking in its glory for very long at all. The news of Lee's death is terrible to me, and I will miss him.

[Donward]

Christopher Lee's versions of Dracula are what put him on the road to fame.