Christopher Lee's 10 Most Memorable Sci-Fi And Fantasy Roles

His long career saw him star in major Hollywood productions, such as the Johnny Depp remakes of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Dark Shadows, as well as less well received fare like Police Academy: Mission To Moscow. Lee also played parts in countless genre favourites such as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, The Golden Compass, The New Adventures of Robin Hood, Gormenghast, The Tomorrow People, and Sleepy Hollow, and was even the narrator of The Rocky Interactive Horror Show. 

It goes without saying that Lee made his name as a star of countless horror movies (he claimed in interviews to have made only 15 out-and-out horror flicks, but admitted that others would not agree with that small a count). A regular fixture in Hammer films, Lee starred alongside other household names like Peter Cushing in movies that remain cult classics to this day.

Sadly, some of Lee's most interesting and unusual parts have been forgotten with the passage of time. In memory of such a towering talent, let's take a look at the 10 most memorable roles Christopher Lee played in films and TV shows beloved by genre fans.

Proving that Christopher Lee was way ahead of his time, he starred as the bad guy in a Marvel superhero movie. Sadly, he accepted the role of Captain America's foe, General Miguel, long before the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and so never garnered the adulation and rewards that supervillains receive these days.

Lee's foray into the world of superheroics happened in 1979 in the now forgotten TV movie Captain America II: Death Too Soon, where he played a terrorist leader attempting to hold Portland to ransom. Yes, Portland. At least he was asking for a billion dollars.

Reb Brown's Captain America quickly puts a stop to the fiendish Miguel by flinging the terrorist's own rapid-ageing "compound" over Lee. Miguel then ages quickly to death in a sequence that wouldn't have been out of place in a Hammer horror film.