Christopher Lee's 10 Most Memorable Sci-Fi And Fantasy Roles
8. An Iconic Foil For The Avengers (Twice)
In the 1960s, the British television-viewing public were huge addicts of The Avengers, but there wasn't an Iron Man or Thor in sight. Instead, there was suave secret agent John Steed - as played by the very embodiment of Englishness, Patrick Macnee - and a succession of stunning sidekicks.
Along with almost every other star in Britain (or so it seemed), Christopher Lee joined the ensemble company of The Avengers, playing not one but two roles in the cult 1960s series. He first appeared opposite Diana Rigg's Emma Peel in the 1967 episode Never, Never Say Die as Professor Frank N Stone (note the clever play on words).
But his second appearance was even more memorable. As Colonel Mannering in the 1969 episode The Interrogators, he got to torture unpopular sidekick Tara King, an act that surely made the audience applaud.
All joking aside, his turn as Mannering is spectacular. In just a few minutes, Lee uses his real-life military experience to absolutely convince viewers that he is a British army officer doing his duty to verify that Britain's secret agents can resist questioning by putting them through torture "training exercises". SPOILERS! He's actually an enemy agent using the torture to extract secrets for the other side. And if that ruse doesn't work, he tries to charm the information out of them in the bar afterwards! Just brilliant!