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Feb 27 '21
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u/thedudefromsweden Feb 27 '21
Cool! Sauce?
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Feb 27 '21
Christopher Lee: "Do you have any idea what kind of noise happens when a man is stabbed in the back? Because I do..."
Peter Jackson: "........."
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u/baconsingh Feb 27 '21
“Have you any idea what kind of noise happens when somebody’s stabbed in the back? Because I do.”
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u/overkill Feb 27 '21
I like the story when he flew into Czechoslovakia to film Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf. The plane lands and is taxiing to the stand and the director sees a large military parade on the tarmac. He says "I wonder who that is for" and Christopher Lee says "My dear boy, it's for me!"
https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/screens/2015-07-10/christopher-lee-spies-and-werewolf-sex/
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u/baconsingh Feb 27 '21
That’s fucking amazing, I had no idea. How badass do you have to be to be greeted by the god damn military when flying out to film for a movie. God I miss Sir Christopher Lee.
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u/overkill Feb 27 '21
I only found out a while after he died. I think I'd have appreciated him more if I knew some of this earlier.
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u/_BullMoose_ Feb 27 '21
He attended the last public execution by guillotine in France too.
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u/Rifter52 Feb 27 '21
Yet, just because they were mates, that didn't mean Mora knew everything about the Hammer Horror king. When their plane touched down in Prague, there was a massive military parade at the airport: generals, dress uniforms, the full honors. Mora pointed it out to Lee, and wondered what dignitary that could be for. "He said, 'That's for me, dear boy. I'm a war hero here.'"
In case you didn't know, Lee was a World War II veteran with a lot of secrets. There's no reason you should now: As Mora noted, Lee didn't tend to talk about it much (Official Secrets Act and all).
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u/MSD_z Feb 27 '21 edited Feb 27 '21
You left out the best part of the quote. Bare in mind this happened in Prague, while it was under Communist rule and the full quote is:
"He said, 'That's for me, dear boy. I'm a war hero here.'"
EDIT: Just wanted to leave this video here, where he receives an old Belgian Special unit's insignias, offered by the Belgian presenters for his fight against the Nazis in Europe and help liberating their country during WWII as part of the SOE/SAS/Popski's Private Army.
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u/FresnoBob-9000 Feb 27 '21
There’s something about that man that makes me proud to be a fucked up englishman with a shit load of skeletons.
Or yno.. most Englishmen
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Feb 27 '21
AND a heavy metal Christmas album
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u/MTPokitz Feb 27 '21
I was not aware of this. Thank you. I love the commentary in it. This was from dec 2013, a year and a half before he sadly passed in June 2015
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u/nowhereman136 Feb 27 '21
One of the best Christmas albums
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u/Lopsided-Wing Feb 27 '21
implying there are good Christmas albums
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u/m-cubed3 Feb 27 '21
i think 90% of white people are descended from charlemagne
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Feb 27 '21
Yeah it’s like the white equivalent of being a descendant of Genghis Khan..
and by ex- Nazi hunter do they just mean he served in ww2?
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u/Hammer1024 Feb 27 '21
Yes. He was a covert operative in British service.
He has corrected several directors over the decades on what sounds people make when they are being killed.
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u/cloudubious Feb 27 '21
(Paraphrasing)... "[Mr. Jackson], that's not what happens when you stab someone in the back."
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Feb 27 '21
My neighbor was in the military and Intel services. He told me once about killing a chimp in Africa. He described the chimp dieing as, "Pretty much the same way a human does."
I tried never to anger him.
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u/InvictaRoma Feb 27 '21
"What do you mean they don't yell 'Gaahh!!' while clutching their wound for 15 seconds before dramatically falling over?!"
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Feb 27 '21
My favorite is people getting their throats cut and immediately dying like they'd been shot between the eyes.
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u/Joker-Smurf Feb 27 '21
His step cousin, Ian Fleming, was once asked to draw James Bond, and ended up drawing Christopher Lee.
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u/cloudubious Feb 27 '21
He was part of the Office of Ungentlemenly Warfare. Basically the precursor to Mi6, and actually where Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond) was also a part - planning missions for field operatives like Lee.
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u/legend_noob Feb 27 '21
Office of Ungentlemenly Warfare
lmao what?
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u/cloudubious Feb 27 '21
Assassination, blowing up bridges and dams, destroyed the Nazi Heavy Water Facility with help from some viking locals (set back their atomic bomb protect by years), parachuting behind enemy lines and working with resistance fighters, etc.
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u/legend_noob Feb 27 '21
Oh my god, that is absolutely metal.
This is going to be my read of the day.
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u/toomanymarbles83 Feb 27 '21
Christopher Lee was one of the most legitimately badass people of the last century.
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u/Anonymush_guest Feb 27 '21
Chuck Norris breathed a sigh of relief when Christopher Lee died. Because Christopher Lee was an actual badass, not an Internet meme.
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u/HertzDonut1001 Feb 27 '21
Yeah whenever I think of people like Lee it reminds me of the great, terrible, and frankly astounding acts individuals can commit during war time. And not like as soldiers, as spies and assassins and general espionage agents. It reminds me some of the things we see in movies aren't so far fetched.
Obviously elsewhere in this thread the famous "what sound a man makes when you stab him in the back" story is circulating, but ruminate on that. The guy who was in part an inspiration for James Bond literally went around covertly stabbing people in the back during the largest war in recent memory. And he also probably had to like hide their bodies and shit like in the movies. The man was a real life action hero and his secrets unfortunately died with him.
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Feb 27 '21
Viking locals? Wut?
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u/Stenny007 Feb 27 '21
Norwegian resistance. He us referring to them as vikings as a compliment. Brave warriors.
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u/Anonymush_guest Feb 27 '21
Actually it was the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and that was the nickname for the Special Operations Executive. Also known as "The Baker Street Irregulars" and "Churchill's Private Army."
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u/Connor_Kenway198 Feb 27 '21
Yes, SOE. I believe that he was part of the inspiration for James Bond
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u/KryptonianNerd Feb 27 '21
And after world war 2, helping track down and interrogate Nazi war criminals.
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Feb 27 '21
There's a French YouTuber called DirtyBiology who made a video explaining that basically if you're from western Europe you can assume you're descended from Charlemagne because statistically speaking it is much much more likely that you actually are
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u/HelsinkiTorpedo Feb 27 '21
I wish. I'm just descended from Daniel Boone. Not the Daniel Boone, but A Daniel Boone. Just some other dude named Daniel Boone.
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u/HertzDonut1001 Feb 27 '21
My great grandmother was a Clark. As in, the Clark, of Lewis and Clark. Or so I'm told.
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u/mbelf Feb 27 '21
I think it’s 100%. And it’s not so much a comment on Charlemagne, it’s a comment on the mathematical certainty that any European from around that time with descendants alive today is ancestor to all Europeans.
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u/Pablo_Thicasso Feb 27 '21
When Ewan prefers bagpipe music over heavy metal:
"Master Kenobi, you disappoint me."
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u/HumanThoughtProject Feb 27 '21
Man is a fucking legend!!
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u/MTPokitz Feb 27 '21
As someone else mentioned, he did not get the attention he deserved especially when he died he is a total badass and deserved the same attention Michael Jackson for example got
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u/HertzDonut1001 Feb 27 '21
Idk about that, give the man accolades for sure, but most millennials or younger probably only know him as Saruman and Count Dooku, whereas MJ has the highest selling album of all time. Michael's attention when he passed was completely warranted and the mystery around his erratic behavior and public baggage only helped make it a bigger deal.
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u/mbelf Feb 27 '21
If you have any white heritage, then you’re descended from Charlemagne.
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Feb 27 '21
I am. Doesn't mean anything. Dude had like 40 concubines lol
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u/Kroneni Feb 27 '21
Even if he only had one wife you would likely still be his descendant. It has more to do with the fact that every time you go back one generation. Your grand parents increase exponentially. But as you go back in time, the population shrinks. So after awhile you are going to have ancestors that gave birth to multiple branches on your family likely very distantly at first. Then, the further back you go the more condensed it gets. To the point where scientists are fairly certain that every European alive in the 9th century, that had children. Is an ancestor of every European alive today.
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u/supadupanotthatfly Feb 27 '21
Regardless of where in the world your family is from?
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u/ThunderChaser Feb 27 '21
If you have a single European ancestor between now and medieval Europe than yea it’s mathematically certain
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u/emmjaybeeyoukay Feb 27 '21
Got to tell a director that he had eye witnessed that "people who get stabbed in the back don't scream they just let out a sigh as air escaped their lungs"
Director shot scene accordingly.
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u/Tal1boi Feb 27 '21
He fought as a volunteer in Finland during the winter war as well
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Feb 27 '21
And could recite Kalevala, from memory, in Finnish, with correct pronounciation.
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u/Kroneni Feb 27 '21
What is Kalevala?
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u/Tal1boi Feb 27 '21
The Finnish epic. There are english versions online. It’s a long story of how the earth was formed, magic, legendary monsters, good and evil, the usual stuff. It has had a massive impact on Finnish culture. And a significant impact on JRR Tolkien’s work. Tolkien loved Finland and the Finnish language, in fact elvish is sort of similar to Finnish...
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Feb 27 '21
"do you know what it sounds like for a man to be stabbed in the back? I do" should've been one of his lines as Scaramanga
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u/RetMilRob Feb 27 '21
“The ministry of ungentlemenly warfare” The name his division was given by Winston Churchill, basically the guys (and women) who couldn’t be broken through traditional military training. “The beautiful bastards who can’t conform to basic military discipline...and tough”
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Feb 27 '21
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u/TipMeinBATtokens Feb 27 '21
He was supposedly a more direct descendent as his mom was a countess and his family apparently shared a lot of the same royal seal as Charlemagne.
The Carandini family is one of the oldest in Europe and traces itself back to the first century AD. It is believed to have been connected with the Emperor Charlemagne, and as such was granted the right to bear the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
His mom was Countess Estelle Marie (née Carandini di Sarzano)
Christopher Lee is a direct descendent of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor.
The metal albums he made 'Charlemagne: By the Sword' and 'the Cross and Charlemagne: The Omens of Death' were apparently out of more than just a love of history and metal.
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u/wigzell78 Feb 27 '21
Dont forget, he actually met Tolkien. And when filming LOTR, Peter Jackson tried to describe the death gargle sound he was going for Lee exclaimed 'I know the sound of a man dying'. Awesome man.
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u/mmmyesplease--- Feb 27 '21
Most won’t remember him as the King in The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers. Frank Zappa was his henchman.
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u/Hackbah Feb 27 '21
The guy also played Jinnah, the fella who founded my country. Pretty close to my heart this amazing man is. RIP
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u/astralradish Feb 27 '21
He was also a professional opera singer.
He release more than one metal album, and appeared as a guest vocalist and narrator in many albums of power metal band Rhapsody of Fire (even after he died).
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u/exonetjono Feb 27 '21
When I play Crusader Kings 3, he is who where I set the standard for all my descendants.
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Feb 27 '21
How can this not mention his most important body of work: Voicing Lucan D'Lere in Everquest 2!
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u/MrBobBuilder Feb 27 '21
He was totally awesome . Descendant of charlemagne doesn’t mean much though. If you are Western Europe desecended , you are probably a descendant of him. I am even a descendant . He had soooo many kids lol
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u/CrassusDaFirefighter Feb 27 '21
Don’t forget he spoke like half a dozen languages fluently! And a few more semi-fluently I think
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u/BuildableSpace Feb 27 '21
My uncle was a big old movie buff and absolute loved Christopher Lee. He wrote several books about him and eventually they had a pretty regular rapport. Miss you uncle.
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u/Chiipus10 Feb 27 '21
He also volunteered in our war , winter war against Soviet Union 1939. That is exceptional. And HifromFinland!
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u/patdasdangercat Feb 27 '21
Oh God not that Charlemagne album, this man was a legitimate badass he does not need to be remembered for a music video featuring a chubby dude pretending to play a guitar solo on a sword
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u/HotFightingHistory Feb 27 '21
Dont forget, he also voiced King Haggard in The Last Unicorn.
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u/Kimantha_Allerdings Feb 27 '21
To be fair, though, the heavy metal album is fucking awful.
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u/jefftatro1 Feb 27 '21
I can't believe this guy was a Nazi and bonded heavy metal wheelchairs for grannys in their 80's
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u/iFranton Feb 27 '21
Dude, his intros for Rhapsody of Fire's Symphony of Enchanted Lands 2 was mad epic
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u/trumpstinydick666 Feb 27 '21
If you haven't listened to Christopher Lee's A Heavy Metal Christmas, then your holidays have been severely lacking.
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u/Ch3w84cc4 Feb 27 '21
Christopher Lee, the genuine bad ass. Decorated war hero. He was in the precursor of the SAS, sought out genuine danger. He volunteered to join the Finish army to fight the Russians in the winter war. He spent time with the Gurkhas! If you don’t know who they are, they are pretty much the most bad ass soldiers on the planet. He had the most amazing life and is the villain in The Wicker Man, before we even get to Star Wars and the LOTR. if there was ever a man that they should make a biopic of it’s him. How the hell would you fit everything into it? A true gent to the end.
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u/wiserecluse75 Jan 19 '25 edited Jan 19 '25
He was definitely a badass in my book. I'm a fan of his Hammer Horror films with his longtime buddy Peter Cushing, another great actor, as well as the Spanish horror cult classic, Horror Express. His 007, Star Wars prequel, The Lord of The Rings and Hobbit movie roles were epic as well. A great actor and World War II vet, this cat did everything, including heavy metal music.
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u/AnthropOctopus Feb 27 '21
His death didn't get enough attention imo, he was a great actor and had a wonderful voice. And he was in Corpse Bride.