"I read the The Hobbit," recalls Lee, "and then I read all thre volumes of The Lord Of The Rings, as they were published. I was completely bowled over by them: the imagination behind the work is wonderful. Every years since then I have reread the book, and I stlil think it's one of the great works of literature, certainls of this past century, possibly of all time."
Christopher Lee plays the wizard Saruman the White: once the greatest and wisest of the order to which he and Gandalf belong, but who has been corrupted by the power of the Dark Lord, Sauron. "There have been many great Sarumans in my lifetime," says Lee. "Men of genius, intellect and power who went wrong. And, in popposition fo Saruman the White, Tolkien places Gandalf the Grey: two sides of the same coin. Here, you have universal conflict between good and evil and the powers behind those two elements, and that will have a relevance for every audience, everywhere - because we all know, of have heard of, such people and conflicts in our world."
Having appeared in some two hundred and fifty-five films and television productions, Lee has the distinction of being listed in the The Guinness Book of Movie Facts and Feats as the international star with the most seen credits. Numbered along these credits are the many sinister roles which Lee created for Hammer, the British production company which in the 1950s revived the public's fascination with horror movies. In playing both Frankenstein's Creature and Dracula, Lee became the successor to '30s movie legends Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.
ALthrough best known for his horror roles - Christopher Lee also portrayed Rasputin, Fu Manchu and the Mummy - he has played a diversity of roles in many languages (among them English, Russian, French and Italian): he was Conan Doyle's famous detective in the German-made picture Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, and later played Holmes' brother, Mycroft, in Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.
Christopher Lee continues to demonstrate his extraordinary versatility in film roles that range from his intergalactic appearance as Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus in Star Wars: Episode II; and the evil Francisco Scaramanga, James Bond's title opponent in The Man With The Golden Gun to his portrayal of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of modern Pakistan, in the 1998 film Jinnah.
As for Christopher Lee's casting as Saruman, this remains a special delight in a long and impressice career: "Although I always hoped that this film would one day be made, it is a mighty saga, a huge canvas, and I always supposed that it would prove too daunting for any director. Then Peter Jackson undertook the task, asked me to play Saruman and my dream came true!"
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