Sir Christopher Lee: Moore leads tributes to late actor
12 June 2015
From the section Entertainment & Arts
Sir Roger Moore, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese have led tributes to screen legend Sir Christopher Lee, who has died at the age of 93.
The actor, who made his name as Dracula, famously played Bond villain Scaramanga and starred in both The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.
Bond co-star, Sir Roger Moore, tweeted his sadness at losing “an old friend”.
George Lucas hailed “a great British actor of the old school. A true link to cinema’s past and a real gentleman”.
US director Martin Scorsese said he was “really going to miss him”.
“I think of him every day, and I always will,” said Scorsese. “We both wished that we’d been able to work together more, but it was a joy to make Hugo together. He was a great actor, a wonderful friend, a real professional.”
He was best-known for his villainous roles – including Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, and the evil wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings – as well as his sinister, and iconic, role in cult classic The Wicker Man.
The actor is reported to have died on Sunday at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London, after being hospitalised for respiratory problems and heart failure.
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A Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council spokesman said: “We can confirm that the Register Office issued a death certificate for Mr Christopher Lee on Monday 8 June, Mr Lee died on Sunday 7 June.”
He was knighted in 2009 for services to drama and charity and was awarded a Bafta fellowship in 2011.
Sir Roger was among the first to pay tribute, tweeting: “It’s terribly [sad] when you lose an old friend, and Christopher Lee was one of my oldest. We first met in 1948.”
His Lord Of The Rings co-star Elijah Wood, who played Frodo in the franchise, said: “You were an icon, and a towering human being with stories for …read more
Source:: BBC Entertainment
