RIP Sir Christopher Lee

[swiftsnowmane]

~

"To be a legend, you've either got to be dead or excessively old."

-- Sir Christopher Lee ~

When saw the news this morning, I experienced a sudden tumult of emotions. Strange, perhaps, to feel sorrow over the loss of someone so 'old' who had let such a rich and full life--- surely, one might say, it was his 'time'. But while his death certainly comes as no surprise due to his advanced age, it's nonethless a bit of a shock. Perhaps we had all just started to believe that the man was, in fact, immortal. And perhaps he is -- there have been many long-lived and long-working actors of great quality, but few who have approached such near-mythic status.

His roles have been many, and others may remember him for things like Dracula, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Star Wars prequels---all of which I likewise admire him for as well---but above all, I will always cherish two of his roles in particular.

Of all of Lee's many and varied delightful on-screen roles, the most memorable and enticing for me by far is that of Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man (1973). Why exactly, is for some reason difficult for me to articulate, but I feel that anyone who has seen him in that film will assuredly understand. As cliche as it sounds, it's just such a classic. Of Sir Christopher Lee's vast body of work, Peter S. Beagle recently wrote [emphasis mine]: "Yet there was always more to Christopher Lee as an actor than Dracula or the Mummy or Saruman -- or Sherlock Holmes for that matter, though he was very proud of having played, not only both Holmes and Watson, but Sherlock's brother Mycroft as well. Lord Summerisle of the original The Wicker Man -- probably his favorite of his own movies -- is most likely closer to Chris's dark benignity than any other role he ever inhabited. I believe this because Lord Summerisle sings a surprising amount in that movie, and Chris passionately loved singing. If there is any such thing as an afterlife or reincarnation, I truly hope -- no, believe -- that Christopher Lee will return as a Wagnerian opera singer. If he hadn't been considered too old, in his 30s, to be accepted for formal vocal training, he might have been -- in his own eyes, at least -- a happier, more fulfilled man. But we would have been deeply poorer for it, and never have known."

For some reason I can't find a single video clip of The Wicker Man on YouTube that is actually available to be viewed and is not blocked over here in the UK, so you'll just have to put up with the brief one at the end of this beautiful Agalloch song. :)

Watch on YouTube

ETA: Finally found one. :)

Watch on YouTube

“Come. It is time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man.”

— Lord Summerisle

Now, if I had to pick a personal favourite of his roles, the one to have the biggest impact on me by far is in fact 'just' a voice-acting role, which may at first seem an odd choice. And yet, in light of the above quote...it makes a strange sort of sense that it would be Lee's voice that captured my attention from the very beginning. Sir Christopher Lee and his amazing, unique, and memorable voice entered into my psyche when I was a very young age---I was probably only around four years old when I first saw The Last Unicorn (1982), and it remains to this day one of my favourite films. Not just my favourited animated film, but all-around favourite. Without exaggerating in the slightest, it is also one of the films that had the hugest impact on me as child. Everything about it, from the pseudo-medieval vibe, to the fantastical elements, to the unique (for the time) and striking visuals, to the melancholy soundtrack, to the themes of regret, to the deeply emotional dialogue, to the horror elements (the scene where the Harpy devours Mommy Fortuna haunted my nightmares as a child), to the overall bittersweet feeling of the entire film....all of this was formative and incredibly influential to my outlook and imagination. I may not have understood every single element of the story as a child, but it entered my heart and soul and remains there to this day. (Later, of course, I also read the wonderful book by Peter S. Beagle, but that is another story.) Often, I think back and can't help but wonder if in large part what led me to later on the path to Tolkien/fantasy, and then to medieval studies, and ultimately delving into various forms of storytelling myself. But back to Sir Christopher, who lent his voice to the character of King Haggard. The scenes between King Haggard and Lady Amalthea (The Unicorn) were always especially memorable. I recall being at first entranced by the fact that Haggard could not see himself in her eyes and could only glimpse the forest that had been her home....and then later being equally horrified and dismayed that eventually he could see himself, and that the forest had disappeared. As a child, this was just as terrifying to me as the harpy devouring Mommy Fortuna.

Watch on YouTube

But the below video has to be one of my favourite scenes, ever. One can actually feel for the 'villain' here, who is really just an unhappy, petulant old man who, like some kind of dragon, greedily tries to hoard all that which he believes 'makes him happy'. It is utterly heartbreaking.

Watch on YouTube

"I like to watch them. They fill me with joy. The first time I felt it, I thought I was going to die." - King Haggard

Who can not help but be moved by his speech? Like most of this film, it brings me to tears.

ETA:

I recently stumbled across this quote from Peter S. Beagle, and it was just too perfect not to share in this context: "He never failed to mention The Last Unicorn as one of his very favorite books, and as one of the movies he was most proud of having made. Indeed, he left me whopperjawed – as Mark Twain would have put it – when we were being interviewed together on Austrian television, and he announced, “Oh, yes, I simply couldn’t resist a chance to play King Haggard one more time, even in another language. After all –” and he looked straight into the camera – “it’s the closest they’ll ever let me get to playing King Lear.” The camera swung toward me to catch my stunned reaction, and Chris looked across the studio at me, and winked.

[...] On the last occasion, when I had called to wish him a happy 90th birthday, I remember him assuring me that “if, by the time you come to make your live-action version of your movie, I have passed on, do not let it concern you. I have risen from the dead several times. I know how it’s done."" And that, folks, sums up Sir Christopher Lee. :')

For in spite of what he might've thought, Lee neither had to die nor grow old before becoming a legend---he cemented that status long ago, held it throughout his time on this earth, and will no doubt hold it for a long time to come.