Served as a flight lieutenant in Britain's Royal Air Force before transferring to Intelligence Service

Signed seven-year contract with Rank Organization (option not renewed in 1950)

Film debut as Charles in "Corridor of Mirrors"

Appeared as Palace Guard in Laurence Olivier's "Hamlet"; Peter Cushing played Osric

First of 12 films with director Terence Fisher, "A Song For Tomorrow"

Acted in Raoul Walsh's "Captain Horatio Hornblower"

Worked with director John Huston (as did Cushing) on "Moulin Rouge"

Breakthrough role as The Creature in Fisher's "The Curse of Frankenstein"; Cushing played Baron Frankenstein

Portrayed the sadistic Marquis St Evremonde in "A Tale of Two Cities"; starring Dirk Bogarde as Sydney Carton

First of 10 films as Count Dracula, "The Horror of Dracula" with Cushing as Von Helsing; Fisher directed

Took on title role of "The Mummy"; Cushing played John Banning; Fisher directed

First foray into Sherlock Holmes genre, playing Sir Henry Baskerville in Fisher's "The Hound of the Baskervilles"

Acted the part of Sherlock Holmes in Fisher's "Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace"

Played Fu Manchu (first of five portrayals) in "The Face of Fu Manchu"

Second time around as Dracula in Fisher's "Dracula - Prince of Darkness"

Brilliantly over-the-top as Rasputin in "Rasputin - the Mad Monk"

Last film with Fisher, "The Devil Rides Out"

Teamed with Vincent Price for "The Oblong Box"

Joined Price and Cushing for "Scream and Scream Again"

Portrayed Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft in Billy Wilder's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes"; the only actor to have played both brothers

First time since "Horror of Dracula" that his Dracula squared off against Cushing's Von Helsing

Formed Charlemagne Production with Anthony Nelson Keys

Reteamed with Cushing for third and final pairing as Dracula-Von Helsing in "Satanic Rites of Dracula" (released in United States as "Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride")

Starred in "The Wicker Man," a harrowing, absorbing thriller that has acquired cult status

Played Comte de Rochefort in Richard Lester's "The Three Musketeers"

Excellent as assassin Scaramanga in James Bond film "The Man With the Golden Gun"

Reprised Rochefort role for Lester's "The Four Musketeers"

Appeared in "Airport '77" as famous oceanographer Martin Wallace, henpecked by his boozy wife Lee Grant

Created one of the best Disney villains in years, mad scientist Victor in "The Return from Witch Mountain" (Bette Davis was his accomplice)

Provided voices for animated feature "Nutcracker Fantasy"

Did a final turn as Rochefort in Lester's "The Return of the Musketeers"

Acted in Steven Spielberg's "1941"

Delivered a comic turn as a gay biker in feature film "Serial"

Cast as Chuck Norris' nemesis in "An Eye for an Eye"

Portrayed Prince Philip in ABC movie "Charles and Diana: A Royal Love Story"

Last film with Cushing (Price as well), "The House of Long Shadows"

Acted the part of Kaka-ji Rao in the HBO miniseries "The Far Pavilions"

Played Lord Bathurst in 1986 syndicated miniseries "Shaka Zulu"

Seen as Andrew Stuart in the NBC miniseries "Around the World in 80 Days"

Underwent a two-hour makeup transformation for his portrayal of Blind Pew in Fraser Heston's adaptation of "Treasure Island"

Returned to the role of Sherlock Holmes for two syndicated miniseries, "Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady"

Director John Landis integrated footage from "Horror of Dracula" into his "Innocent Blood"; gave both Lee and Cushing credits in the film

Showed his facility for languages (fluent in nine) as disaffected Soviet military leader General Konstatin Benin in the USA Network movie "Alistair MacLean's Death Train"; spoke in both Russian and English for the part

Played Pharaoh to Ben Kingsley's Moses in TNT miniseries "Moses"

Portrayed Evil Sender in John Landis' "The Stupids"

Appeared as Tiresias in NBC miniseries "The Odyssey"

Had title role in "Jinnah," a biopic of the founder of Pakistan; the casting of the Caucasian Lee was considered somewhat controversial

Played a burgermeister in Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow"

Cast as Saruman in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"

Portrayed the villainous Count Dooku in "Star Wars: Episode II - The Attack of the Clones"

Again portrayed Saruman in the third and final "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

Reprised role of Count Dooku in "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith"

Played Willy Wonka's (Johnny Depp) father in Tim Burton's adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic tale "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"