Christopher Lee is five years gone, as of today. Ten years ago, I wrote a post for The Cimmerian—which can be read here—in praise of the man and his greatness. Though I’m short on time, I hope to augment that blog entry a bit this evening.

As I noted in my previous article, Christopher spent World War Two working for Britain’s Special Operations Executive, practicing the fine art of bloody mayhem upon the enemies of Her Majesty’s empire. His wartime activities are still classified. As Lee once had to laboriously explain to little Petey Jackson while filming The Lord of the Rings, he knew what a man sounded like after being stabbed in the back. Christopher didn’t have to imagine how to portray fearsome and deadly men on-screen. Despite his cool and courtly demeanor off-screen, he was such a man.

Christopher Lee was also a lifelong fan and student of weird literature and SFF. It is known that he regretted his portrayal of Fu Manchu wasn’t more true to Sax Rohmer’s original. I have read his foreword and commentary for Christopher Lee’s ‘X’ Certificate No. 1 horror anthology. The man knew his weird fiction. The same thing is evident in Lee’s essay in tribute to Robert Bloch for Robert Bloch: Appreciations of the Master. Christopher Lee didn’t do weird and macabre films just for the paycheck. He loved the genre.

As his fans know, Christopher Lee got his first big break playing Frankenstein’s Monster in 1957’s The Curse of Frankenstein . That movie established Hammer Films as a player in the horror film realm and made Christopher—along with Peter Cushing—Hammer’s most precious natural resource. Horror of Dracula and The Mummy would soon follow The Curse of Frankenstein, cementing Lee’s reputation as a horror icon. He also appeared in plenty of Hammer’s non-horror productions, such as She and The Devil-Ship Pirates. The only roles that Christopher Lee couldn’t play were boring ones, because he always brought his fearsome and arresting presence to any character he portrayed. The full roster of Christopher Lee’s Hammer films can be found here.

Christopher Lee’s discography shouldn’t be ignored. Gifted with one of the great voices of his era, Sir Christopher brought gravitas to whatever project he worked on. The fact that he was a fan of heavy metal is simply yet another indication of his total awesomeness. I consider his narration of The Children of Hurin to be one of the best audiobooks I have ever heard. The best, if I had to choose.

There is more—so much more—I could say in tribute to the man, but time runs short. Another day, perhaps. Respects have been paid, at least.

Raise your mead-horns and drinking-skulls high in memory of a legend.