Sir Christopher Lee dies aged 93

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It was his association with the Hammer horror film franchise that established him as a worldwide star. Lee did not enjoy the role of Count Dracula, complaining at the lack of dialogue, but the series continued through the 1960s and into the 1970s.

His close friend Peter Cushing, who often played his on screen enemy, appeared alongside him in several Hammer films.

Lee’s favourite horror role was as Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man in 1973.

Tiring of his horror image, Lee went on to appear in a wider series of roles in films including The Three Musketeers (1973), and as the assassin Francisco Scaramanga in the Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).

Hoping to leave the horror genre even further behind, in 1977 he moved to Hollywood where he made further appearances as Sherlock Holmes, but turned down a part in the spoof disaster movie Airplane!, a decision he later regretted.

He did appear in 1994 as a Russian commandant in Police Academy: Mission to Moscow, but it was his role as the founder of modern Pakistan in the 1998 film Jinnah (pictured) that he later said was his best performance.

With the turn of the century, Lee’s career revived and he appeared as Count Dooku in two Star Wars films in 2002 and 2005 and as Saruman the White in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Honors aplenty

In 2001, Lee was made a CBE for services to drama, and in 2009 was knighted to become Sir Christopher.

In 2011 Lee was presented with a Bafta fellowship by director Tim Burton. By then he had appeared in nearly 200 films.

Sir Christopher Lee seen with his wife Birgit Kroncke Lee in 2014

Sir Christopher Lee was married for 53 years. When asked for the secret of a long-lived marriage, he replied: â??Marry someone wonderful.â?

— Mark Sparrow (@MarkGSparrow) June 11, 2015