Christopher Lee May 5 1922 June 7 2015 was an English actor and musician Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films Other notable roles include Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man 1973 Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun 1974 Count Dooku in Star Wars episodes II and III 2002 2005 and Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy 20012003 Lee considers his most important role to have been his portrayal of Pakistans founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah 1998 He is well known for his deep strong voice Lee has performed roles in 266 films since 1948 making him the Guinness book world record holder for most film acting roles ever He was knighted in 2009 and received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011