Sir Christopher Lee passed away June 7, 2015 due to respiratory problems and heart failure shortly after celebrating his 93rd birthday. The news broke June 11th, as his wife wanted to delay the announcement until all of the family was made aware.

With a career spanning over seventy years Sir Christopher Lee has portrayed some of the best cinematic villains – he is best known for his role as Count Dracula in a sequence of Hammer Horror films. Other notable roles include his character Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy, and as Count Dooku in the final two films of the the Star Wars prequel trilogy. In many interviews, Lee voiced that his two best performances were as Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah and in the British horror film The Wicker Man.

Lee was an illustrious man. He served in World War II, recorded various opera and musical pieces, and even recorded a heavy metal album. He was knighted in 2009 for his notable services to drama and charity in 2009. Lee spoke fluent English, Italian, French, Spanish and German, and was moderately proficient in Swedish, Russian and Greek. He was well known for his voice work and contributed to several animated works.