From The Vampire Journal #1:



                                      THE MARK OF CHRISTOPHER LEE


                                                    by Thomas Schellenberger

 
    Today, it would be inaccurate to regard Christopher Lee as one who specializes in horror films.  He has demonstrated his talent during the last several years in other assorted roles and has almost completely shed his Dracula image.  But while horror has become a part of the film star's past (?), there could never be any doubting of the mark he left in the genre.
   
    The writer of this article realized an ambition in 1977 when he met Christopher Lee (see the Thomas Schellenberger interview in the Fall 1984 issue of  The Collinsport Record, a "Dark Shadows" fanzine) at the Count Dracula Society's Mrs. Ann Radcliffe Awards Banquet in Los Angeles.  Then the actor was being honored for his achievement in international cinema, and though a number of other celebrities were present, it appeared obvious that towering Englishman was the main attraction.  One Dinner speaker compared the former Dracula's film life to a "three-stage rocket.''  The first "stage" comprised Lee's years as a struggling unknown from "Corridor of Mirrors" (Apollo Films, 1948) to his first real bit of recognition, "Curse of Frankenstein" (Hammer, 1957).
   
    This was followed by his true baptism of fire, "Horror of Dracula" (Hammer, 1958; the Briton still feels that this was his best Dracula film) and a long succession of horror and fantasy productions.
   
    Lee's third cycle was his emergence from horror into such box office hits as "The Man With The Golden Gun" (Eon, 1974), "Airport 1977" (Universal, 1977), "The Three Musketeers" (20th Century Fox, 1974), and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (Mirisch, 1970).  They reflect the star's yearn to seek a more fulfilling career and to disassociate himself from macabre movies, which he claims have degenerated.
   
    However, his performances in the world of the fantastic could never be disregarded, as helpful as they were to his showmanship and as overwhelming as they still are to his multitude of fans.
   
    Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was delivered to the world in London on May 27, 1922  (Could it have been just plain coincidence that Peter Cushing and Vincent Price were born on the same day and in the same month ?  There is more food for thought; Lee's daughter, Boris Karloff, and Karloff's daughter share the same month and day of birth--November 23).
   
    The name "Carandinill" was taken from a royal family on Lee's mother's side that is said to be rooted in the days of Charlemagne.  It was that plus a blood link with the notorious Borgias of the same nationality that lent authenticity to Lee's Dracula.  One might conclude, therefore, that "Count" Lee was the most "aristocratic" of the screen's vampires.
   
    At first, it did not seem likely that drama would become the young Englishman's profession.  His earliest stints occurred during childhood in school plays, including "Julius Caesar" (portraying Cassius), "Henry V" (playing the Dauphin), and "Richard II" (personifying Mowbray).  But there was no apparent desire on Lee's part to make show business a career.
   
    During a period of uncertainty incurred by his parents' divorce, family financial woes, and a college education cut short,the youth whom one magazine writer would one day dub the "Terror of the Age" sharply pondered the course of his life.  Lee faced numerous frustrations as his Dracula would later destructions, but like the Count, he always came back for another encounter with a world that was far more bleak than any horror movie.
   
    Young Lee's first priority was his family, so he became a working man.  At one pound a week, he handled the mail and ran errands for an American shipping line.  Next was an export corporation where working conditions were improved though salary was not.
   
    World War II had finally caught up with England and Lee naturally coveted a higher income as well as a more prosperous career, so he set his sights on the Royal Air Force. "The R.A.F. is all the rage now," he once commented to his mother, "and I was lucky to get a ticket into the wild blue yonder" (Lee's autobiography, Tall, Dark and Gruesome).
   
    Indeed, a military life for the Briton seemed a natural since his father, Geoffrey Lee (who died just before his son's enlistment), was a colonel in the King's Royal Rifle Corps as his father before him.
   
    The youngest Lee's proven expertise in the R.A.F. would have made his father proud, though the future actor's fans can be thankful that the carrying on of the "tradition" would only be a wartime experience.
   
    Following arduous training, Lee finally earned the rank of Pilot Officer.  Also having worked with the Rhodesian Police, he was later transferred to Special Operations as an Intelligence Officer.  There he acquired fluency in several languages which would prove advantageous to his international acting performances.
   
    The end of one of history's bloodiest conflicts was said to have brought joy for many.  But a readjustment period ensued for the men who engaged in that war, and Chris Lee was no exception.
   
    When the second World War drew to a close, Lee's military jaunt did likewise.  He found himself back in London with one obvious question on his mind:  "What do I do now?"
   
    His old job at the export corporation was again offered to him at six pounds a week, but office work would never again do for the changed Lee.  Something a little more exciting, a little more demanding, was the requirement.
   
    Fate played its hand in the form of Count Nicolo Carandini, Italy's ambassador to England and Lee's cousin.  While the two were lunching one afternoon, the Count suggested that his relative take up acting professionally.  After some careful consideration, the idea appealed to Lee.
   
    It could have been in keeping with another family tradition, as Lee's great-grandfather was also an actor and a singer.  Lee, however, was never exactly sure why he wanted to act.  "I suppose it was just an urge to create people that weren't me," he confessed (The House of Hammer, page 16), adding that he felt it was a job he could do best.
   
    Not everyone was in agreement with his newest ambition.  The war veteran's mother was said to be "violently opposed to the whole mad ideal" (Tall, Dark and Gruesome), asserting that such a business was only for those without morals.
   
    Lee did not concur and persisted in his attempts to reach the big screen.  A few years later, though, when his career was in a lull, the cinematic vampire-to-be went to work as a floorwalker in a department store.  It perhaps made his mother a little happier at the time.
   
    Count Carandini had arranged for his cousin to meet Del Guidice of Two Cities Films.  Lee almost hit another stone wall when he was informed by a producer that his height (6 ft. 5 ins.) would deter any chances of his becoming a successful actor.  Being a "rookie," he was not well-known enough to land a leading role, and he would have been considered too tall for bit parts.
   
    Lee's stature, which he jokes about to this day (when he addressed the 1977 Dracula Society banquet, he had to lift the microfilm from the stand, commenting that it was not for "abnormally normal-sized people"), would certainly never do for minor appearances. As it would have to be quite sometime before he could command a lead, luck and determination were going to be sorely needed.
   
    After being granted a seven-year stock contract with Two Cities Films, Lee's first part, the beginning of a long line of bits, was that of a man sitting (the director's solution to the height problem) at a table in "Corridor of Mirrors" (Apollo Films, 1948).  His footage was no longer than a minute and he had one line.
   
    Cameos, minor roles, cut footage, and stunt work were all that composed the actor's chosen path for the next several years.  While he did have some noted parts in "Penny and The Pownall Case" (Highbury, 1948--Lee's first appearance as a villain), "Alias John Preston" (Danziger/Associated Artists, 1956), and "Beyond Mombasa" (Hemisphere/Todon, 1957), the name of Christopher Lee was far from being one associated with filmdom.
   
    There were also some grueling times for young Lee during the "obscure" days in show business.  He had the misfortune (some might have actually considered it an honor) of being wounded twice by well-known movie stars.
   
    While making "Captain Horatio Hornblower RN" (Warner Brothers/First National, 1951), Lee had his arm severely cut by Gregory Peck during a sword fight.  Lee said that Peck still remembers the unfortunate episode.
   
    A few years later, it was swashbuckling Errol Flynn, who had lacerated Lee's right finger while dueling with him in "The Dark Avenger" (Allied Artists, 1955).  The Briton was aware, of course, that it was an accident, but he had to repeatedly assure Flynn that he was forgiven.
   
    The state of gloom that permeated Lee's future as an actor was not to last much longer, for he was about to enter into a genre that many performers deem both unattractive and damaging to one's career "Curse of Frankenstein" Hammer, 1957) was, in Lee's words, the film that "started it all" (The Films of Christopher Lee).  The actor's height, previously considered a stumbling block, now worked to his advantage as he was awarded the role of Mary Shelley's classic monster, now referred to as a "creature."  After a single interview and no screen test, Lee's destiny in horror films had begun.
   
    The picture was the Englishman's thirty-sixth, and it launched a new horror "team" known as Lee and Cushing, a pair that promised to achieve the greatness of Karloff and Lugosi.  It was the first time that Lee and Peter Cushing (who played Baron Frankenstein) had performed together since "Hamlet" (Two Cities/Pilgrim, 1948; Lee played a palace guard and Cushing was Osric).
   
    It was also a reunion with the film's director, Terence Fisher, who had directed a previous picture of Lee's, "Song For Tomorrow" (Highbury/Ivory/Production Facilities, 1948).
   
    As tremendous a hit as the full-color remake of Karloff's famous film was, "Horror of Dracula" (Hammer, 1958; also directed by Fisher and also starring Cushing as vampire fighter Van Helsing) was even better.  This may well have actually been the film that started it all, for Lee (now as Dracula) was shown in all of his glory without the concealing make-up of his Frankenstein creature.
   
    Unlike Bela Lugosi, Lee's Dracula was quiet, vicious, and almost totally without compassion.  At the time, Lee had not yet seen the 1931 Universal version, so there was no impetus to copy the Hungarian-born Lugosi's hammy style.  The Briton's commanding height, deep, resonant voice, and ferocity compelled many to believe that he had far surpassed Universal's first Dracula in fearsomeness.   Lee claimed that he tried to bring an element of sadness or loneliness to the Dracula role, which was to become his most renowned.  He even defended the character, not as a hero, but as an anti-hero.
   
    "However terrible the actions of Count Dracula might be," he asserted, "he was possessed by an occult power which was completely beyond his control.  It was the Devil, holding him in his power, who drove him to commit those horrible crimes, for he had taken possession of his body from time immemorial.  Yet his soul, surviving inside its carnal wrapping, was immortal and could not be destroyed by any means.  All this is to explain the great sadness which I have tried to put into my interpretation" (The Dracula Scrapbook, "Dracula and I," pages 96-97).
   
    Fan clubs abounded for Lee as a result of his "horrific" shows.  He was enjoying a new-found popularity that gave way to a long line of Dracula sequels and enactments of other sinister roles in such pictures as "Corridors of Blood" (Amalgamated, 1962), "Terror of -The Tongs" (Hammer, 1960), "The Hands of Orlac" (Continental, 1962), "Rasputin, The Mad Monk" (Hammer/Seven Arts, 1965), "Horror Hotel" (Vulcan/ Amicus, 1960), and many, many others (Lee considered a lot of them fantasy film, not horror).
   
    And what of the Lee-Cushing combination, the likes of which has not yet been repeated in horror today ?  The duo continued to grapple (and at times, unite) in "The Mummy" (Hammer, 1959), "The Gorgon" (Hammer, 1964), "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" (Amicus, 1964), "She" (Hammer/ MGM, 1964), "The Skull" (Amicus, 1965), "Island of The Burning Doomed" (Planet, 1967), "Horror Express" (Scotia International/Barber, 1972), "Dracula A.D. 1972" (Hammer, 1972), "The Creeping Flesh" (World Film Service, 1972), and "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" (Hammer/Dynamite Entertainment, 1974).
   
    Lee's association with horror had also reunited him with Boris Karloff, who inspired the Englishman in his earlier years as an actor.  They first met during the early fifties at Southhall Studios when Lee appeared in "Colonel March of Scotland Yard," a television series of Karloff's.  The two worked together again in "Corridors of Blood" (Amalgamated, 1962), which firmly established their friendship.
   
    Both of the "Frankenstein monsters" became neighbors in London Square.  Besides Conrad Veidt according to Lee, Karloff was another great force in his life, a man he truly admired.
   
    They appeared together for the final time in Karloff's last motion picture, "The Crimson Cult" (Tigon/American International, 1968).
  
    Lee's stroke of good fortune was to extend to more than just his movie career.  It was said that he had received numerous marriage proposals in the mail after his first "Dracula," but his true heart-throb appeared in the form of a Danish model and painter named Birgit Kroenecke (known to her friends as Gitte).  The two were introduced by close friends who felt that they were just right for each other.
   
    The actor soon agreed and married the lovely redhead in 1961 (the first time for either of them).  In his autobiography, Lee commented that folks in show business would term it a "miraculous marriage," as it has lasted to this day.
   
    Two years later, the "Prince of Terror"' and his wife became the proud parents of a baby girl.  She was named Christina.
   
    While caring for his family, Lee starred in films throughout the world. He continued to usually play the villain, but occasionally found himself on the right side of the law, as in a German flick, "The Devil's Daffodil" (Ounia/Rialto, 1961) in which he portrayed a Chinese detective.
   
    Most of Lee's pictures called for him to die.  Once, when the Briton was signed to do a new film, daughter, Christina asked him how he would be "killed" in this one.
   
    This writer, in fact hardly ever expected to see the character played by Lee make it to the final reel in any picture alive (it beginning to like it was a rule in the actor's contract).  When Lee as Sir Henry Baskerville was saved in "Hound of The Baskervilles" (Hammer, 1959), the writer felt like standing up and applauding!
   
    Whether Chris Lee's personifications were targeted to survive or not, his performances in features and on television programs became more and in demand in many parts of the globe.  A career that was almost thwarted was now blossoming more than ever, though Lee's name was mainly recognized by horror buffs.
  
    The acclaim won by Lee still had not earned him top-billing in any motion picture until "Devil-Ship Pirates" (Hammer, 1964), in which he played -a Spanish privateer.  But a better piece of cake was to come from a character who was a personal favorite of Lee's, Sax Rohmer's unabatable Fu Manchu.
  
    Though Dracula was regarded as his most significant role, "The Face of Fu Manchu" (Hallam/Anglo-Amalgamated, 1965) lifted the Londoner to new heights of popularity, "Terror of The Tongs," produced by Hammer in 1960, featured Lee as a Fu Manchu- like character named Chung King).  Also known as "Chop-Suey Bond" it gave way to a rash of sequels, all of which Lee felt were below par.
   
    The original should have been the last,"' he said. (The Films of Lee)  Rohmer's widow was on the set of the film in Ireland.  She informed Lee that her husband's famous creation was inspired by a tall Oriental he once had seen getting out of a car.  Mrs. Rohmer then made another interesting comment; Lee looked exactly like him!
   
    The new production on the Oriental criminal mastermind caught on with the public. New Yorkers had even launched a write-in campaign to make Fu Manchu the new mayor, and he was reported to have received some votes.
   
    As mentioned, there were sequels to Lee's most successful film to date including "The Brides of Fu Manchu" (Hallam/Anglo-Amalgamated* 1966), "The Vengeance of Fu Manchu" (Anglo- Amalgamated/Hallam/Babasdave/Terra-Filmkunst, 1967), "Castle of Fu Manchu" (Maron/Commonwealth/Italian International/Terra, 1970), and "Blood of Fu Manchu" (Udastex/Commonwealth/Ada/Terra/Towers of London/Hallam, 1969). None of them, as far as Lee was concerned, measured up to the first.
   
    While there were previous Fu Manchus, such as Boris Karloff, Warner Oland, and Henry Brandon, Christopher Lee remains the definitive celluloid version of Nayland Smith's arch-enemy in the minds of many.  Fu Manchu became a continuing filmed "alter ego" for which Lee is solely known (his Dracula is still often challenged by Lugosi fans, as well as faithful followers of Jack Palance and Frank Langella).
    
    In the midst of all of this, what ever did become of Dracula?  As stated, earlier, there were follow-ups, and as with the Fu Manchus, Lee was less than satisfied with any of them.
 
    The plots of succeeding Dracula films usually focused on the supporting characters, with Count Dracula having to be worked into the script (this was especially true in "Legend of The Seven Golden Vampires," a 1974 Hammer release not featuring Lee, where Dracula could have been omitted altogether with no alteration in the story).  It disgusted Lee, for he felt that Hammer's writers had strayed too far from the original concept set forth in the 1958 effort.
 
    The Hammer sequels (with Lee) were as follows:  "Dracula, Prince of Darkness" (1965; again, Terence Fisher was the director, as he had handled several other of Lee's pictures), "Dracula Has Risen From The Grave" (1968; this time it was Freddie Francis, another "Veteran" director of Lee's films), "Taste The Blood of Dracula," (1970), "Scars of Dracula" (1970), "Dracula A.D. 1972" (1972), and "Satanic Rites of Dracula" (1974).  Lee also essayed the role of the Count in "Count Dracula" (Fenix-Filmar/ Cinematografica-Korona/Towers of London-C.C./Tigon, 1970), a Spanish film that adheres closely to Bram Stoker's novel, but suffered in quality (Not even Lee's performance could save it; it was interesting, though, to see Lee made up as Dracula in accordance with Stoker's description and transforming into a bat, a feat denied him by Hammer).
   
    "Satanic Rites of Dracula" (released in the U.S. as "Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride") was the final straw for the Englishman.  Set in London in 1973 (a direct sequel to "Dracula A.D. 1972"), Dracula's new headquarters was a modern office building, where the vampire is masquerading as a businessman.  Lee referred to it as "pointless, absurd, and fatuous."
 
    Lee had announced that he was playing the part simply because his fans demanded it of him and he did not want to disappoint them.  However, he felt that "Dracula A.D. 1972" and "Satanic Rites" constituted the lowest level the character could ever sink to yet, and he was certain that most people agreed.  The return of Peter Cushing in the role of Van Helsing seemed like a possible attempt to add mote flavor to the films, but it did not appear to make much difference.
 
    Dracula, according to Lee, was now being treated by Hammer as "a mixture of Howard Hughes and Dr. No."  This remark was ironic, for another of Lee's cousins was Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond books.  He once informed Lee that he would make a fine Bond villain, and the Briton did later play the pernicious Scaramonga in "The Man With The Golden Gun" (Eon, 1974).
 
    The actor proclaimed that he would never play Dracula again unless the scripts were improved or a close adaptation of Stoker's novel was presented.
 
    The man who played Dracula more times than any other in feature films was obviously a stickler for Stoker.  He was always seen on the Hammer Dracula sets clutching a copy of the 1897 novel. It was his idea to include a line of original dialogue from the book in "Dracula A.D. 1972" and while he felt that "Horror of Dracula" was the best, he still felt that more scenes should have been borrowed from Stoker's work.
 
    Thus, after being disintegrated by sunlight drowned in running water, impaled on a huge cross, overcome by spiritual forces, struck by lightning, cremated, staked, and pricked by a hawthorn bush, ''Draculee" was finally laid to rest.
   
    Or was he? Lee did don the familiar black cloak again in "Dracula and Son" (Gaumont International/Production 2000, 1975), but he insisted that this French vampire spoof was not even a Dracula movie (Lee had satirized his Dracula film before in "Uncle Was a Vampire" an Italian 1959 farce produced by Steno/ Maxima-Cie.).  And an announcement was once made that the Englishman would play Dracula's father in "Love at Second Bite," the planned sequel to George Hamilton's 1979 comedy.  But since these are comedies, Lee may not feel that they count, even if the featured vampire is the actual Transylvanian Terror.
   
    Lee never did resent being termed a "horror actor" in previous years, though even then he felt it was a misnomer.  He persisted that he really had not made that many "horror" movies, but rather that they were "fantasy.
   
    As with many others in his profession., the actor sought to branch himself out into other, more diversified roles.  Unlike Karloff, who saw nothing wrong with being "typed," since it usually meant a steady flow of work, he has striven to make his fans realize that there is much more he can do in the cinema.
   
    It appears to be ringing true, judging by his immense success with films as "The Man With The Golden Gun" and "The Three Musketeers" (and its follow up, "The Four Musketeers," both by 20th Century Fox, 1974).  One might even regret the demises of villains Scaramonga and Roquefort, as helpful as they were to the man who personified them.
    
    The "Dracula" in Lee was effectively suppressed in "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (Mirisch, 1970), a definite favorite of the actor's as conveyed by a variety of sources.  He played Mycroft, the elder brother of Sherlock Holmes and the supposed brains of the family in a performance far removed from his "terrifying" productions.
 
    "It was a high spot in my career," Lee commented (The Films of Lee).  He has repeatedly expressed his gratitude to producer Billy Wilder for the opportunity to do what was, in his words, a "first-class" film.
 
    Mycroft was the third "Holmes" character that Lee had played in his career.  First, he portrayed Sir Henry Baskerville in "Hound of The Baskervilles" (Hammer, 1959; with Peter Cushing as Sherlock), then the master sleuth himself in "Sherlock Holmes and The Deadly Necklace" (Constantin/CCC/Omnia/ Criterion/INCEI, 1962).
   
    As with his Fu Manchu, Lee's depiction of Sherlock Holmes was praised by a member of the character's author's family.  Arthur Conan Doyle's own son, Andrew, once commented that Lee's portrayal of literature's most celebrated detective was one of the finest he had ever seen.
   
    While the established talent of Christopher Lee has taken him beyond the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein's monster, has he completely forsaken the field to which he owes his initial popularity?  Evidently not, considering such recent fare as "House of The Long Shadows" (1984) and "The Howling II" (1985).
   
    In spite of Lee's despondency over what he feels is the way most horror movies have diminished in quality, he still views them as "the most escapist films ever made."
   
    "I never set out to frighten people out of their wits, but always to divert and entertain them," claimed Lee (The Films of Lee).  He always tried to bring out what he believes are the essential elements in any horror movie, namely "suggestion, subtlety, taste, style, and conviction," and "to make the unbelievable believable."'
   
    The critics who damned Lee's "Dracula" twenty-seven years ago for its "gore" and "tasteless horror" did not foresee the boost it would give to a once-struggling actor.  Nor did they seem to recognize the potential of a dramatist who brought new dimensions to the films of the horror genre.
   
    How did future Dracula Christopher Lee happen to come into the world in 1922, the year when "Nosferatu," the German Dracula film starring Max Schreck and a favorite of Lee's, was released?  What of the strange chance that the Londoner resembled the Oriental who gave Sax Rohmer the idea for Fu Manchu?  Could it have been just a coincidence that Lee has almost the same face as Vlad Tepes Dracula (see the Vlad Tepes article, "The Real Dracula"), as was noticed by the reviewers when he essayed the part in "In Search of Dracula" (Aspekt, made-for- TV, 1972)?  Who else could boast of playing three separate characters from the Sherlock Holmes saga and be lauded by the son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?
   
    These questions could intrigue any psychic, admittedly.  However eerie they (and others one could think of) may seem, most of Christopher Lee's true fang are surely just grateful to the cosmic forces for giving them such a distinguished performer.
   
    This tall, well-spoken gentleman who avidly plays golf, has an extensive library, and devotes himself to his family has undoubtedly made his mark as an accomplished actor. He is to be congratulated, not only for his great progress, but for the loyalty he has always shown his fans.
 
    To sum it all up, the presence of Christopher Lee in a motion picture promises entertainment, even if the film itself does not.

                      CHRISTOPHER LEE BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:

Adkinson, Robert & Eyles, Allen & Fry, Nicholas (editors), The House of Horror, Lorrimer Publishing Limited, 1973.
Brosnan, John, The Horror People, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1976.
Glut, Donald F., The Frankenstein Legend, The Scarecrow Press, 1973.
Glut, Donald F., The Dracula Book, The Scarecrow Press, 1975.
Raining, Peter (editor), The Dracula Scrapbook, (Lee, Christopher "Dracula and I"), Bramhall House, 1976.
Hart, Douglas C. & Pohle, Jr., Robert W., The Films of Christopher Lee, The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 1983.
Lee, Christopher, Tall, Dark, and Gruesome, Granada Publishing, 1978.
Marrero, Robert, Vampires--Hammer Style, RGM Publications, 1982.
Reed, Dr. Donald A. & Pattison, Patrick, Collector's Edition--Science Fiction Film Awards, (Life Career Award 1978--Christopher Lee), ESE California, 1981.

MAGAZINES:

Abrams, Steve, "Christopher Lee: 'I've Made My Last Horror Film," Quasimodo's Monster Magazine, No. 3. Vol. 1, 1975.
Borst, Ron V, "Meet Mr. Christopher Lee in An Exclusive Monster Times Interview," The Monster Times, No. 8, Vol. I, 1972.
Borst, Ronald V., "Horror of Dracula--An Analysis of The Hammer Film Classic," Photon, No. 27, 1977.
Hewetsong, Alan, "An Exclusive Interview with Christopher 'Dracula' Lee," Nightmare, No. 17, 1974.
Hoffman, Eric, "Christopher Lee--Master of Horror and Villainy," Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy, Nos. I & 2, vol. 1, 1977.
Knight, Chris, "The Vampire With The Golden Gun," Cinefantastique, No. 1, Vol. 4, 1975.
Lee, Christopher, "Are Movie Monsters Human?," Famous Monsters of Filmland, No. 29, 1964.
Lee, Christopher, "Dracula," Monsters of The Movies, No. 7, Vol. 1, 1975.
Lee, Christopher, "Christopher Lee Speaks Out," Hammer's Halls of Horror, No. 9, Vol. 2, 1978.
Leider, R. Allen, "A Candid Conversation with Christopher Lee...The End of the Count?," The Monster Times, No. 27, Vol. 1, 1973.
Moench, Doug, "Christopher Lee--Hammer's Hero of Horror," Dracula Lives, No. 12, Vol. 1, 1975.
Nahat Ed, "Christopher Lee," Starlog, No. 70, Vol. 6, 1983.
Palmer, Randy, "Dracula Without the Crepe," Famous Monsters, No. 133, 1977.
Parish, James Robert & Pitts, Michael R., "Christopher Lee," Cinefantastique, No. 1, Vol. 3, 1973.
Parry, Michael, "The Return of Christopher Lee," Castle of Frankenstein, No. 6, Vol. 2, 1965.
Parry, Mike, "Cof Interviews Christopher Lee," Castle of Frankenstein, Nos. 10, 11, & 12, Vol. 3, 1966.
Pound, Roscoe, "Monster No More," Fangoria, No. 1, Vol. 1, 1979.
Toefafer, Susan, "Christopher Lee A Candid Conversation," The Monster Times, No. 46, Vol. 1, 1976.
Author Unknown, "When Dracula Met the Vampires," Famous Monsters, No. 98, 1973.
Author Unknown, "Dracula L.A. 1972," Famous Monsters, No. 105, 1973.
Author Unknown, "Christopher Lee Times Three," Famous Monsters, No. 117, 1975.
Author Unknown, "Blood Banquet--Dracula's 15th Birthday," Famous Monsters, No. 145, 1978.
Author Unknown, "Christopher Lee--The Man Behind the Monster," House of Hammer, No. 1, Vol. 1, 1976.
Interviewer Unknown, "Dear Mr. Lee," Monster World, No. 4, 1965.
Author Unknown, "Christopher Lee--The Art of Playing Dracula," Souvenir Issue--(Dracula), No. 17, 1979.

From The Vampire Journal #3:

INTERVIEW WITH POPPY Z. BRITE                              

conducted by Sharida Rizzuto

Q)  When did you first realize that you wanted to become a writer and why did you decide to concentrate on the horror genre?

A)  I've been writing since I can remember, submitting stuff for publication since I was twelve.  I sold my first story at eighteen, several more in the next five years, my first novel at twenty-three.  I didn't consciously decide to become a horror writer, though I have always loved reading horror.  I happened to make my first sale to a horror magazine, and the genre seemed receptive to the work I wanted to do.

Q)  How difficult was it to begin writing, complete your work, and find a publisher?

A)  The first two were things I had no choice about; writing and completing my work has always been instinctive to me.  The difficulty of finding an agent and a publisher was eased in part by the kindness and help of other writers who liked my work, including Brian Hodge, Dan Simmons, and Harlan Ellison.

Q)  What inspires you to write about vampires?

A)  Nothing anymore, and I'm not sure what ever did.  Lost Souls is the only vampire story I've written or intend to write.  I am proud of it, but I feel I have said all I have to say about them.            
I've often wondered why I chose to make my first novel a vampire story.  I certainly don't regret it, but I was never especially fascinated with them before I started the book, though I liked them.  I think it was because I was interested in and involved with the Gothic subculture at the time--the music, the clothes and makeup, the affinity for graveyards, the bloodletting.  That was what I wanted to write about, and vampires are an essential icon of that culture.  Those kids are beautiful, alienated, at once craving wild experience and romanticizing death.  Is it any wonder they identify with vampires?
Also, I have edited Love In Vein, an anthology of erotic vampire stories published by Harper Prism.  (NOTE:  Since this interview was conducted we have learned that a second anthology with the same name is available.)

Q)  Do you think people (as readers) in New Orleans are receptive to vampire fiction?

A)  Local newspapers and bookstores have certainly been kind to me.  The store people tell me both my novels sell well.  (NOTE:  Since this interview was conducted a collection of short stories, Wormwood, has been released).  As far as I can tell, they seem to like vampire fiction as well as any other kind.  I have a strong gay readership, too, which I cherish.

Q)  Since you're living in New Orleans, do you think the locale will play an ever-increasing role in your writing?  How about the strong local influence of voodoo?

A)  New Orleans is my hometown.  I lived here until I was six, visited a lot, and returned to live in early 1993.  So it has always been important to me, but living in the French Quarter certainly gives me a different perspective.  Some of my earliest memories are of wandering around the Quarter with my parents.                               

I've written some short stories with a voodoo element, but I don't have plans for any novels concerning it.  I've felt like writing non-supernatural fiction lately.  But I never know what I'm going to do next.  And I certainly don't rule out going to see the Chicken Man for a bit of gris-gris when necessary.

Q)  How do vampire enthusiasts respond to your books?

A)  They either seem to love them or consider them utter heresy.  Some were disappointed that Drawing Blood, my second novel, wasn't a vampire book, and that I won't be writing any sequels to Lost Souls.  Too bad; I have little interst in readers who only want to read one kind of book.  But there seems to be a cool vampiric underground scene, and I appreciate the word-of-mouth publicity they have given me.

Q)  Do you think vampire fiction and the horror genre, in general, will always have a loyal following?

A)  Sure seems that way.  Doomsayers keep trumpeting The Death of Horror, and it keeps refusing to lie down and die decently.

Q)  Do vampire readers often attempt to compare you to Anne Rice or Nancy Collins since all three of you have used New Orleans as a setting for vampire tales?

A)  I've heard such comparisons, but they mean little to me, as I am fairly unfamiliar with both writers.  I've read and enjoyed Collins' short stories, but none of her novels yet; and I haven't read Rice at all.  For me, New Orleans was one of the places I had to work with; it's my hometown, and I have written all sorts of fiction set there.  But it does seem like a natural place for vampires.  It has everything they could want:  wild parties and pickup spots, beautiful graveyards, all colors and flavors of people.  And a natural disposal site:  the Mississippi River. After a corpse has been floating in that toxic soup for a few days, who's going to look for two little holes in its neck?

Q)  What horror writers have you always enjoyed?  How have they influenced you?

A)  I cut my teeth on Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Peter Straub, Harlan Ellison, William S. Burroughs, Ramsey Campbell, Dylan Thomas, and Sylvia Plath.  Some of my most recent favorites are Dennis Cooper, Kathe Koja, and Thomas Ligotti.  For the record, my favorite vampire novel is Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin.  I love its lush settings and beautiful writing, and applaud the fact that its vampiric and its human characters are equally complex and interesting.                          

When I find a writer whose use of language, I admire, I read their work over and over.  Sometimes I read the dictionary.

Q)  Do you think the horror genre will become more widely accepted in the future?

A)  Not necessarily, but I think the lines between genres will become more blurred.  There's already a lot of crossover.

Q)  As a horror writer, what do you think frightens and entertains readers the most?

A)  I've never felt capable of frightening a reader.  I admire writers who can, but I never thought I could write scary fiction.  When it dawned on me that I could write disturbing fiction, I realized I could be a horror writer.                                                      

I follow my obsessions, start with my characters, and let them tell the stories they have to tell.  I'm glad it turns out to entertain the reader or provokes a strong emotional reaction.                         

As for what frightens me:  mundane things, same as most writers, I think--especially horror writers.  If a big spooky hotel was all that scared Stephen King, The Shining, wouldn't be such a disturbing book.  Its real terrors are the fragility of family, the descent into madness, the inevitability of hurting those you love.  But the hotel and its various tricks are really scary too, because most horror writers are pussies about bodily harm and the supernatural.  I don't trust ones who like rollercoasters or claim not to believe in ghosts.  If you want to know what grosses me out, it's centipedes and mucus.

BIO:                                                                                                                        
Poppy Z. Brite was born in 1967, spent her early years growing up in New Orleans and since then has lived all over the South.  She returned to her hometown where she presently resides. Poppy has worked as a gourmet candy maker, a cook, a mouse caretaker, an artist's model, and an exoric dancer.       Her earliest short stories appeared in The Horror Show starting in 1985.
Since then he stories have been published in Borderlands, Women Of Darkness 2, Dead End:  City Limits, Still Dead, Borderlands 3, Gauntlet, Year's Best Fantasy And Horror 5 and 6, Best New Horror 2, 3, 4, and 5, The Definitive Best Of The Horror Show, Young Blood, and Book Of The Dead 3 plus many more.  
Poppy's first novel, Lost Souls, was published by Delacorte Abyss in 1992.  It was a Book-of-the-Month Club alternate, and was nominated for a Lambda Award and A Stoker Award for best first novel.  Since then foreign rights were sold to several European countries.   The paperback edition was published in 1993.         
Her second novel, Drawing Blood, was published by Abyss in 1993.  A limited edition has been published by Borderlands Press.  Dell purchased the paperback rights and foreign rights went to Great Britain.  
Love In Vein, an anthology of erotic vampire stories, was published by Harper Prism in 1994.   Wormwood, a collection of horror stories was published by Abyss in 1995. Exquisite Corpse, a horror novel about two cannibal-necrophile serial killers on a murder spree down in New Orleans, was published by Simon & Schuster in 1996.   The latest novel just published in '98 is entitled, The Crow:  The Lazarus Heart.  It's available in trade paperback.  It's set in New Orleans.  Poppy also had a role in "John Five," an erotic film directed by Georgia artist, Jim Herbert (he previously directed some videos for the band, R. E. M.).
    

For vampires in the comix and in the pulps go here.

For photos of Nigel Bennett (starred on "Forever Knight" tv series) go to this page.

MORE TO COME!

                       
                     




                                                                                         

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