Christopher Lee was a hero to me as a child. If you’ve read about his life, as all horror fans have, you’ll known that he was a soldier, spy, Nazi hunter and so much more before becoming an actor. What you may not know is how hard it was to get started, as he was too tall for so many roles.

This film, directed and written by Jon Spira (Elstree 1976), combines archival footage, puppetry, animation and interviews with tons of people to get the full story of Lee.

With Peter Serafinowicz (the live action version of The Tick and Darth Maul’s voice) providing Lee’s voice, you’ll learn how the actor became a horror icon, even if he was often mistaken for his close friends Peter Cushing and Vincent Price, as he jokes in this. Actually, the moments where he talks about Cushing waiting decades to be with his dead wife and just playing with toy soldiers and passing time made me tear up.

Everyone from Joe Dante and John Landis to Peter Jackson and Caroline Munro has a story to tell. Some may not like the puppet version of Lee, but it worked by the end of the film. And there’s something to learn for even the biggest fan of Lee, like how Errol Flynn gave him a fencing injury to how he witnessed one of France’s last public executions. I also loved his pride in getting a stuntman belt buckle during the filming of Airport ’77!

With a career as big as Lee’s and one that lasted so long, there will be some things missed. However, this hits so much, from working with Jess Franco and Mario Bava to him suggesting Dennis Wheatley to Hammer and singing in The Return Of Captain Invincible.

It even shows him menacing Chuck Norris in An Eye for an Eye!

This is recommended viewing.