Christopher Lee's 10 Most Memorable Sci-Fi And Fantasy Roles
2. Saruman The White In Lord Of The Rings
Christopher Lee was the only cast member of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy to have met JRR Tolkien. He bumped into the writer in a pub in Oxford, but was too star struck to say much to him. Lee was a lifelong fan of Tolkien's work, and becoming involved in Peter Jackson's epic adaptations was a dream come true for the actor.
It has been claimed that Tolkien thought, in later years, that Lee would make an excellent Gandalf, if the impossible could be accomplished and films successfully made of his books. As it turned out, Lee eventually grabbed the chance to play Saruman the White, a part more suited to his declining mobility by the time the films were made.
As Saruman, Lee is transfixing. There are many great acting heavyweights in those films, but Lee is never upstaged. He doesn't get many scenes, but the ones he has are just terrific.
Nine years later, Lee gladly reprised his role in two of The Hobbit films, pleased to show Saruman in the days when he was still a force for good and not yet corrupted by Sauron. In the years between the two trilogies, he kept in practice as Saruman by voicing several computer games.