Fangs for the Memories - Christopher Lee Quiz

Answer: Rochefort

'IMDB' tells us that Rochefort was a classic villain, who used to be a musketeer himself, before betraying his fellow brothers and turning towards the bad side, namely Richelieu. The movies portrayed Rochefort as a darker character than the book and Christopher wore an eye patch to add to the sinister persona. Christopher wasn't the only cast member to reprise his role in the three movies; Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay and Richard Chamberlain played D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Comic UK actor, Roy Kinnear also starred in the three movies as Planchet, but in 'The Return of the Musketeers' he fell from a horse, broke his pelvis and subsequently bled to death.

Answer: The Wicker Man

In 'The Wicker Man' made in 1973 Lee played the pagan worshipping patriarch of a Hebridean island, Lord Summerisle. The plot revolved around a missing girl and the investigation of her disappearance by a devout Christian policeman. The policeman suffered a gruesome fate at the hands of the islanders, in an unexpected plot twist.

In the 2006 movie Christopher's character was missing; there was only a Sister Summersisle, played by Ellen Burstyn. The film magazine 'Cinefantastique' described 'The Wicker Man' as 'The Citizen Kane of Horror Movies'.

Answer: Francisco Scaramanga

'The Man with the Golden Gun' was Roger Moore's second outing as James Bond and his adversary was Francisco Scaramanga. He was identified by his third nipple and the use of his golden gun, which separated into a cigarette lighter, a cigarette case, a cuff link and a pen; all of course made of gold. Scaramanga charged $1,000,000 per hit, because he claimed he only only needed one bullet.

He was eventually killed by Bond, ironically by being shot through the heart. His servant was Nick Nack played by actor Herve Villechaize and the theme song was sung by Scottish singer Lulu.

Answer: False

Christopher played Grigori Rasputin in the 1966 film 'Rasputin the Mad Monk' which is a must for fans of Lee, but the plot isn't totally accurate, historically. Rasputin in the 1971 film was played by English actor Tom Baker, best known for his portrayal of Dr Who on TV.

Answer: All of them

In 'Corpse Bride' he played Pastor Galswells; In 'Sleepy Hollow' he played Burgomaster and in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' he played Johnny Depp's father, Dr Wonka the dentist. 'IMDB' also lists Christopher's favourite director as being Tim Burton, who directed all three of these movies.

Answer: Darth Tyranus

Count Dooku was a respected Jedi as a youth, but turned to the Dark Side to become Darth Tyranus. Dooku was eventually killed by Anakin Skywalker, another young Jedi who was beginning his journey to the Dark Side and his emergence as Darth Vader. He was goaded into this course by Palpatine, who was also known as Darth Sidious. Darth Maul was another Sith who killed Qui-Gon Ginn in 'Episode I - The Phantom Menace'.

Answer: Return From Witch Mountain

In 'Return From Witch Mountain' made in 1978, Christopher played, guess what?...a villain. He played Dr Victor Gannon, a ruthless scientist bent on world domination. Bette Davis played his spinster partner, Letha. The heroes of the movie were Tony and Tia, two young children with supernormal powers who were on vacation in Los Angeles. Tony was kidnapped by Dr Gannon and put under mind control to help him in his plans for world domination.

It was then up to Tia to save him.

Answer: Sax Rohmer

Christopher played Fu Manchu in 'The Face of Fu Manchu' 1965, 'The Brides of Fu Manchu' 1966, 'The Vengeance of Fu Manchu' 1967, 'The Blood of Fu Manchu' 1968 and 'The Castle of Fu Manchu' 1969. He also acted in movies based on the novels of both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson, but he has never played Earl Derr Biggers' most famous creation, Charlie Chan.

Interestingly though, Warner Oland, who was known for playing Charlie Chan, also played Fu Manchu on film. Sax Rohmer the man who created Fu Manchu was an English novelist born in Birmingham in 1883. Prior to writing his first novel in 1910 he mostly wrote short stories for magazines and comedy sketches for music hall performers. Fu Manchu made Rohmer a wealthy man and in later life he and his wife moved to New York.

He died in 1959 from Asian flu.

Answer: All of them

Christopher played Henry Baskerville in 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' 1959, Mycroft Holmes in 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes' 1970 and Sherlock Holmes in 'The Valley of fear 1962, as well as twice playing him on TV. Maybe he liked to step back into the Victorian era, because Count Dracula, Fu Manchu and Dr Jekyll all hailed from that period in history. 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' was another Hammer picture to feature Lee, re-united once again with Peter Cushing who played Sherlock Holmes.

This movie had Christopher playing against type, as Baskerville was portrayed as quite a romantic figure. The 'hound' was a Great Dane called Colonel, who, after weeks on set, became almost a placid pet to the cast. When called upon to attack Christopher, therefore, it took a lot of prodding from the crew to make him spring into action.

He did eventually jump on him and bit his arm.

Answer: Dracula 2000

Christopher starred in 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' which was released in 1973, 'Dracula AD 72', released in 1972 and 'Taste the Blood of Dracula' from 1970. All three films were Hammer horror films. Dracula 2000 was not one of Christopher's incarnations of the Prince of Darkness; it starred Gerald Butler and was directed by Patrick Lussier.

In this adaptation Dracula came to New Orleans in search of Mary Heller, daughter of his enemy, Matthew Van Helsing. Her father came to try and help her, but it was he who died at the hands of Dracula, and Mary who escaped in the end.

Although Christopher left off playing Dracula for Hammer in the 1970s, he remained grateful to them for making his face recognisable all over the world.