RIP Christopher Lee. :c
While it’s certainly sad he’s gone from us, as it’s sad whenever someone incredible is lost, I think that my response to Christopher Lee’s death will be celebration. May he rest in peace, yes, but holy shit.
Christopher Lee was born ninety-three years ago, became a champion fencer in his home country of England (a champion fencer in ENGLAND!), fought alongside people such as Ian Fleming and Roald Dahl in what became today’s SAS in world war II, running around the desert killing the shit out of nazis and causing havoc behind their lines. To his final years many of their actions remain classified. When a reporter once asked him about his experiences in world war II, he apparently leaned in close and whispered “Can you keep a secret?” When the reporter replied “Yes,” he said “So can I.” and refused to speak further on the matter.
Christopher Lee got out of World War II a legendary soldier, a champion fencer, and said “Fuck it, why not go to America and be a film actor, too? That’ll be fun.” He holds the world record for most time spent on-screen fighting with a sword, personally insisted that when playing Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequel trilogy that he’d fight like a fencer and have a pistol-gripped lightsaber, and was the most-connected man in Hollywood, having the lowest average degrees of separation from anyone who was anyone for the past fifty years. (meaning: X worked with Y who worked with Christopher Lee, etc.)
The man, in the past few years, even decided that as he’d conquered the fields of war, swords, and film, that he may as well conquer the field of FUCKING METAL as well and round out his resume of badassness and still holds the world record for oldest person to be the lead singer on a heavy metal album, making his own heavy metal opera album. I’m not joking. Also dude was fucking related to Charlemange, the half-legend king who united most of Europe and was the forefather to the European nobility.
Christopher Lee remained alive, strong and lucid at 93. Fucking ninety-three.
Christopher Lee has been a personal hero of mine for ages, and I think he reached a pinnacle of greatness that few people can claim to match. God damn am I happy that we’ve lived in a world with him.
(another great link to check out if you want to know more about Christopher Lee, which contains a ton of other fun shit I didn’t even mention. Dude lived like nobody else ever has.)