Christopher Lee

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ (May 27, 1922–June 7, 2015 ) was the actor who played Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, and performed the same character's voice in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film.

Lee was best known for his work in horror films produced by Hammer Studios. These films often had him collaborating with his good friend Peter Cushing, who played Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. He has also appeared as Francisco Scaramanga, the primary villain in the Roger Moore James Bond film The Man With the Golden Gun. He also played the wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Despite a critically acclaimed career that spanned 70 years, he was never nominated for an Academy Award.

In Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith he portrayed Count Dooku, a character with superhuman powers who had once been on the side of good but had fallen to evil. While Lee, an accomplished swordfighter himself, did much of the sword fights in the films, stunt actor Kyle Rowling was hired to perform the intensive footwork of Christopher Lee's character. Rowling's face was later replaced with Lee's during post-production.

Coincidentally, in 2002, the same year Attack of the Clones was released, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was also released. There he portrayed the character Saruman the White, a wizard with superhuman powers who had once been on the side of good but had fallen to evil.

Sir Christopher Lee also worked with George Lucas on Lucas's 1992 television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, in which he portrayed Count Ottokar Graf Czerin in the episode "Austria, March 1917."

Lee reprised his role as Count Dooku in the film Star Wars: The Clone Wars but did not return for the TV series.

Lee had recently branched out into music with his CD Revelation. He also worked with the Italian power metal band Rhapsody of Fire, singing in some of their songs along with the band's singer, Fabio Lione. He also released two heavy metal albums and four EPs under his own name, making him the oldest recorded metal artist.

On June 13, 2009, Lee was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Christopher Lee died on June 7, 2015.