And now Christopher Lee, 93
mainHas died on the same day as Ron Moody, 91. British cinema has lost two great stalwarts.
Lee was a formidable Dracula. Less renowned as a singer, until he released a Christmas album at 91:
He once said ‘I would rather have been an opera singer than anything else.’
Same day as Ron Moody? that is too strange. What I remember more than any other of his movies, was a flick titled ‘Horror Hotel’ from 1960. (Also known as City of the Dead, we saw it as Horror Hotel). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N69Ow7XM6Hg
And both also took part in my two favourite recordings of Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale: Moody played the Devil on the Boston Symphony Chamber Players’ DG recording from the 1970s, and Lee did all the parts on Nimbus’ recording with the Scottish Chamber Orch. in (I think) the mid-80s.
R.I.P.
And a wonderful Peter and the Wolf with Menuhin on Nimbus. Right up there with Boris Karloff’s reading. Great actor. Erudite, cultured man, too which no Hollywood star can compare with.
Vincent Price was an erudite and cultured man. Like the great Christopher Lee, he played in some great dramatic films, but was best known for his horror classics. But he was one of the most widely gifted individuals ever to grace Hollywood.
Christopher Lee would have been a wonderful opera singer, with some training – he certainly seems to have had a great singing voice.