Christopher Lee, best known for playing Count Dracula, and for his roles as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings franchise and Count Dooku in two Star Wars prequels, has died in London. He was 93.
The actor died on Sunday morning at a central London hospital.
An official for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London confirmed to the Associated Press on Thursday that a death certificate was issued for Lee on June 8. She spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with the policies of the borough.
Lee, who played roles as diverse as Dr. Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man and Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man With the Golden Gun had a TV and film career that stretched back to the 1940s.
His career on the screen began in 1946 with a role in BBC production Kaleidoscope, before he made his film debut in 1948 in the drama Corridor of Mirrors.
Lee appeared in more than 250 movies, but for many was forever known as the vampire Count Dracula in a slew of Hammer Horror movies — the gory, gothic thrillers churned out by the British studio in the 1950s and 1960s that became hugely popular.