WHY CHRISTOPHER LEE IS THE BEST COUNT DRACULA

Christopher Lee is living history.  He hung out with JRR Tolkein, Muhammad Ali, and Errol Flynn.  In films, he played Frankenstein’s monster, Dr. Jekyll and Mr .Hyde, Saruman, Death, The Devil, Fu Manchu, Mohammad Ali Jinnah – 1^st Prime Minister of Pakistan, Willie Wonka’s father and numerous other monsters and baddies.  He even played a gay character in the movie SERIAL.

Perhaps the role he is most identified with at least the one I first remember associating him with is Count Dracula.

And I think Christopher Lee was the best Count Dracula for a number of reasons.

One was biological of course.  I reject the non-threatening suave James Bond Dracula which became a trend for awhile in vampire movies of the 70’s and the 80’s.  Dracula is scary and threatening and he doesn’t need to look innocent to fool any ladies, he has the power of hypnosis!  Lee at 6’5 with the countenance of a serious and dangerous looking guy was very, very imposing.  He had the perfect face and physique for the role as well as a deep, powerful voice on the occasions he did speak.  Dracula should not be overly talkative as I discuss in the next paragraph.  

Dracula’s not The Joker cracking one-liners while committing crimes.  He’s more like an animal with a deep hunger and an instinct for survival.  He is not joyful and insane, he is evil but I would argue he is more concerned for his own well-being than anything else (again, like an animal).  Unlike other versions of Dracula, where he is dancing, drinking champagne, living the high life, the Lee Count Dracula is usually settling scores with adversaries and always looking for necks to bite.

The settling scores part is important because the one thing Dracula feels other than hunger is anger.  Could be anger at the position he finds himself in no longer being human or anger at what forces placed him in this position or anger at humans still enjoying life or anger at those who fight him and seek to destroy him.  The Francis Ford Coppola version of DRACULA gave the count a back story but I don’t think that added anything.  Humanizing a monster only helps if you are no longer making a horror film.

So Christopher Lee’s humorless, menacing, angry, merciless Dracula was note perfect.  He’s not indulging in witty repartee with potential victims and enemies alike.  Rather, he’s coming to their bedrooms at night and hiding from well-armed foes.  Both of these make a lot more sense as far as how Dracula would act.

Vampires have increasingly been linked with sex in recent films, books etc.. I personally have never seen the connection.  Drinking someone’s blood is not erotic (at least not to me) rather it symbolizes swallowing somebody’s essence, consuming them whole, what Renfield playacts with flies and other creatures in the insane asylum.

Despite the fact that Hammer increasingly sexed up the Dracula films as the sixties wound down and the 70’s started and censorship standards loosened up, Lee’s Dracula remained outside of sex.  Others may misread what is going on but a vampire has more immediate concerns.  Lee not allowing Dracula to get caught up in the sexed up atmosphere was a great acting choice.

Dracula is an aristocrat and should have regal bearing but regal bearing in that part of the world at the time periods involved would not have been about sociability but about positions and tradition and ritual.  The demeanor of the proud, snobbish, more superior than thou member of royalty perfectly fits in Lee’s Dracula.  Perhaps this is one of the few parts of Dracula’s humanity that has stayed with him – The stiffness, the unapproachability, the looking down at lesser beings.  Becoming a vampire has only multiplied these.

Many actors have played Count Dracula but before playing a part like that one must know what kind of film you are making and how does Dracula fit in with that.  I feel that Dracula is a monster but a force of nature more than a calculating super villain type, more Godzilla than Hannibal Lecter or Blofeld.  Christopher Lee comes closest to that of any actor who ever wore the cape.

Seriously though there should be a bridge or a building named after Christopher Lee someplace.