After actor Christopher Lee died on June 7, 2015, expressions of condolence poured in.
“It’s terribly [sic] when you lose an old friend, and Christopher Lee was one of my oldest. We first met in 1948,” tweeted Roger Moore, who co-starred with Lee in the James Bond movie “The Man with the Golden Gun.”
Elijah Wood and Lee—best known for playing Count Dracula in several films from the 1950s through the 1970s—appeared together in the “The Lord of the Rings” franchise.
“An extraordinary man and life lead, Sir Christopher Lee. You were an icon, and a towering human being with stories for days. We’ll miss you,” Wood posted on social media.
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In retrospect, Lee apparently embellished some of those stories, including several involving his military service. Shortly after Lee died at the age of 93, British publications The Spectator and the Daily Mail published articles that cast varying levels of suspicion on what Lee claimed he did during World War II.
What Christopher Lee Claimed
After fighting in Europe broke out in 1939, Lee said he traveled from London to Finland and volunteered to fight for that country against forces from the Soviet Union. He recollected that he and some other English “schoolboys” were given uniforms. Lee offered conflicting accounts over the years, however, about whether they actually went to the front lines.
“We could shoot pretty well but couldn’t ski,” Lee said in one interview. “We were thanked for our help, but didn’t, of course, get anywhere close to the border.”
Lee said they remained in Finland for a couple of weeks before returning to England.
Lee then joined the Royal Air Force (RAF). His poor eyesight, however, nixed any idea of his becoming a pilot. Instead, he became an intelligence officer and contended he served with the Long Range Desert Group, a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British army during WWII. Lee also said his time in the military included working with the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Operations Executive (SOE). (The 2024 film “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” centered around the SOE’s exploits.)
And finally—and perhaps most outlandishly—Lee stated he helped track down Nazi war criminals in his role with the Central Registry of War Crimes and Security Suspects.
Christopher Lee’s Claims That Have Been Refuted
Lee mentioned details of his military during various interviews and in his autobiography, “Lord of Misrule.” (Then-Prince Charles knighted Lee in 2009 at Buckingham Palace.) Special Air Service expert Gavin Mortimer, who wrote the Spectator’s article about Lee, and Daily Mail journalist Guy Walters disputed several of Lee’s claims.
“It was as if his entire wartime service was a movie in which he played the star,” Walters wrote.
Walters questioned the likelihood of the Finnish military accepting a group of foreign teenagers into its midst. Then Mortimer provided evidence that showed Lee exaggerated his role with the Long Range Desert Group, Special Air Service, and Special Operations Executive. Lee might have liaised with those organizations but wasn’t a member of them, Mortimer said.
“Lee didn’t exactly lie,” the historian asserted. “But he did lead us on, encouraging us to believe [his job] had involved more derring-do than it actually did.”
As for Lee’s involvement with bringing Nazis to justice, Walters said that simply can’t be true. Lee was attached to the Central Registry of War Crimes and Security Suspects, but its workers generally remained in their offices. They were not usually assigned to the field, and they definitely didn’t visit concentration camps—as Lee retold to various interviewers—Walters said.
“People Can Read into that what They Like”
During filming for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” director Peter Jackson made a request of Lee. He wanted the veteran actor, who played the White Wizard Saluman, to scream out in pain after he sustained a stab wound to the back.
Before the cameras rolled, Lee took Jackson aside.
“Have you any idea what kind of noise happens when somebody’s stabbed in the back?” Lee responded. “Because I do.”
Lee explained that when someone is stabbed, they don’t usually scream because it takes their breath away. Instead, they normally produce an audible gasp.
“He seemed to have expert knowledge of exactly the sort of noise they make,” Jackson said.
Lee got that knowledge in the military. In fact, he served in the Royal Air Force and actually may have faced life-or-death situations. Lee rightfully felt proud of his service defending his country. Why it appears he embellished his record, we’ll never really know definitively.
In 2011, an interviewer wanted to learn more about Lee’s time in uniform.
“I was attached to the SAS from time to time, but we are forbidden—former, present, or future—to discuss any specific operations,” the longtime actor replied. “… Let’s just say I was in ‘special forces’ and leave it at that. People can read into that what they like.”
An Icon of Horror Movies
When Lee went into the Royal Air Force, he left a job as a clerk at a shipping firm. After he got out, he discovered acting.
The son of a World War I colonel, Lee crafted a career in television and the movies that spanned seven decades. He became part of iconic movie franchises such as “The Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars” (in which he played Count Dooku).
The 6-foot-5 Lee emerged as a staple in horror movies. No actor has portrayed Dracula more times onscreen than Lee. In addition, besides playing the Creature in “The Curse of Frankenstein,” Lee also took on the title role in the 1959 version of “The Mummy.”
Lee accrued nearly 300 acting credits during his career, according to the Internet Movie Database. He never tired of playing unsavory or scary characters.
“I haven’t spent my entire career playing the guy in the bad hat, although I have to say that the bad guy is frequently much more interesting than the good guy,” Lee told CNN in 2009.
