Lee receives Bram Stoker award

Christopher Lee plays the lead role in the 1968 film 'Dracula Has Risen From The Grave'

PAMELA DUNCAN

Sir Christopher Lee today received possibly the most befitting award which could be bestowed on an actor who has played Count Dracula seven times when he accepted the Bram Stoker Gold Medal in Dublin.

The veteran actor, who played Dracula and other ‘Hammer Horror’ roles between the 1950s and 1970s, received the honour from the Trinity College Philosophical Society, which counts Bram Stoker amongst its past presidents.

He also played such roles as Count Dooku in three of the Star Wars  films, Sarumen in the Lord of the Rings   trilogy and Francisco Scaramanga in the Bond classic The Man with the Golden Gun. 

Lee previously held the Guinness world record for the most screen credits of any living actor with 244 acknowledged film and TV movie roles, until the record was broken by Indian actor, Brahmanandam Kanneganti.

However, he still holds four world records: for the most films with a sword fight by an actor; the most connected actor living; the oldest video game voice actor and the tallest actor in a leading role.

Of all his film roles, he said he enjoyed The Wicker Man  the most but that his best and most challenging role was that of the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah in the 1998 film Jinnah. 

Asked what frightened him Lee replied: “Not much”.

He added: “You see when you see these films you know they’re not real. You’re supposed to know that but I’ve got to convince all of you that they are…I have to make the unbelievable believable. That’s the work of an actor.”

As well as being awarded the Bram Stoker Gold Medal by Philosophical Society president Eoin O’Liatháin, Lee was also presented with a copy of Collected Ghost Stories of MR James  by Dr Darryl Jones of the School of English in Trinity.

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