I don't know if this thread has been done before (it may have been and to death... I'm sorry, I'm kind of new in the forums).
I was wondering how and when you all discovered Christopher Lee.
The first time I ever saw him in a movie was when I was probably 5 or 6 years old. "House of the Long Shadows" was playing on TV for the first time after its theatrical release and I saw it. At that age, I wouldn't watch anything that I thought would be scary, but Peter Cushing was in it and he was in "Star Wars", so it must've been safe. That's also how I discovered Vincent Price. I don't know why my parens let me watch it. I should ask them. I do know that it scared me but I couldn't stop watching it. At that age, "Star Wars" was my life and to see "Darth Vader's boss" (that's what I called PC back then) in something else was pretty neat.
At the same time, I saw "The Last Unicorn" and I LOVED evil King Haggard. So my father, I'm sure, must've explained to me that the man who did his voice was also in that scary movie with Darth Vader's boss.
Also, it turns out that I saw "Taste the Blood of Dracula" when I was really young. I had no idea that I was watching CL. I just remember a woman in a red dress found floating in a river in the woods after she'd been bitten by Dracula. About 10 years ago, when I began my quest to see all of CL's movies, I watched "Taste the Blood..." and I was very pleased to know what I had seen when I was very young.
Anyways, that's the beginnings of the CL deal with me, what's yours?
I'll never forget it -- It wasn't the "Dracula" pictures that many folks remember. It was "The Creeping Flesh." I can't remember exactly how old I was, but I think I was a pre-teen. I thought this movie was pretty creepy even though, I have to say, I thought both Mr. Lee and Mr. Cushing were simply dashing (I was a bit beyond my years for a pre-teen!) I didn't see the Dracula pictures until much later so I've never really associated Christopher Lee with the infamous vampire. 
I was 9 years old the first time I saw a CL movie. I remember it quite well. I was living in Pennsylvania and, as I sometimes did during the summer, I had walked along the railroad tracks to the local cinema to see the kiddie matinee. It was Dracula Has Risen from the Grave. I was so impressed by Mr. Lee's performance that I made note of his name and afterward I ran home to tell my mother. I was certain that she would be delighted I had spent the afternoon watching an actor of such stature. She'd never heard of him. But, rest assured, she heard plenty about him from that day on.
My first Christopher Lee film was "Poor Devil" which was, I believe, a made-for-TV production which also starred Sammy Davis Jr., and Adam West. Mr. Lee played Lucifer. I saw it when it first came out on TV...I keep on thinking it was an ABC TV film, but i could be wrong.
The story itself was fairly bland, but it did introduce me to Christopher Lee, and that alone is reason for boundless gratitude...
Vandevere
I'm relatively certain that the first time I registered Christopher Lee as a specific actor, rather than just one of many faces on a screen, was after seeing The Three Musketeers in 1973 or 1974. I would've been either 7 or 8 years old. I thought it was pretty much the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Still do to some extent, although now it is as much for the brilliant dialogue by Geroge Macdonald Fraser as it was then for the sheer spectacle and adventure. A great film that was brimming with great performances.
Going into the film the only names I knew were Charlton Heston (The Ten Commandments has a lot to answer for...) and Raquel Welch (it was 1973-4, was there anyone who did not know who she was?), but from that evening on at least three more people had imprinted themselves on my childish mind...Oliver Reed, Michael York and Christopher Lee.
Mr. Lee's portrayal of Bond baddie Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun must have been a close second though...
Cheers!
Without a doubt, my first exposure to Mr. Lee was at the wee
age of 7 or 8, so we're taking 1964 or 1965. I was a "Chiller Theater" addict at a very young age. "Chiller Theater" was a Saturday night movie showcase shown on WPIX channel 11 here in the metro- New York area - way before it went WB.
Before "Chiller Theater" had the 6-fingered wiggling animated (claymation) hand rising from and settling into a puddle of blood, the scenes were that of Vampira and Tor Johnson lurking in the woods from a snipet of "Plan 9 From Outer Space".
Though that film was never a particular favorite, THAT SCENE
scared the pants off me!
The film was "Horror Hotel". Fabulous. Shocking! "I WARNED you, Lotty.......!!!!!". Only a few months ago did I purchase the DVD
"City Of The Dead" which has a wonderful director commentary and restored (or original English) footage. The film is crisp and glorious, unlike all the public domain prints of it cluttering up our universe.
Lee was suave and brilliant in his portrayal of the College Professor/Coven member. Though this was a British production, the intent was to give it a specific American flavor,
and it certainly did. One wouldn't know it was a British film unless he did his homework.
It my teenage years, I had wanted to write a sequel to this story..."Return to Whitewood", lets say. I looked for Whitewood on maps of Massachussetts because I want to go there. To LIVE there! (I does not exist, sorry).
Candlemas Eve!, Mrs. Newlis (I figured out it was kind of like "Selwyn" backwards at a very young age! That chanting!
The first film I ever saw with a Trap Door!
It was wonderful.....and still is.
Thank you Chistopher Lee!
Lecafenoir
Just reading this thread was great fun, and made me recall many happy memories of CL films. It also was wonderful to see how many newer members were participating, and how very charming all of you are.
I know I had seen CL films before what I consider the first one--only because inevitably, you HAD to see CL in SOMETHING since he was in so many films.
But the first one where I made note of his presence was SCARS OF DRACULA. It was on an otherwise quiet Sunday Nowafternoon, and my parents had friends over. I decided I had enough of the adult conversation, and left them to put on the TV--and there he was. I remember thinking: he is the coolest actor.
After that, I would scan the TV guide for more CL movies (as others here admitted doing) and pretty much grew up watching Mr Lee in whatever I could find on TV and in the movies.
Now, after watching his work for over 25 years, here's this incredible man STILL in major blockbuster films TODAY, and I'm very grateful!
Carmen
I have a vivid memory of my first exposure to Christopher Lee. The film was "Corridors of Blood" w/ Boris Karloff, which was on a Double Bill w/ "Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory", playing at the Loew's Theatre in Richmond, Va in April of 1963. I was 11.
I recall going to the film with 4 or 5 of my buddies, all team-mates on a Little League Team. We had a 2 hour practice on a Saturday, but all we were thinking about was going to these "Monster" Films as soon as practice was over.
Shock Theatre was big on TV at the time, as well as Monster magazines. All of my friends were into this stuff, so we were all excited about seeing the latest Karloff movie. I remember seeing the name "Christopher Lee" in the credits, and remembered his Face & Name from seeing his picture in "Famous Monsters", "Castle of Frankenstein" or "Fantastic Monsters of the Films" magazines. I knew right away that I liked him as an actor. Shortly thereafter, I saw "Hound of the Baskervilles" & "The Mummy" at a Drive-in, then "The Gorgon" & the rest is history.
I've seen all but 35 of Mr. Lee's films & am working my list of remaining films down with all due diligence. While I came to be a fan of his work, thanks to his roles in "Genre" pictures, I now welcome his appearance in ANYTHING (although, I must admit that I REALLY like him in genre roles the best). I can't begin to tell you, though, how many times, when watching films of all types, that I haven't said to myself (and sometimes my wife), "This part would have been SO much better if they had used Christopher Lee (instead of whoever)."
I'm a devoted fan & have been for a long time. (Which makes me wish this website had been around longer, by the way). Great stuff in here & the continued & avid participation of Mr. Lee is most appreciated!
Tom Shumaker
My father's best friend (and our neighbor) was a huge Hammer buff (and still is, we both agree Mr. Lee was the best Frankenstein). Anything with Christopher Lee in it that was on TV or avalible on video he had. At a very young age I had been watching Vincent Price and my parents (in their wisdom) had illustrated Poe books for me at a very early age. They were these hardcover books one could buy at the grocery store. I think given all of that they saw no problem letting me watch our neighbor's video tape which had Horror of Dracula, Dracula: Prince of Darkness and Dracula Has Risen from the Grave back to back. Well, I was very young and these films terrified me.
I stuck with Vincent Price and the Universal horrors for a very long time. I had a bit of a complex about any more Christopher Lee films until I realized that he had worked on the Last Unicorn and had been in Fairy Tale Theatre. Still, the mere thought of a Hammer film made my stomach churn. I didn't seek out any more of his films.
On a whim I picked up his autobiography a few years ago. It was very well done. Mr. Lee is a wonderful story-teller in that book and in the interviews I'd read or seen. I respected him much more for his ability to tell a good story and for his remarkable deeds than I did for his acting. (You see, I hadn't seen much yet.)
Then came the best part: tracking down as many of the films discussed in the book that I could find and seeing them. It was a real discovery: this actor who'd terrified me was really versitile and I enjoyed watching him. I'll see any of his films that I can find.
I have since watched the Dracula films again. I enjoyed them much more the second time around.
Funnyman still gives me nightmares though.
Vandevere! i have the chair CL used while filming poor devil. i havent seen the film though 
*it has his name on one side and the poor devil logo on the other*
The first film i ever sore was probably 'The face of Fu manchu'
But the first film i saw while i was becoming a meger fan was 'the house that dripped blood', and also the 'Wickerman'
Quote:
Vandevere! i have the chair CL used while filming poor devil. i havent seen the film though
The first film i ever sore was probably 'The face of Fu manchu'
But the first film i saw while i was becoming a meger fan was 'the house that dripped blood', and also the 'Wickerman'
Dear Greg Harris,
How the heck did you get that chair? That's quite extraordinary...
Vandevere
Strangely enough, I saw The Man with the Golden Gun and The Three/Four Musketeers (on HBO, many many times) long before I saw any Hammer films! I had to scan the cable guide for a while before I saw "he-whose-name-is-not-spoken" on a channel we received at a decent hour for a 12 year-old. What a surprise! I never liked horror before, and still only watched because the gothic love/lust undercurrent grabbed my teenage imagination. His current work is without question his best. The early Lee film years were ... spicy though!
Maria S.:smileht:
Quote:
Dear Greg Harris,
How the heck did you get that chair? That's quite extraordinary...
Vandevere
Donald Fearny sold it. he organises those Hammer Bray events. and has loads of Hammer film props and things. he sold it because it wasnt Hammer. it came with a verification letter from CL.
Its a nice chair, so if ive been had i dont realy mind.
There was a webpage with his collection... but i cant find it anymore.
*In case your wondering it cost £150*
My first Christopher Lee film was Stephen Speilberg's grand folly "1941". Our hero played the German Captain constantly at loggerheads with the brilliant Toshiro Mifune. His first appearance, emerging from the submarine hatch snarling in German grabbed my attention immediately, but what really got me liking him was the supercillious dignity he displayed throughout the film, especially when he tells Slim Pickins to "Carry on s*******. That's an ORDER!"
But to be honest, it really wasn't my "first" CL movie. I saw "The Face of Fu Manchu" a few years ago and got the strange feeling I'd seen it before. Then I remembered watching it at the tender age of five in my Granny's house, but at that age I never watched the credits, so had no idea who was actually playing the Doctor!
It probably explains why I've always had a soft spot for baddies...
Thought my first post would be about my first move so here it goes:
My first CL movie was Mio min Mio which I saw with my parents at the cinema as a kid. Still think the movie has its moments.
I'm not sure about the second but one of the candidates is Dracula '58 which is one of my all time favorites.
I remember CL the most from Wicker Man, Mio min Mio, Dracula and The Man with the Golden Gun. Excellent parts!
Saruman, of course, is CL's finest!
Dracula Prince of Darkness...I was so scared at the resurrection scene and then a hand comes in to view with the crack of lightning. Although looking back he really wasnt in it that long the superior tense direction by Mr. Fisher kept me glued to the set. My mom bought me a horror movie book around the same time and being published in England it was filled with pictures of CL..I realized he had made other Dracula films and it became a quest to see them scanning the tv guide each week. I remeber a book from 74 saying Horror of Dracula was on tv frequently but i could never find it. then i saw Risen from the grave and AD 72 and for the longest time up until late eighties that was all i had seen of Dracula films. I had seen the mummy on tv and even 1941 in theaters but for the longest time that was it. I remember sitting through Shaka Zulu not interested in the movie at all but just wanteing to seee CL. Thank god for inventing the vcr. You had a better chance of scanning video stores to find a title than watching for it on tv
I think my first must have been one of the Hammer films. There was a time when they were on every week at ridiculous hours of the morning, and my sister and I would stay up just to watch them. One of the first ones I remember was 'Theatre of Death'; I still love that film. Wonder if it was the inspiration for the Theatre des Vampires in 'Interview with the vampire'?
'The Devil Rides Out' was the first one I really loved, though....
I saw plenty of the Hammer films on the FRIDAY NIGHT FRIGHTS on the good old WTCG channel 17 in Atlanta, Georgia USA which later became cable tv's SUPERSTATION WTBS. That was between 1970 to 1976. Due to the fact that this was about 30 years ago, I really can't say which film I saw first!
Little did I know then that I would be working for that station's owner, Ted Turner, later in my career. Back then, the show was hosted by a "redneck sounding good ole boy" who wore a Dracula costume, heavy bad makeup and appeared intoxicated. I always suspected that the Redneck Drunken Dracula was in fact Ted Turner himself or a relative of his, but I never got up the nerve to ask. If anyone else here remembers that character or has any information on him, I would love to hear from you! I know there wasn't much money at WTCG back then but this guy must have worked for free drinks because he was so bad at doing Dracula it was comical. I think he was Count Bubbah or some such nonsense as that.
I can however tell you which movie turned me into a raging fan of Mr. Lee's work. It was "THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN".
I am not ashamed to say that I am a huge Bond fan and watched them all in first release from Dr. No to the present. I thought that "THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN" was the absolute best BOND film of them all when I first saw it. I will never forget it, because I really thought Scaramanga was going to kill James Bond. You see, one of my school mates had told me years earlier that, "The man with the golden gun kills James Bond you know...", and naturally I believed my friend! After all, he said he had secretly read the book that his father had and he knew how it ended. Boy was I surprized! Mr. Lee's performance was so good it made up for any flaws in the film and completely eclipsed Roger Moore's performance.
I was amazed at this Scaramana character and became a fan that very day of Mr. Lee's. I thought Mr. Lee would win an Oscar. I was so innocent back then wasn't I?
At any rate, this prompted an interest in his films and I began to seek them out on late shows. What a treasure to the film world is the massive body of work he has given us so far with so much more yet to come!
...SCARS OF DRACULA.
I'll absolutely never forget it.
As a child, I hated horror movies. I was terrified of them, much as my daughter now is (she won't come anywhere _near_ my computer room--horror memorabilia everywhere). Then, when I was around 11, in 1973, a friend of mine insisted on showing me an issue of a magazine called "The Monster Times," popular back then, which featured Mr. Lee on the wagon-wheel from "Dracula AD 1972" on the cover. I was instantly hooked. Something in this image fascinated me beyond reason, and I became utterly determined to find out as much about this amazing-looking actor as I possibly could. I read mags, books, collected presskits, stills, posters, etc., until finally, about a year or so later, my first opportunity to see an actual Christopher Lee movie came up, on TV, in the form of "Scars of Dracula."
Well, the rest is history. Although butchered to absolute pieces, "Scars" blew me away. It'll always hold a special place in my heart for this reason, and will always be my favorite Hammer film. Mr. Lee's performance proved exactly what I knew it would be, brilliance defined, the most astoundingly powerful screen presence I had ever experienced; and I'm delighted and so very proud to say, thirty years later, that that presence remains unchanged, undiminished, simply the greatest in the history of film.
You are, Mr. Lee, and will forever be, my idol.
Dave Hutchens
Hello there
The first film I saw Mr Lee in was "The Man with the Golden Gun" on its British Television premier back in 1978(ish). The tremendous sense of style, humour, and that sense of danger behind the performance of Scaramanga made me an instant fan.
Best wishes to you all
I can't quite remember whether my first CL experience was 'The Man With The Golden Gun' or one of the Hammer classics.
My dad was a big Bond fan and watched absolutely everything but he also let me watch Hammer films when my mum wasn't home 
so it's hard to say.
The only thing I do know is that my obsession with collecting anything associated with Mr Lee started at a very early age.
My first Christopher Lee had to be I Monster, I was trying to find a scary on tv late night. What impressed me about this film was the Christopher Lee's acting from a nice, dull, wooden doctor to an insane, acrobatic, fluid, madman was electricifly wonderfully dangerous. I love it. Then after that I discovered all of the Fu Man Chu, Draculas, Frankenstein, Mummy, The Man with The Golden Gun, Sherlock Holms with Peter Cushing.
It was winter 1970 ( I think ) and my mum let me stay up to watch " The Curse Of Frankenstein " on late night T.V.
I was very keen in horror films even at the tender age of 7and had seen quite a few Universal movies by that time . When Chris Lee as the monster first tore off the bandages I can vividly remember my reaction...fright and enjoyment at the same time .
I was hooked and still am .
That would be "The Creeping Flesh". I have no idea how old I was, not very old...I loved those old horror movies. I thought The Creeping Flesh was pretty frightening. Then it was the Hammer Dracula movies that hooked me, and I was a devoted fan from there on.
It was funny, I would think as I was watching, "I would LOVE for him to bite me!" and then he would do something harsh or frightening towards the women he was seducing that made you really see this had nothing to do with love for the Count, or even much to do with attraction. CL really portrayed Count Dracula wonderfully. I would then say to myself, "Okay, maybe I DON'T want him to bite me. Eternity with him would not be all that fun!"
Ah, memories!
Cara:1devil:
I think the first Christopher Lee film I saw was "Mio in the Land Faraway". I saw it at the cinema together with the rest of my class at a school screening when I was in fourth grade. I live in Norway, and I think this film was a Swedish/Norwegian/British co-production or something; there are at least 2 Norwegian actors in it. I think it was dubbed, too, and was called "Mio, min Mio". Anyway, I thought it was wonderful, and I've never forgotten Mr Lee's performance - it scared me "#¤%less! I recently bought the Anchor Bay DVD, and it was fun seeing it again!
Before this, when I was 5 or 6, I remember my father having a Warner Bros video catalogue where there was a picture of the video cover of one of Mr Lee's Dracula films, showing a close-up of him with bloodshot eyes and blood dripping from his lips, and I found this image so frightening that it haunted me for years.
The second CL film I saw must have been "The Man with the Golden Gun", since me and my father and grandfather all loved the James bond movies. Again, Mr Lee's performance made an impression on me.
After that I caught a TV screening of "Dracula Prince of Darkness". I remember wondering why Dracula didn't speak , but I loved the film anyway. (I think it was broadcast in black and white, but I may be imagining this, since it's many years ago.)
Hi, Caprice...
You're referring to "Count Dracula," it was made in 1970 by cult film director Jesus Franco.
Yes, it's very close to the novel, the closest made to that point. Pity the production values were so poor, but the film retains nonetheless a uniquely atmospheric quality.
Dave
It's difficult for me to answer your question with precision, as Mr. Lee was in so many films that I could have seen him before, in a secondary role, without specially noticing him.
But the first movie, with Christopher Lee clearly indentified was "The Curse of Frankenstein", I saw it in Paris during its original release in september, 1957. I was 17, and a "fan" of fantasy films since five years.