09/02/2011

Sir Christopher Lee will be this year’s recipient of the BAFTA’s Academy Fellowship at this year’s awards on February 13.

The annual award is the BAFTA’s highest honour for an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film. Previously honoured Fellows include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Julie Christie, John Barry, Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Hopkins, Terry Gilliam and Judi Dench. Last year’s recipient was Vanessa Redgrave.

Tim Corrie, Chair of the Academy said: “I am absolutely delighted that the Academy is recognising Sir Christopher Lee. He has entertained me over many years and is a bastion of British filmmaking around the globe.”

Lee said, “It’s a very unexpected but very great honour to find myself in such distinguished company to receive the fellowship.”

Knighted in 2009 for his services to drama and charity, Sir Christopher Lee has appeared in nearly 200 films. He made his mark in the mid-50s in several horror films and has acted in roles as diverse as Dracula, Mycroft Holmes and Jinnah.

Lee appealed to a whole new audience when he starred as Saruman in the BAFTA and Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy and appeared as Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels.

Future projects include Martin Scorsese’s Hugo Cabret, where Lee appears alongside Jude Law, Chloe Moretz and Sacha Baron Cohen.