This Is Your Life: Christopher Lee

Christopher LEE (1922-2015)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Christopher Lee, actor, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews while filming a sword fight for the ITV children's programme Magpie.

Christopher, who was born in London and first began acting in school plays, studied classics before working as an office clerk for a shipping line. During the Second World War, he served with the Royal Air Force as an Intelligence Officer in the Western Desert campaign.

After the war, having decided to pursue an acting career, he played bit parts in several films before finding fame in a series of horror films with Hammer Film Productions, beginning with The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957. The following year, he starred as Dracula, a role he would play in several sequels throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s.

"That is a conspiracy... an outrageous conspiracy!"

programme details...

Edition No: 381
Subject No: 382
Broadcast date: Wed 3 Apr 1974
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 27 Mar 1974 10.30pm
Venue: Euston Road Studios
Series: 14
Edition: 21

on the guest list...

Bill Hobbs
Oliver Reed
Gitte - wife
Estelle - mother
Xandra - sister
Christina - daughter
Nicolas - brother
John Lavel
Peter Sturgeon
Bobby Brown
George Black
Peter Cushing
Veronica Carlson
Joanna Lumley
Valerie Van Ost
Trevor Howard
Vincent Price
Charlton Heston
Patrick Macnee
Sammy Davis Jr

production team...

Researcher: Dee Maclure
Writer: John Sandilands
Director: Peter Webb
Producer: Malcolm Morris

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

An Actor's Life For Me

spotlight on the stars

Peter Cushing

Oliver Reed

Screenshots and photographs of Christopher Lee This Is Your Life

Jonathan Rigby recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, Christopher Lee, The Authorised Screen History...

The week after the Royal premiere of The Three Musketeers, Thames TV broadcast Christopher Lee's This Is Your Life on Wednesday 3 April.

Enticed into performing a sword fight with Bill Hobbs for the children's magazine programme Magpie, Lee found himself presented with the familiar red book by the equally familiar Eamonn Andrews.

Among the guests were Trevor Howard, Oliver Reed, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price and "the most attractive blood group in pictures," as Lee dubbed them – Veronica Carlson, Valerie Van Ost and Joanna Lumley.

Filmed tributes were sent in by Charlton Heston, Patrick Macnee and Sammy Davis Jr, while 10-year-old Christina claimed that, despite having seen her father on TV as Count Dracula, her dreams of Donny Osmond remained undisturbed.

Scriptwriter Roy Bottomley recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, This Is Your Life: The Story of Television's Famous Big Red Book...

Horror film veteran Christopher Lee had just appeared in the Royal Film Premiere of The Three Musketeers when we 'ambushed' him in March 1974.

Friends who hadn't found him quite so frightening in real life included Charlton Heston, Sammy Davis Junior, Trevor Howard and Joanna Lumley.

Peter Cushing told us about making The Curse of Frankenstein with Christopher as the monster and himself as the baron. Christopher kept giving Peter the giggles doing Bugs Bunny impressions while in costume as the monster.

Vincent Price related how a fellow passenger on his flight from Hollywood had asked, 'Are you Boris Karloff?'

Vincent: 'No, he's dead.'

Tried again: 'Are you Christopher Lee?'

Vincent: 'Nope, I'm not him either.'

Passenger: 'Well, then, who the hell are you?'

Series 14 subjects