Lucky Old Lee

Christopher Lee is one lucky man. Within the space of a year he'll open in two of the biggest movies of the age, The Lord of the Rings and Episode II. In an interview in this month's Empire - which celebrates the release of Lord of the Rings in a dual cover collector's edition - Lee revels in his good fortune. 'At my age to work with Peter Jackson, Tim Burton and George Lucas within a fairly short space of time is a revelation and a tremendous privilege.' It seems that Lee enjoyed all three experiences; 'They all have this quality of genius, it simply takes a different shape... The easiest one, the most laidback is George Lucas because he is very quiet and very easy to work with.' Not only did Lee thoroughly enjoy his time on Episode II, he also revelled in working with blue screen. 'That is where an actor's powers of imagination are tested,' he tells Empire. 'If you have a strong imagination and are inventive, you can do it.' Finally, what makes Lee the ultimate prizewinner in the luckiest man alive stakes is his casual account of having met Tolkien in person - the only member of the LOTR cast to do so. The meeting took place when Lee and some friends in Oxford went out to Tolkien's favourite pub for a bit of author-spotting. 'He was a benign-looking man, smoking a pipe. And he knew somebody in our group. My friends said, 'Oh professor, professor,' and he came over, said, 'How do you do,' and I just said 'How..Ho..Ho.' I just couldn't believe it, I'll never forget it.'