Christopher Lee Watched One Of His Best Movies The Night He Died

The time is the night of June 7, 2015. The setting is Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. These were the circumstances for the final moments of one of cinema’s all-time greatest actors, Sir Christopher Lee. In 2015, Lee was 93 years old and wrapping up an epic career that included military service in World War II and singing in heavy metal bands into his 90s. Of course, Lee was most famous for his acting career — a journey that started in the 1940s and included memorable performances as the quietly terrifying Dracula, Bond assassin Francisco Scaramanga, the short-lived Star Wars villain Count Dooku, and, of course, Saruman the White in “The Lord of the Rings” film franchise.

It was his performance as the White Wizard that was top of mind on the night of his death. According to a new documentary that aired in the UK in late October called “The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee” (via Yahoo! Movies), on the night of Lee’s death, one of “The Lord of the Rings” movies was on TV, and Lee suggested watching it so that he could explain to the nurses how the movie was made. Within hours of that final viewing, he peacefully shuffled off this mortal coil. “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” (Lee’s last movie to release before his death and his final appearance as Saruman) had premiered less than seven months earlier, and the world was still abuzz with Middle-earth media. One final return to his Tolkienien roots was a fitting final act for a man who so strongly impacted cinema for over half a century.

Christopher Lee had arguably the richest connections to Middle-earth out of anyone on Peter Jackson’s set — in either “The Hobbit” or “The Lord of the Rings” trilogies. His connections to the source material are numerous. For instance, the man was there in the beginning. Quite literally, he read “The Lord of the Rings” in 1954 — the year it was released. It is also widely reported that Lee made a habit of reading the entire trilogy every year since that date.

Lee himself confirmed this fact in a 2003 interview where he added the juicy tidbit that he actually met author J.R.R. Tolkien in person. Here is Lee’s own summary of that momentous event: “I did meet him, very briefly, in the Fifties. It was in a pub that he used to go to in Oxford, called the Eagle and Child. I was there having a beer and I was completely overcome when he walked in. I had already started reading the books and thought, ‘This man has created a unique form of literature — one of the great works of all time.’ While I was filming ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ I thought about what he would have thought all the time, and hope he would have approved. I’m still an enormous fan — I read The Lord of the Rings every year.”

Despite his love for Tolkien, Middle-earth, and his depiction as Saruman, Lee actually snubbed the premiere of “The Return of the King.” Why? He had discovered that the opening scene of the movie, which featured Saruman’s death in the flotsam and jetsam of Isengard, had been cut from the final theatrical version because Peter Jackson thought it started the film off on the wrong note. Clearly upset, Lee boycotted the premiere. Of course, the scene was added back in for the extended cut, and Lee eventually made up with Middle-earth, returning for multiple appearances in “The Hobbit” films. Unused takes of his voice from those movies were also used in Warner Bros.’ upcoming “The War of the Rohirrim” anime. It’s heartwarming to know that his relationship with Middle-earth remained alive and well right until his final moments.