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Sir Christopher goddam Lee (Original Post) WilliamPitt Jun 2015 OP
Release the Drive Bee! Jumpin Jack Flash Jun 2015 #1
"Imagine how a man being stabbed in the back sounds." malthaussen Jun 2015 #2
It is at this link with an interview with jackson and lee Ichingcarpenter Jun 2015 #7
interesting, thanks. 2banon Jun 2015 #19
Gentlemanly modest. ChazInAz Jun 2015 #30
And then there was the drunken sword fight with Errol Flynn! LongTomH Jun 2015 #33
loved him. he was the only LOTR cast member who knew JRR Tolkien. RIP, good man. roguevalley Jun 2015 #37
He read Lord of the Rings once every year and was probably the biggest Tolkien nerd Arkana Jun 2015 #71
he and steven colbert were probably soul mates. :D roguevalley Jun 2015 #72
DANG.i always thought he was badass. hope we learn what is in his files. pansypoo53219 Jun 2015 #39
His desert adventures sounds like the TV show "Rat Patrol" which is about a group of British Hestia Jun 2015 #52
Damn LittleBlue Jun 2015 #3
Love him! RIP, Sir Christopher. R&K nt longship Jun 2015 #4
CHRISTOPHER LEE !!!!!!! Iggo Jun 2015 #5
The last of the 'elegant villains of the cinema'... Rhythm Jun 2015 #6
Lord Summerisle ozone_man Jun 2015 #8
That was a good one. Eleanors38 Jun 2015 #13
Amazing actor. Creatue Features, horror flicks, huge part of my childhood. raouldukelives Jun 2015 #9
+100 narnian60 Jun 2015 #34
Shit. That sucks. blackspade Jun 2015 #10
Well, Chuck Norris did campaign for Bibi... cascadiance Jun 2015 #11
Some of those Hammer films wouldn't have worked without Lee. R.I.P. Eleanors38 Jun 2015 #12
One of my favourites was The Devil Rides Out nxylas Jun 2015 #15
He made a good villain! Duval Jun 2015 #14
Noooo... Gosh darn it. Xyzse Jun 2015 #16
He volunteered to serve with the Nazis for Finland. Chuck Norris is a Republican. jtuck004 Jun 2015 #17
No 1939 Jun 2015 #27
I was mistaken, it was before that... jtuck004 Jun 2015 #31
I don't recall a great deal of fighting from '58 to '62 in South Korea. ieoeja Jun 2015 #47
I am adding information AND comparing, but there is behind enemy lines and "behind jtuck004 Jun 2015 #48
30 day PR stunt? ieoeja Jun 2015 #49
uh huh jtuck004 Jun 2015 #50
That was in fucking Finland during the fucking Sitzkrieg! ieoeja Jun 2015 #51
Which is what we were fucking talking about. Keep up. Or better, actually... jtuck004 Jun 2015 #53
We are talking about you comparing Norris' entire peace time military career to Lee's first mission. ieoeja Jun 2015 #54
"Great duty if you can get it" - he was 17 at the time muriel_volestrangler Jun 2015 #60
Actually I prefer to think of it as not caring as much about what you think as you rather obviously jtuck004 Jun 2015 #61
requiescat in pace. niyad Jun 2015 #18
Terrible loss! marym625 Jun 2015 #20
. irisblue Jun 2015 #21
I appreciate that the interwebs lets me know this man was a warrior who served humanity pasto76 Jun 2015 #22
Ohhhhhhhhh. :( BlancheSplanchnik Jun 2015 #23
A life well lived and a deserved legend. gordianot Jun 2015 #24
May he rest in peace Gothmog Jun 2015 #25
RIP LiberalLovinLug Jun 2015 #26
Excellent eulogy Will, thanks still_one Jun 2015 #28
truly heaven05 Jun 2015 #29
Sir Christopher with an old friend with whom he shared a birthday... Rhythm Jun 2015 #32
So sad Jean Genie Jun 2015 #35
Lee was the only person of the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy to have ever actually met Tolkein progressoid Jun 2015 #36
RIP...a life well lived. Thanks Will...n/t ms liberty Jun 2015 #38
The OP forgot one... Archae Jun 2015 #40
He will be missed. GoneOffShore Jun 2015 #41
He did 1 movie for every bone in his body. hughee99 Jun 2015 #42
He was an entertainer Scalded Nun Jun 2015 #43
The guy was pretty much the definition of badass. Warren DeMontague Jun 2015 #44
RIP Mr. Lee Unknown Beatle Jun 2015 #45
He played a lot of different roles Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Jun 2015 #46
Rest in peace shenmue Jun 2015 #55
release the drive bee, rip sir christopher lee allan01 Jun 2015 #56
Hammer horror was pretty much my entire childhood CrawlingChaos Jun 2015 #57
Chuck Norris isn't shit. Enthusiast Jun 2015 #58
I agree. I'll surely miss Christopher Lee, though. Fine man, fine actor. nt ladyVet Jun 2015 #62
I kind of want to go watch The Man With The Golden Gun again. Initech Jun 2015 #59
"A duel between titans. My Golden Gun against your Walther PPK." Arkana Jun 2015 #70
Badass Snow Leopard Jun 2015 #63
Lord Summerisle Has Gone To the Summerland. AnnieBW Jun 2015 #64
+1 for that role in Wicker Man! FailureToCommunicate Jun 2015 #65
I could have sworn this would end with... yuiyoshida Jun 2015 #66
The "Ungentlemanly" gentleman DFW Jun 2015 #67
He and Ron Moody are "reviewing the situation" Divernan Jun 2015 #68
Fuck Chuck Norris, Christopher Lee was a TRUE badass Arkana Jun 2015 #69

malthaussen

(18,573 posts)
2. "Imagine how a man being stabbed in the back sounds."
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 10:01 AM
Jun 2015

"I don't have to imagine it."

That needs to be on video.

-- Mal

Ichingcarpenter

(36,988 posts)
7. It is at this link with an interview with jackson and lee
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 10:53 AM
Jun 2015
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/82119503


Filming a scene in Return of the King (seen only in the extended version), when Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif) stabs Saruman in the back on top of the tower, Christopher Lee corrected Peter Jackson on the fact that when a person is stabbed in the back of the chest, they do not scream (as the director wanted), in fact the air is pushed out of their lungs and they “groan” with an exhalation of air, very quietly, as their lungs have been punctured.

its only a min long where Lee describes stabbing a nazi in WW2





Shit got real in 1939 when Christopher Lee quit his day job, caught a boat to Finland, and decided to enlist in the Finnish Army to help them fight off the Soviet invasion of Finland. Lee got geared up to kick some commie asses up and down the frozen wastes of mid-Winter Finland, but didn't see much action, returning home in 1940 to deal with a much bigger and more England-centric problem: Nazis.

Christopher Lee enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1940, where he worked as an intelligence officer specializing in cracking German ciphers and skulls and any other Nazi bullshit he came in contact with. In North Africa he was attached to the Long Range Desert Patrol, the forerunner of the SAS, where he would jump in a badass fucking four-wheel-drive jeep with a gigantic machine gun mounted in the back, drive hundreds of miles behind enemy lines, survive the scorching heat of the Sahara Desert, then sneak-attack Luftwaffe airfields by rolling up on them at sixty miles an hour with his .50-caliber machine guns blazing out curtains of white-hot Nazi-smiting justice, planting dynamite on their airplanes, then peeling ass out of there leaving nothing but bullet-riddled corpses and gigantic explosions in his wake.


After working with the LRDP, Lee was assigned to the Special Operations Executive – better known as Winston Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare – a group that did shit like lead a twelve-man assault that destroyed the German top secret nuclear weapons development facility in Norway and assist brave Eastern European partisans and rebels sabotage Nazi supply lines to prevent them from bringing reinforcements up to fight the Soviets. His service records are sealed and Lee doesn't talk much about his service (when pressed on the subject, he reportedly asks his interviewer, "Can you keep a secret?". When they excitedly say yes, he leans in close and says, "So can I.&quot , but we do know that by the time he retired as a Flight Lieutenant in 1945 he'd been personally decorated for battlefield bravery by the Czech, Yugoslavian, English, and Polish governments and was good friends with Josip Broz Tito, so draw your own conclusions.











ChazInAz

(3,017 posts)
30. Gentlemanly modest.
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 12:53 PM
Jun 2015

In his memoirs, the only things he talks about in this period are rather silly episodes of liberating provisions, his twenty-first birthday and (Literally) getting his bony ass blown up! It's only through other people's reports that we know some of his adventures there.

Arkana

(24,347 posts)
71. He read Lord of the Rings once every year and was probably the biggest Tolkien nerd
Fri Jun 12, 2015, 08:47 AM
Jun 2015

on the entire cast. He knew EVERYTHING--all the minor bits, all the stuff you'd only find buried in the pages of the Silmarillion, all of it.

 

Hestia

(3,818 posts)
52. His desert adventures sounds like the TV show "Rat Patrol" which is about a group of British
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 04:58 PM
Jun 2015

soldiers fighting Rommel in N. Africa. I remember by brother watching it - couldn't care less about military shows.

Rhythm

(5,435 posts)
6. The last of the 'elegant villains of the cinema'...
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 10:32 AM
Jun 2015

And one of the last of my childhood heroes...

Rest Well, Sir Christopher... you have earned it.


raouldukelives

(5,178 posts)
9. Amazing actor. Creatue Features, horror flicks, huge part of my childhood.
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 10:59 AM
Jun 2015

When you start absorbing Hammer horror movies like a sponge, you can't help but hang on Mr. Lee's every movement and gain a huge appreciation for his talent. He is an integral foundation in the house horror built. RIP.

 

cascadiance

(19,537 posts)
11. Well, Chuck Norris did campaign for Bibi...
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 11:13 AM
Jun 2015


Now, Christopher Lee didn't do that to my knowledge, but I'm f'ing glad he didn't try to do something insulting like that!

Christopher Lee, RIP sir! One of Hollywood's all time greats! You will be missed!

nxylas

(6,440 posts)
15. One of my favourites was The Devil Rides Out
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 11:21 AM
Jun 2015

In which we get to see him playing a good guy for a change.

 

Duval

(4,280 posts)
14. He made a good villain!
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 11:18 AM
Jun 2015

And he'll be missed. Thanks, Will. Loved the: "Now, let's see Chuck Norris top that."




 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
17. He volunteered to serve with the Nazis for Finland. Chuck Norris is a Republican.
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 11:34 AM
Jun 2015

And we have less to worry about from the first one.

1939

(1,683 posts)
27. No
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 12:23 PM
Jun 2015

Finland was fighting against the Soviets and lost with the USSR taking a chunk of Finnish territory. Lee then left "plucky little Finland" and returned to England. The Finns then allied with the Germans to try and get their territory back from the Soviets. Lee left before the Finns allied with the Nazis.

 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
31. I was mistaken, it was before that...
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 12:59 PM
Jun 2015

...
When World War II broke out, Lee volunteered to fight for the Finnish forces during the Winter War in 1939.[33] He and other British volunteers were kept away from actual fighting, but they were issued winter gear and were posted on guard duty a safe distance from the front lines. After a fortnight, they returned home.
...

-wiki

Great duty if you can get it.

on edit: Norris joined the AF as a military policeman in '58, served 4 years, was in South Korea. Not front lines, but certainly a place one could get killed. That's where he started martial arts training. It is unclear where he began training to be an ass clown, though it was likely before that.

 

ieoeja

(9,748 posts)
47. I don't recall a great deal of fighting from '58 to '62 in South Korea.
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 04:11 PM
Jun 2015

I assume you're justing adding information and not trying to compare peace time service in South Korea to Lee fighting in the front lines in North Africa and behind enemy lines in Europe throughout World War II.

 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
48. I am adding information AND comparing, but there is behind enemy lines and "behind
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 04:16 PM
Jun 2015

enemy lines".

Clearly he was the second, and only because he was just an actor would one need to make more of it than it was, a 30 day PR stunt.

And within driving distance of North Korea is no safer today than it was then. It isn't a foxhole under fire, but it ain't downtown LA either.

 

ieoeja

(9,748 posts)
49. 30 day PR stunt?
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 04:41 PM
Jun 2015

He spent months in North Africa. He was in the Long Range Desert Patrol, forerunner of the SAS, where they would drive hundreds of miles behind enemy lines to sneak-attack German airfields. After working with the LRDP, Lee was assigned to the Special Operations Executive – better known as Winston Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare – a group that assisted Eastern European partisans and rebels sabotage Nazi supply lines. We don't know what he actually did in Europe, because it is still classified. He was decorated for battlefield bravery by the Czech, Yugoslavian, English, and Polish governments.


He did juuuuuuuust a little bit more than his aborted mission during the Sitzkrieg.



 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
50. uh huh
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 04:47 PM
Jun 2015

He and other British volunteers were kept away from actual fighting, but they were issued winter gear and were posted on guard duty a safe distance from the front lines. After a fortnight, they returned home.

 

ieoeja

(9,748 posts)
51. That was in fucking Finland during the fucking Sitzkrieg!
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 04:56 PM
Jun 2015

He spent months AFTERWARDS fighting in North Africa. He spents months doing SAS work behind enemy lines in Europe AFTER North Africa.

Cripes, dude. Stop focusing on one fucking mission. He had SCORES of missions beyond that one.

 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
53. Which is what we were fucking talking about. Keep up. Or better, actually...
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 05:05 PM
Jun 2015

Last edited Thu Jun 11, 2015, 05:51 PM - Edit history (1)

I acknowledged my error before, but thank you for the history lesson.

bye.

 

ieoeja

(9,748 posts)
54. We are talking about you comparing Norris' entire peace time military career to Lee's first mission.
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 05:13 PM
Jun 2015

Lee served, and mostly fought, through all of WW-II in Europe and North Africa. But you ignore that so you can pretend your hero's record is comparable. I'm calling bullshit on that.

How about you simply admit that you were unaware of Lee's record when you made that comparison, and that in hindlight there is no comparison? *I* sure as fuck didn't know anything about it until I read this thread. See? It's an easy admission to make. You don't even have to type it. You can just copy and past from what I wrote then eplace "you" and "were" with "I" and "was".

muriel_volestrangler

(106,214 posts)
60. "Great duty if you can get it" - he was 17 at the time
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 07:58 PM
Jun 2015
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee

Born 27 May 1922; the Moscow Peace Treaty ending the Winter War was signed on 13 March 1940, so whenever he returned to Britain, he was still 17. This was not part of his British military service, it was him volunteering before such service could have started. It's not that surprising they didn't use a 17 year old without proper military training. No, it's not something worthy of a medal, but, seeing as the only mention of this in the thread, before you wrongly brought it up as "volunteering to serve with the Nazis", had already said he "didn't see much action" in Finland, you seem to be failing, on an epic scale.
 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
61. Actually I prefer to think of it as not caring as much about what you think as you rather obviously
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 08:10 PM
Jun 2015

do.

Made a comment, lots of people want to waste my time. But I have more important things to do than help them understand, like dishes and picking up dog shit.

Having been in the service I know how desirable great duty is and have watched people go to great lengths to get it. He got it, almost like he was wrapped in a blanket and protected until he could be spirited out.

I've held 17 year old death (and younger) in my hands, some of whom I knew, some who died bloody violent deaths. at that ripe old age of 17, the age I was when I went in. I know a bit about that.

ymmv.

I will leave you to your imaginings. "Leave you" being kinda like a sign or something.

pasto76

(1,589 posts)
22. I appreciate that the interwebs lets me know this man was a warrior who served humanity
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 11:55 AM
Jun 2015

"Christopher Lee enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1940, where he worked as an intelligence officer specializing in cracking German ciphers and skulls and any other Nazi bullshit he came in contact with. In North Africa he was attached to the Long Range Desert Patrol, the forerunner of the SAS, where he would jump in a badass fucking four-wheel-drive jeep with a gigantic machine gun mounted in the back, drive hundreds of miles behind enemy lines, survive the scorching heat of the Sahara Desert, then sneak-attack Luftwaffe airfields by rolling up on them at sixty miles an hour with his .50-caliber machine guns blazing out curtains of white-hot Nazi-smiting justice, planting dynamite on their airplanes, then peeling ass out of there leaving nothing but bullet-riddled corpses and gigantic explosions in his wake. After working with the LRDP, Lee was assigned to the Special Operations Executive – better known as Winston Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare – a group that did shit like lead a twelve-man assault that destroyed the German top secret nuclear weapons development facility in Norway and assist brave Eastern European partisans and rebels sabotage Nazi supply lines to prevent them from bringing reinforcements up to fight the Soviets. His service records are sealed and Lee doesn't talk much about his service (when pressed on the subject, he reportedly asks his interviewer, "Can you keep a secret?". When they excitedly say yes, he leans in close and says, "So can I.&quot , but we do know that by the time he retired as a Flight Lieutenant in 1945 he'd been personally decorated for battlefield bravery by the Czech, Yugoslavian, English, and Polish governments and was good friends with Josip Broz Tito, so draw your own conclusions. " - from Gruntstyle FB today.

LiberalLovinLug

(14,689 posts)
26. RIP
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 12:18 PM
Jun 2015

He was always the scary villain watching horror movies when I was young. And he played the part so well. What a talent.

 

heaven05

(18,124 posts)
29. truly
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 12:47 PM
Jun 2015

the consummate actor. Always liked him. Chuck Norris is the gum stuck to his shoe.

Jean Genie

(544 posts)
35. So sad
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 01:48 PM
Jun 2015

Having lost Sir Terry Pratchett recently, and now Sir Christopher Lee, one can only hope that the two have met up in the next life, and are now collaborating on a terrific book and movie starring Death and Mr. Pratchett! Thank you both, gentlemen, for your creative gifts to the world. You are sorely missed, but will never, ever be forgotten.

hughee99

(16,113 posts)
42. He did 1 movie for every bone in his body.
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 03:17 PM
Jun 2015

206 is an astounding number of movies for someone that's not in the adult industry.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
44. The guy was pretty much the definition of badass.
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 03:38 PM
Jun 2015

RIP.

Or to quote Tyrion Lannister, "we shall not see his like again"

Unknown Beatle

(2,691 posts)
45. RIP Mr. Lee
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 03:51 PM
Jun 2015
Lee died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 7 June 2015 at 8:30 am after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure, shortly after celebrating his 93rd birthday there. His wife delayed the public announcement until 11 June, in order to break the news to their family.

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(135,743 posts)
46. He played a lot of different roles
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 04:08 PM
Jun 2015

One I'll always remember was when he played Death in an SNL skit. Unfortunately I can't find a video of it.

CrawlingChaos

(1,893 posts)
57. Hammer horror was pretty much my entire childhood
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 06:48 PM
Jun 2015

This is, and always will be, Dracula for me:

Arkana

(24,347 posts)
70. "A duel between titans. My Golden Gun against your Walther PPK."
Fri Jun 12, 2015, 08:46 AM
Jun 2015

"Each of us with a 50-50 chance."

"Six bullets to your one?"

"I only need one."

AnnieBW

(12,717 posts)
64. Lord Summerisle Has Gone To the Summerland.
Thu Jun 11, 2015, 10:31 PM
Jun 2015

May the God and Goddess welcome you with open arms!

yuiyoshida

(45,416 posts)
66. I could have sworn this would end with...
Fri Jun 12, 2015, 04:10 AM
Jun 2015

"He's really was the Most interesting man in the world".

DFW

(60,190 posts)
67. The "Ungentlemanly" gentleman
Fri Jun 12, 2015, 05:14 AM
Jun 2015

I doubt Chuck Norris would even try to top that. He wouldn't know where to start.

Oddly enough, substitute Dutch and Catalan for Greek and Mandarin, and his linguistic knowledge was about identical to mine, although I'm more than "moderately proficient" in Swedish and Dutch. That's where the similarities end, though, and Greek and Mandarin are far more challenging than Catalan or Dutch.

His pre-film record is equally as impressive as his film record, if that's imaginable. An unsung legend.

Divernan

(15,480 posts)
68. He and Ron Moody are "reviewing the situation"
Fri Jun 12, 2015, 08:24 AM
Jun 2015

Within one day we saw the passing of two actors who used their talents to mask their personal charms behind the mask of character.

Ron Moody elevated one of Dickens' most monstrous characters to the level of dark sainthood with his re-invention of Fagin both on stage and screen. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11667807/Ron-Moody-obituary.html

And Christopher Lee, who's deliciously dark voice and eyebrows led him to portray the ultimate supervillains Saruman and of course Dracula. He understood the simple fact that to portray true evil the actor must be true to the humanity of the character. But no matter how he tried he could never quite hide the twinkle of fun in his eyes.

Let's hope he rests in peace, and doesn't feel the need to return, fangs at the ready

Arkana

(24,347 posts)
69. Fuck Chuck Norris, Christopher Lee was a TRUE badass
Fri Jun 12, 2015, 08:45 AM
Jun 2015

and his loss will be felt everywhere in the film and entertainment world.

Those jokes should be Christopher Lee jokes, not fucking Chuck Norris jokes.

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