Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee (1922 - 2015)

Lee is another serious contender for the greatest amount of recorded screen deaths, and with a career spanning seven decades which ended at his final work. A hard working actor that has enjoyed playing villains has he finds playing villains are more satisfying roles to play. A marvelous singer and a wonderful operatic dark voice of bass baritone.

Film Deaths[edit | edit source]

Penny and the Pownall Case (1948) [Jonathan Blair]: Shot by the police after Ralph Michael chases him through a roadblock.

Cross-Roads (1955) [Harry Cooper]: Killed in a car crash when his heavily pregnant sister Janet Richards lurches against him and he loses control of the sports car and hits a tree, killing her as well. He later returns as a ghost to terrify Ferdy Mayne to death.

The Dark Avenger (1955) [French Patrol Captain at Tavern]: Stabbed with a broadsword in the chest by Errol Flynn in a duel.

Beyond Mombasa (1956) [Gil Rossi]: Shot with a poison dart by Leo Genn with a blowgun.

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) [The Creature]: Falls through a window into an acid vat and melts after Peter Cushing throws a lantern at him, burning Christopher.

Ill Met by Moonlight (Night Ambush) (1957) [German Officer at Dentist]: Shot to death by Dirk Bogarde.

The Truth About Women (1957) [Francois Thiers]. Laurence Harvey arrives for his duel with Christopher in time to see him being shot and killed in another duel. This had been hastily 'arranged' by Elina Labourdette as she realized that Christopher would almost certainly kill Laurence but the other duelist would probably kill Christopher and therefore save Laurence. (Played for comedic effect).

Battle of the V-1 (1958) [Brunner]: Strangled by Michael Rennie.

Corridors of Blood (1958) [Resurrection Joe]: Burned to death with acid when Boris Karloff throws it on him as Christopher fatally stabs Boris.
Horror of Dracula (Dracula) (1958) [Count Dracula]: Burned to death and reduced to ash after Peter Cushing tears down the curtains to let sunlight in. He is brought back to life in the sequel, Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966).
A Tale of Two Cities (1958) [Marquis St. Evremonde]: Stabbed to death in his sleep by Sacha Pitoëff.

The Mummy (1959) [Kharis, the Mummy]: Drowned in a quagmire, as Peter Cushing's men keep shooting him.

Horror Hotel (The City of the Dead) (1960) [Professor Alan Driscoll]: Incinerated when Tom Naylor raises a giant crucifix and the shadow of the cross falls across him.

The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (House of Fright; Jekyll's Inferno) (1960) [Paul Allen]: Bitten to death off-screen by a python after Paul Massie shuts him in a room.

Beat Girl (1960) [Kenny]: Stabbed in the back off-screen with a letter opener by Delphi Lawrence. We see her hand pick up the weapon as Christopher is sexually molesting Gillian Hills.

Hercules in the Haunted World (Ercole al centro della terra; Hercules vs. the Vampires) (1961) [King Lico]: Bursts into flame when he fails to complete his human sacrifice ceremony before the end of the lunar eclipse having been pinned beneath a stone obelisk by Reg Park.

The Terror of the Tongs (1961) [Chung King]: Stabbed in the back by Roger Delgado so the avenging mob cannot take him.

The Pirates of Blood River (1962) [Captain LaRoche]: Pinned to a tree when Kerwin Mathews throws his sword at him at the end of a fight.

Horror Castle (La Vergine di Noremberga; The Virgin of Nuremberg) (1963) [Erich]: Falls to his death after being trapped in a burning castle while trying to save his master.

The Whip and the Body (La Frusta e il corpo; What; Night Is the Phantom) (1963) [Kurt Menliff]: Stabbed in the neck by Daliah Lavi behind a curtain; his body is shown again afterwards when everybody else discovers him, then again during his funeral. After his death, he appears to Daliah several times throughout the movie as a hallucination.

The Devil Ship Pirates (1964) [Captain Robeles]: Shot to death by Barry Warren.

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) [Franklyn Marsh]: Dies (off-screen) after also losing his eyes in an accident caused by Michael Gough's living severed hand. He is still alive at the end of his story, but at the end of the movie, it's revealed that all of the train passengers are already dead and that their stories weren't visions of the future but flashbacks to the past.
She (1965) [Billali]: Stabbed in the back with a spear by Ursula Andress when he tries to enter the Flame of Life, he dies before he can go into it.

The Skull (1965) [Sir Matthew Phillips]: Hit on the head with a small statue by Peter Cushing after Christopher catches Peter trying to steal the statue.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) [Count Dracula]: Drowned in running water when he slips into the moat, after Andrew Keir fires several shots to break the ice on the water's frozen surface. He is revived in the sequel, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968).

Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966) [Rasputin]: Thrown from a balcony onto a frozen moat by Francis Matthews, on top of being poisoned by Richard Pasco to no effect. Note: due to Rasputin's infamous lack of dying, it's not known if this was intended to be an actual death. There are also stills of his arm up after falling. (Historically, Rasputin was shot repeatedly by Felix Yusupov and others before being dropped from a bridge into a frozen river.)

Circus of Fear (Psycho-Circus) (1966) [Gregor]: Lee is clinging on desperately to the cliff top when Eddi Arent comes along and stamps on his hands, causing him to lose his grip and fall to his death.

The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967) [Count Frederic Regula]: Drawn and quartered as punishment for killing twelve virgins in his torture chamber. He returns in spirit form throughout the rest of the movie and is finally killed at the end, when Lex Barker uses a crucifix against him.

Blood Fiend (Theatre of Fear) (1967) [Philippe Darvas]: Drowned (off-screen) in a pond by Jenny Till, we only hear of his death.

Island of the Burning Damned (Night of the Big Heat) (1967) [Godfrey Hansen]: Incinerated by the aliens.

Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968) [Morley]: Presumably burned to death while he's escaping across a roof during an inferno, he then falls back into the flames.

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) [Count Dracula]: Impaled on a cross at the end of the fight with Barry Andrews; he dissolves into dust in nothingness (He is revived in the sequel, Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970).

The Oblong Box (1969) [Dr. J. Neuhart]: Throat slit with a surgical saw by Alister Williamson in Christopher's office; he dies soon afterwards, after Vincent Price discovers him.

Count Dracula (1970) [Count Dracula]: Incinerated by the sunlight when Fred Williams and Jack Taylor set his coffin on fire, preventing him from returning at sunrise.

Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) [Count Dracula]: Dissolves into dust when he falls into the altar. He is revived in the sequel, Scars of Dracula (1970).

Scars of Dracula (1970) [Count Dracula]: Burned to death when Christopher's spike is struck by lightning, setting him on fire; He then falls over the castle's battlement to the ground below. This film, along the rest of the series, was retconned in Dracula AD 1972 (1972).

The House That Dripped Blood (1971) [John Reid]: Burned to death off-screen when Chloe Franks throws a wax voodoo doll in the fireplace; we only hear him screaming over a shot of the doll melting.

I, Monster (1971) [Dr. Charles Marlowe / Edward Blake]: Injured when he falls down stairs after Peter Cushing sets his back on fire. His body later changes from 'Blake' to 'Marlowe.'

Dracula AD 1972 (1972) [Count Dracula]: Impaled on a wooden stake after he falls into a pit of stakes; Peter Cushing then uses a shovel to push him on further, causing him to crumble to dust. In the prologue sequence, he was also stabbed in the heart with a wooden wheel-spoke by Peter playing the ancestor of his present-day character, but was brought back to life shortly after the 20th-century storyline begins.Christopher is revived in the sequel, The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973).

The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) [Count Dracula]: Impaled through the heart with a fencepost by Peter Cushing.

Dark Places (1974) [Dr. Ian Mandeville] Stabbed with a pickaxe by Robert Hardy.

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) [Francisco Scaramanga]: Shot in the chest by Roger Moore at the end of a cat-and-mouse chase through Christopher's 'funhouse' hideout.

The Four Musketeers (1974) [Rochefort]: Impaled through the chest by Michael York in the climactic fight in the Cathedral. His character was revealed to have survived in the 1989 sequel The Return of the Musketeers, but the filmmakers did intend this to be an actual death scene,
To the Devil...A Daughter (1976) [Father Michael Raynor]: Head bashed in when Richard Widmark throws a rock into his head.

Airport '77 (1977) [Martin Wallace]: Crushed underneath the cargo door when it unexpectedly triggers open during an escape attempt with Jack Lemmon. Christopher drowns as his body slips under the water, Jack tries to revive him with oxygen but is not successful. His body later drifts by the plane's widow, where his wife (Lee Grant) looks on in horror.

1941 (1979) [Capt. Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt]: Presumably drowns when he is knocked off the deck of the submarine and into the ocean by Toshirô Mifune, after he insults him. (Although the film's final implies he may have drowned, there are publicity stills from deleted footage showing the drenched body as Slim Pickens' prisoner). (Played for comedic effect)

Arabian Adventure (1979) [Caliph Alquazar]: Frozen into a diamond.
The Passage (1979) [Gypsy] Burned alive when Malcolm McDowell douses him in gasoline and throws a match at him.

The Last Unicorn (1982, animated) [King Haggard]: Drowned when he falls to his death after being trapped when his castle collapses into the ocean and after his red bull commits suicide by drowning himself in sea and the other unicorns are freed.

The Return of Captain Invincible (1983) [Mr. Midnight]: Crushed when Alan Arkin throws a giant globe at him.
House of the Long Shadows (1983) [Corrigan/Roderick Grisbane]: Accidentally stabbed himself with a battle axe when Desi Arnaz Jr pushed him down the stairs, it was later revealed that Christopher was faking his death.

Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (Stirba - Werewolf Bitch) (1985) [Stefan Crosscoe]: Burned when Sybil Danning casts a spell setting them both on fire after Christopher stabs her with a dagger.

Mio in the Land of Faraway (1987) [Kato]: Stabbed in the heart by Nicholas Pickard.

Return of the Three Musketeers (1989) [Rochefort]: Killed in an explosion along with Kim Cattrall in a boat after a fight with the musketeers.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) [Dr. Catheter]: Electrocuted by a gremlin while Zach Galligan looks on helplessly. (Also played for comedic effect)

Tale of the Mummy (1998) [Sir Richard Turkel]: Killed in an explosion when the excavation site collapes due to Roger W. Morrissey.

Jinnah (1998) [Mohammad Ali Jinnah]: Dies of pneumonia, despite attempts to revive him.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) [Saruman]: Stabbed in the back by Brad Dourif; he then falls from the tower and impaled through the back on a spike. This scene was not included in the theatrical release, but is present in the Special Edition DVD.

Crimson Rivers II: Angels of the Apocalypse (2004) [Heinrich von Garten]: Commits suicide by shooting himself in the head, rather than be drowned in the flood.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) [Count Dooku]: Decapitated with two light sabers which are “scissored” by Hayden Christensen at the urging of Ian McDiarmid after Hayden had cut off Christopher's hands at the end of a fight and rendered him helpless.
Alice in Wonderland (2010) [The Jabberwocky]: Providing the voice of a giant dragon-like creature, he is decapitated with a sword by Mia Wasikowska following an intense battle.
Burke and Hare (2010) [Old Joseph]: Smothered with a pillow by Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis.
Season of the Witch (2011) [Cardinal D'Ambroise]: Dies of the Black Death as Robert Sheehan looks on.

The Resident (2011) [August]: Stabbed in the throat with a syringe then injected with an overdose by his grandson (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they're struggling on a bed. His body is later seen when his grandson checks for a heartbeat.

TV Deaths[edit | edit source]

Wiliam Tell: Manhunt (1959) [Prince Erik]: Killed by a crossbow bolt fired by Conrad Phillips.

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: The Sign of Satan (1964) [Karl Jorla]: Killed off-screen by cultists. He appears as a ghost afterward when he arrives at the movie set to film his last scene; the police later inform Gilbert Green that Christopher's body had been discovered, confirming that he had died before shooting that scene.

Captain America II: Death Too Soon (1979 TV) [General Miguell]: Rapidly ages to death after getting covered in his aging chemical while trying to throw it at Reb Brown; he dies while attempting to choke Brown.
Once Upon a Spy (1980 TV) [Marcus Valorium]:

Treasure Island (1990 TV) [Blind Pew]: Trampled to death by horses when he stumbles onto the road.

Detonator (Death Train) (1993 TV) [Gen. Konstantin Benin]: Shot several times in the chest by Alexandra Paul on the plane. He dies shortly after activating a nuclear weapon.
The Tomorrow People: The Rameses Connection Part 5 (1995) [Sam Rees]:
Moses (1995 TV mini-series) [Ramesses II]:
The Odyssey (1997 TV mini-series) [Tiresias]: Dies off-screen. He is seen as a spirit in the underworld speaking with Armand Assante about the way back to Athens will take him past a treacherous isle where the monsters Scylla and Charybdis live.
Gormenghast (2000 Tv mini-series) [Flay]: Stabbed in the chest when Jonathan Rhys-Meyers throws a knife at him.