Talk:Christopher Lee

Information concerning burial
I removed the bit which claims that Christopher Lee was cremated and his ashes scattered - it had been there for a long time with no source provided, and there doesn't seem to be any real source for the claim (IMDB and Find a Grave also claim this, but they themselves are not sources; anyone can edit them, and I couldn't find any real source for these claims). --82.181.143.171 (talk) 01:18, 1 March 2019 (UTC)


 * Many thanks, I'm obviously very glad this one finally made it. Chiswick Chap (talk) 04:51, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

Possible photograph, 1940
When Lee was in Finland, he and other English volunteers were possibly photographed by the army on 1 March 1940. The photograph was recently noted but it awaits confirmation. See this article where Lee may be the fourth person from the left in the picture. Can those people be identified? --Mlang.Finn (talk) 13:53, 11 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Can’t confirm. I’d wait for a reliable positive identification. Idell  (talk) 14:20, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Military service section is all lies
Historian Gavin Mortimer said Lee never served in the SAS or the SOE. (86.149.119.175 (talk) 13:06, 2 June 2022 (UTC))
 * The service is reliably cited. Quote and cite your source and the evidence it brings to invalidate earlier claims? Chiswick Chap (talk) 13:13, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Guy Walters also confirmed Lee clearly lied about his war record: https://allthatsinteresting.com/christopher-lee-military-career (86.149.119.175 (talk) 18:33, 2 June 2022 (UTC))

That source merely alludes to further claims, basically saying that Lee was attached to those units but was not a member of them. The article already says the same. Hardly 'all lies'. Chiswick Chap (talk) 19:09, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

Decades spanned
The article says, early on, "With a career spanning nearly seven decades ...."

If we're going to reference a "career span" in decades, perhaps we need a standard for this particular usage. I think it can be nicely descriptive, adding just enough exaggeration to make a valid point. (I got into this on the George Abbott talk page). Sir Christopher's career began in the 40s, went on through the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80, 90s, 2000s, and ended in the 2010s (I'll ignore posthumous appearances via old footage, as indeed we should.)

If we're counting "decades spanned" rather than years, the criterion ought to be a simple checkbox. "Forties? Check. Fifties? Check." And so on, through "2010s? Check." I'd say that his career spanned eight decades.

Counting entire decades and using fractions seems to violate the ten-year principle. (Of course, it all depends upon one's definition of a decade, but I'd argue for a construct wherein the third digit trips over on a rigorous interpretation of the Gregorian Calendar, i.e., 1971-1980 is two decades, but 1971-1979 is just one. It must be an integer, so no need for the word "nearly;" a partial decade is still a decade. 1971-1990 gets you into a third decade.) If you want to split it further, just state "spanned xx years" and be done with it.

If I should state that Mickey Rooney's career spanned ten decades, I expect some quizzical frowns, but it's worthwhile in expressing a remarkable long career. If we were debating two or three decades, nobody would care.

"Spanned" doesn't equate to "filled" or "encompassed." Use those words at your own risk, to play up or play down a certain number for dramatic purposes.WHPratt (talk) 23:41, 11 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the thoughts. A 'decades' phrasing is indeed a piece of rhetoric, so (unless directly attributed) ought to be avoided. Further, we're in OR territory if we apply rules such as yours; and sharp-eyed reviewers would rightly pull us up if we said 8 when the source inconveniently and by the rules illogical said 7. I'll remove it now. Chiswick Chap (talk) 05:10, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Tall stories about Lee's war
An editor is repeatedly inserting material on Lee's supposed wartime adventures, which are now known to consist mostly of his own invention. The fact that Lee succeeded in deceiving other authors does not make the claims true. The attested facts about his war are already in the article; most or all of the rest is fiction, and should not have any place here. Continued attempts to insert the material constitute disruptive editing. Chiswick Chap (talk) 14:57, 29 October 2022 (UTC)


 * We can state what Lee has said about the war but if reliable sources dispute the accuracy of the claims we should note that as well. HJ Mitchell &#124; Penny for your thoughts? 15:20, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Well, if we're to do that then we would have to state "Lee claimed that" followed by a very brief summary, followed at once by the rebuttals. We certainly shouldn't be retailing the claims as facts.


 * * Article by Gavin Mortimer: Sir Christopher Lee and Other Special Forces Fantasists (in the Spectator, July 2015)
 * * Reportage on that article: Sir Christopher Lee's SAS War Record Was Hammed Up, Historian Claims (in the Telegraph) --- Chiswick Chap (talk) 15:24, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Charlamagne
Is Lee's descent from Charlamagne particualarly notable? I thought everyone in Europe was? (See here, for example). It's not even clear from the links provided that he has documented descent from Charlamagne, the first one says the Caradini family is "believed to have been connected with the Emperor Charlemagne", and the latter mentions it in passing while saying the lineage "stretch[es] back possibly to Ancient Rome" -- which is meaningless enough to bring the whole sentence into question. 79.71.47.86 (talk) 12:04, 30 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Many thanks. Yes, you're probably right, it doesn't add anything. I'll remove the Charlemagne mention now. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:27, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

Saturday night live
Lee hosted Saturday Night Live which aired march 25, 1978. I dont see this listed in his filmography 69.123.159.211 (talk) 05:29, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

Von Rosen family
I recently corrected a factual error about this relationship. Christopher Lee wasn't engaged to Agnes von Rosen (1924-2001), daughter ofGustaf-Fredrik von Rosen (1895-1956), but to  Henriette von Rosen (1933-2016), daugther of Fritz von Rosen ( 1899-1969) https://archive.org/details/lordofmisruleaut0000leec/page/220/mode/ https://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00663301&tree=LEO- The page from the autobiography listed in the reference wasn't even right.--QTHCCAN (talk) 16:27, 17 November 2023 (UTC)

Probably not the only one in the Jackson films to have met Tolkien
Martyn Sanderson was apparently taught by him at oxford:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/15820/death-of-martyn-sanderson

©Geni (talk) 11:20, 1 July 2024 (UTC)