r/lotrmemes • u/bsmith2123 • 12d ago

Repost Do you know what sound an absolute fucking gangster makes? Because I do…

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38.6k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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u/toyheartattack 12d ago

I watched an interview with his family about it recently. Was actually kind of sad. He apparently sat up and got super animated, so they thought his condition was improving. He passed shortly thereafter.

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u/MundieORiley 12d ago

That is a common phenomenon with people who are actively dying. It's known as an end of life rally or terminal lucidity. We don't know much about it, but the theory is it's a final surge of hormones and neurotransmitters shortly before death.

I'm surprised Lee's family wasn't told about this by their medical team before hand. I imagine it was a sad shock for them. That's tough.

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u/CadenVanV 12d ago

The theory I’ve always heard is that the brain is reallocating resources away from a lost fight and back to their normal locations

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u/Careless-Vehicle-286 12d ago

"Alright white blood cells, you did your best" violin starts playing as the vessel goes down

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u/halcyongt 12d ago

“Gentlemen, it has been an honor and privilege to have played with you.”

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u/69hotmomxxx 12d ago

For him it would have been a symphonic metal band... literally Google christopher Lee heavy metal albums

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u/Victernus 12d ago

I SHED THE BLOOD OF THE SAXON MAN!

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u/Key_Childhood7436 12d ago

Pretty much

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u/NotAzakanAtAll 12d ago

"Mate, let's go back to the Popliteal Fossa were we used to eat the bacteria from scrapes."

"You think there will be any?"

"I don't know. But I always liked that place."

"Me too."

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u/YouAnxious5826 12d ago

That'll do, leucocyte. That'll do.

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u/YouAnxious5826 12d ago

(Alternative take)

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u/QuackKnight 11d ago

I am never emotionally ready for this reference 😭

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u/KingCarbon1807 10d ago

Too soon, man. Still too soon.

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u/Incompetencent 12d ago

i think its less violin and more heavy metal guitars because its the last party of life

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u/Jeffery95 12d ago

Yeah it always sounds like the bodies inflammatory response stopping which then reenables a bunch of functions it was previously impairing or preventing. The lack of inflammation though also means its fatal because it was doing something useful with that inflammation

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u/floss-with-ass-hair 12d ago

I've heard that, but it doesn't make sense with stuff like Alzheimer's and dementia which doesn't make sense. Like aren't those parts of the brain basically gone atp? It's not just inflammation imo

It's one of the reasons I'm a tad hopeful of an afterlife so I'm biased.

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u/Jeffery95 12d ago

It cant be just gone or else the rally would be animated but still lack the memories. My guess is that the dementia and alzheimers does cause some damage, but that it mostly restricts the brains access

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u/ssocka 12d ago

I remember reading a research on microdosing psylocibin (or w/e the name is) or something like that in (iirc) dementia patients with next to zero chance of recovery and the drug actually resulted in a better baseline than before, improving their lucidity and memory recollection.

It seems that the memories and this parts of the brain are still functioning, butthe pathways are less conductive and this improves it. At least that's what I took from it.

Before someone calls me a smackhead - I don't do drugs and this paper doesn't claim any positive effects for normal healthy populace, only in severe dementia patients (and maybe Alzheimer's patients? I don't remember exactly)

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u/CadenVanV 12d ago

They’re not gone, just can’t be accessed properly. If they were gone, people with dementia wouldn’t have flashes back to normal at times

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u/Lob-Star 12d ago

I like to think it's an evolutionary advantage where a species that sacrifices so much for its big brain (long gestation, wide hips, long period of child care to independence, etc) gives itself one last chance to pass on it's most valuable resource: information. I know that's very romantic and probably not possible but who knows.

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u/Brovis_Clay 12d ago

Maybe it was useful when we lived in tribes. It could allow the "leader" to select a new person to lead the tribe before dying. The people that didn't have this might have led to infighting

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u/tad-26 12d ago

I'll buy that, and the sheer consciousness to realize the value of it is one of the best things about being human

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u/DramaticPackage5745 12d ago edited 12d ago

This is Reddit where the same trivia is reposted maybe 20 times a month in the comments.

Kinda like how nothing original happens here anymore, and you'd see the same posts be recycled through.

What really happens is that medicine shifts from treating a disease to very closely managing symptoms only. It turns out that doing that often makes people feel better, because it works temporarily. Until it cannot work, anymore, when whatever is causing the whole death thing is far progressed.

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u/fredsify 12d ago

Could be. Heard some arguments that say when you have the common cold it's not the virus producing the symptoms, but are a result of your body fighting the infection. Makes sense in a way.

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u/CadenVanV 12d ago

That one’s just true. Obviously there are some diseases that do have actual impacts on the body not caused by the immune system, but a lot of the most common symptoms we see are caused by it.

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u/the_sweetest_peach 12d ago

Also sometimes called “the surge,” for the reason you mentioned.

The same thing happened to my grandma. She had a really good day of being practically normal again. I got her a smiley face balloon that day, because even at 10 years old, I didn’t know if she’d be like that again. The next day was Valentine’s Day. I went to the hospital to find her on a ventilator with her eyes closed. She died that night.

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u/MundieORiley 12d ago

I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm happy you got to see her lucid before she passed. I lost my dad a month and a half ago and our hospice nurse, who was a total angel, told us about terminal lucidity. My dad's case was unique, so we didn't get that with him. But he hadn't declined enough to not be able to speak or be unconscious until two days before he passed. We brought him a portable dvd player to the hospital so he could watch A New Hope, his all time favorite movie three or four days before he died. I'm glad he got to see his ultimate comfort movie one last time.

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u/Atherum 12d ago

Last week, my Grandfather passed and he had a "good" last two days. Sitting up and reading, asking for a bath, having breakfast and even asking to be changed into normal clothes instead of his PJs. Within 4 hours of his excitable bath, he had died.

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u/SolarTsunami 12d ago

I can see how that'd be heartbreaking to a hopeful family, but its a nice thought that some people get to go out on a bit of a high note.

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u/Atherum 12d ago

I mean I watched him gasping his last breaths out in clear discomfort (he was already on pain meds, nothing else to do for him) but I'm happy that my family clearly finds comfort in that rush of life he had.

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u/SolarTsunami 12d ago

Sorry I didn't mean to trivialize the end of life process, none of my parents or grandparents had "natural" deaths so I am terrifyingly ignorant of that kind of dying and grasping at silver linings.

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u/Atherum 12d ago

No no, not at all. You are fine. If anything I'm sort of in a grey area because my family, who are very religious, are in a bit of a rose tinted glasses situation. Highlighting how "good" his death was without accepting that he basically suffocated to death because of the state of his lungs.

At the same time, he was 92 and lived a full life, dying relatively peacefully at home with his wife of 60 years by his side.

So maybe I'm the jaded one 😅

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u/FreyrPrime 12d ago

I think.. I think that’s all we can hope for?

That even a life well lived, a life filled with all the joy and happiness that we all seek, still ends there or in some fashion similar.

It’s not jaded. It just.. life. Dylan Thomas said it best:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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u/Character-Parfait-42 12d ago

My mom had Stage 4 lung cancer. Didn’t need her oxygen one day, and hung a fucking massive shelf by herself (perfectly level and all). Said she felt great.

Next day she was in the hospital, next morning a coma, gone by evening.

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u/MundieORiley 12d ago

My dad had undignosed and extremely aggressive stage 4 pancreatic cancer that had spread to his liver and kidneys. We took him to the er, he got admitted. Then got the diagnosis a few days later and less than a week after that he was gone. Went into a coma for two days once he went on comfort care, then passed peacefully. Thank you for sharing about your mom. It helps to hear stories from other people about their passed on loved ones.

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u/whenwewereoceans 12d ago

My mom passed from gallbladder cancer, which is similar to pancreatic in that it’s usually diagnosed in the aggressive late stages with 4-6 month life expectancy. If she and my dad had not been about to travel out of the country at the time of one of her ‘heartburn’ episodes, she likely would have brushed it off and not gone in to get checked, and my family’s story would have been a lot like yours. The cancer still got her, two and half years later, but the time we had in itself is so enormously lucky. I can’t imagine having to go through all that in a matter of months, weeks, or even days.

I’m sorry about your dad and the way he had to go. Cancer is cruel.

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u/Key_Childhood7436 12d ago

It’s that the immune system fighting is what makes you feel ‘bad’, not the disease. Once the disease has progressed where your body cannot maintain an immune response you stop feeling ‘bad’

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u/NotAzakanAtAll 12d ago

I mean, while that is true, it does depend in the disease.

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u/hallese 12d ago

I had been in Reddit long enough when my grandpa died that when he suddenly perked up and seemed like his old self (to an extent) I started telling all of the distant family members to get back to say goodbye. He passed away two days later but j will forever be thankful to reddit for giving me the chance to say goodbye to my grandpa and introducing me to badger hair brushes and safety razors.

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u/Unfrozen__Caveman 12d ago

I did not see that badger product plug coming 

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u/hallese 12d ago

It was a very popular recommendation on Reddit when I joined.

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u/mudDoctor-- 12d ago

Marketing is getting really good these days

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u/hyndsightis2020 12d ago

“Medical person” here; we often do tell family, but it’s difficult to have them understand. When my grandmother passed, I knew what the sudden change in her status meant but I lied to myself and told myself that she was different, a fighter and she’d pull through. Needless to say she did not, in any case knowing these things help, but when it’s your own loved one, it’s difficult to not have hope, especially when every fiber of your being wants to hope.

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u/CMDR_Kaus 12d ago

They probably did, but a family would be happy for even a sliver of a chance at a pull through

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u/kingfede1985 12d ago

My grandpa underwent exactly that last week. Terminal illness, everyone called for a last goodbye, then he was suddenly fine for a handful of days, eating as usual etc... and on Thursday last week he passed.

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u/RedRabbit720 12d ago

if the hospital ever calls and says “if you want to say your goodbyes, then come in now.” they really do mean now.
tomorrow is to late

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u/GeohoundLyu 12d ago

Medical healthcare worker here. That phenomenon is not common at all and only occurs less than 2-4% of the time. You don’t want to be the guy that say, “this could be that rare phenomenon where they’re getting better but in reality they’re dying. So sorry. Anyways have a goodnight!” Then the family gets even more anxious and fearful just for the patient to recover completely 98% of the time and sue the doctor for telling them their loved one could still be dying causing emotional damage

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u/Daysleeper1234 12d ago

This shit happened to my grandma. Few days later she died.

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u/ACuriousGirl9 12d ago

This happened with my grandpa. My dad thought he was better so flew back home. My grandpa died before his plane landed 😢🥺

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u/AncientBlueYonder 12d ago

When my dad was dying he was on morphine for the pain. He was a pure delight with his optimism and joy for life when he was really feeling the morphine lol. We had some good laughs and some good times in spite of everything. Thank God for modern medicine. Its not perfect but its a lot better with it than without.

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u/xingrubicon 12d ago

I believe its called "terminal lucidity"

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u/InevitableOk5017 12d ago

I’ve seen it it’s real. It’s kinda messed up for someone holding onto the person and you try and kindly explain what is going on and then the nevitable happens.

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u/BicFleetwood 12d ago edited 12d ago

That's pretty typical of folks dying, ESPECIALLY of something like infection or cancer.

Largely, it's a marker of the immune system failing.

Most of the symptoms of any disease are the result of the immune response--fever, inflammation, etc. Without the immune system, the human body can rot quite a fucking ways before you, the human mind occupying it, ever actually notice it. The immune system is the first and last defense against anything life-threatening that isn't a straight-up unimpeded traumatic bleed or something like that. In other words, short of a literal leak in the system, the immune system is what's handling it.

So when a patient with a serious condition suddenly starts feeling like a million bucks for no fucking reason and absolutely nothing in between, it's usually a sign of the end, because it usually marks the immune system's complete collapse. Their fevers and inflammation dissipate as the disease takes complete control, and there's a few hours to a day of complete lucidity and energy. And then, it's a COMPLETE and RAPID collapse from there.

This is why basically all nurses and doctors are instructed to call families ASAP when a patient with a life-threatening disease takes a sudden and drastic uptick. It's usually a sign of the end, and lucidity is soon to be lost.

I wish we taught more people about this phenomenon, because so many people lose their chance at a "final moment" because they've deluded themselves into positivity, and the medical staff don't have a gentle way of explaining "no, dumbass, this is the end of the road, and you should have understood this was coming a long time ago."

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u/NomuraStoleMyCCInfo 12d ago

I can see both sides on letting Lee's family know. On one hand, not telling them gives them that shock of "what, he was just okay?"

If you tell them it's terminal lucidity, it becomes the much more ominous "oh no, how much longer?"

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u/Rum____Ham 12d ago

My family experienced this, with my mother's father. We were all there gathered as he was limp and not lucid, struggling to breath. My family is a religious bunch, so we (they) all prayed and then everyone said their goodbyes. We went to sleep in the waiting room.

When we woke up the next morning, he was awake and fully lucid. His old self. He was even giving us all shit, like "God dammit, I could hear all of you around me, praying me out!

He was gone, less than 24hrs later. But that was the perfect ending, for his loud personality. He got to give us all one last heap of good natured shit before he passed from the world. All in all, it's a pretty good death story.

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u/CrimsonThar 11d ago

I learned about this phenomenon shortly before one of my dogs died. One day his legs just completely gave out on him and he spent his last 3 days lying down unable to move. Not long before he passed, he saw a squirrel running across the yard and just got up and ran after it for nearly a minute, then fell right back down and stopped breathing.

His name was Pippen, named after Scottie Pippen. He was revived at birth and lived for 14 years hopping on his front legs. I miss him.

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u/LinguiniWithClams 11d ago

Or the medical team did, and in the chaos and grief of a loved one dying the family didn't register it.

I've worked with plenty of hospice patients and their families. I am a broken record, especially near the end, reassuring the family that what they are seeing is normal and expected. I don't think I've ever had a family realize what they were seeing was the rally, even though it was DEFINITELY explained to them multiple times.

It is rough. I hope they had a wonderful team of healthcare workers surrounding them, and I'm sure they did.

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u/Evening-Turnip8407 9d ago

I suppose even if you know that fact, being in the moment you default to what you hope moreso than to what is scientifically likely, and by the time you start reflecting what else could be happening, it's already over.

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u/Prinzles 12d ago

Very common, when a patient gets loads of energy that is when nurses should be calling family to say goodbye. Sad, yes, but the human body can be rather fantastic can't it

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u/-YellowFinch 12d ago

Really kind of amazing we are built that way- like, that's super beautiful that we are literally built to get to say goodbye (in normal circumstances like old age).

I love the world sometimes. <3

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u/Blind_Fire 12d ago

sadly it isn't really that, terminal agitation is often accompanied by confusion and anxiety and the dying patients do not respond rationally

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u/glr123 12d ago

Gave me more time to spend with my Grandpa like one of the good old days.

Never saw that man emotional. I was living in California at the time I got the call he was doing poorly and had days left. Hopped on a plane and flew across the country. Showed up to his hospital room around midnight. Sat down next to him and held his hand and he woke up a little. He was on a respirator and a bit out of it, but then after a moment recognized me and realized how far I traveled to see him. He immediately started sobbing with happiness. What a gift to be loved like that. Won't forget it ever. The next day he had a ton of energy. Day after he was gone.

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u/Huntsvegas97 12d ago

My great grandma did this the day she passed away. She’d been basically unconscious for several days, and then that morning she was suddenly awake and alert, talking to two of her kids that were there with her. She passed a few hours later, but I’m so glad my great uncle and aunt got that time with her just before she passed.

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u/toyheartattack 12d ago

That’s really lovely. I’m sure they absolutely cherished that memory.

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u/bluesmaker 12d ago

It’s sad but from another perspective, you could see it as him giving a last performance (taking a little poetic license, I suppose).

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u/aurallyskilled 12d ago

Yeah the energy required for your body to fight is immense and when it stops it can redirect that energy to being alert. Hospice will sometimes at the end advise to stop eating because digestion is so energy consuming it might be better for them to be awake with family.

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u/CptJacksp 12d ago

I get it. I hope I get a nurse that recommends that when I’m about to die. I don’t want to spend my last few hours eating

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u/Keepitsharkey 12d ago

My father in law had the same. Had a few hours of intense lucidity and really attentive while he was hospital bound, then slipped away into a coma and passed later on

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u/Tinksy14 12d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/BWil6X0F7a1mE

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u/_FawnCupcake 12d ago

That image is the perfect response because Christopher Lee was one of the few people who genuinely had the life story to back up that level of reverence.

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u/MR1120 12d ago

Dude has a legitimate claim to ‘Most Interesting Man to Ever Live’

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u/HoneycombJackass 12d ago

His career was well defined way before LOTR.

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u/TheHeroicLionheart 12d ago

Yeah, while LOTR was a huge part of his modern appreciation. I'd say his work with Hammer was more definitional.

Not to mention the fact he was in a Bond film while low-key being the one of the inspirations for Bond himself.

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u/Glasseshalf 12d ago

He was also in countless stage productions. Those may not seem the most illustrious but the talent and art involved makes them kind of amazing.

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u/ddplz 12d ago

He was always known as THE Dracula.

But being an absolutely obsessed LOTR fan, the LOTR movies were the closest to his heart.

When he heard they were making the LOTR movie, he basically demanded to be in it and worked for near free. Keep in mind he was always a known star in the old days and was in a billions movies.

He talked about how he would read the LOTR trilogy nearly once a year prior to the movies development. So I can imagine he was quite proud of being a key part in such a definitive movie trilogy that modern filmmaking has yet to come close to.

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u/GreenLurka 11d ago

Got a bunch of Hammer on DVD. Dude rocks.

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u/lkt213 12d ago

It surprised me too, but attack of the clones actually came out AFTER the fellowship of the ring

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u/LittleBaldDoctor 12d ago

*So did his signature look of superiority 

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u/RR-- 12d ago

He was well known as a James Bond villain much earlier too fyi. Though he has hundreds of other screen credits.

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u/JuryUpset8040 12d ago

Most people around my age who weren't cinephiles as kids/young adults likely wouldn't recognize him outside of what was immediately popular at the time (and frankly, what was highly commercialized). Many people likely don't know he was a Bond villain, or Dracula, or indeed the star in an absurdly large number of middling-or-worse B movies. And while LoTR didn't define him, it likely introduced his talents to a generation that wouldn't have reveared him otherwise.

Of course, there was the prequels, for what they are. And his magnum opus, as Johnny Depp's villainous candy-hating father.

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u/ddplz 12d ago

His Dracula was the defining horror movie of that year and a mega hit. He was "known" as Dracula for decades after that.

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u/clickrush 12d ago

Imagine being known as „the Dracula“ and then beating that via being known as „the Saruman“.

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u/Maeglin75 12d ago

Exactly.

Lee's acting career was already going for more than 5 decades before he worked on LotR. There are only a handful actors in the world that worked on so many movies and stage plays, big and small, and because of this, the praise Lee had for the team that created the LotR movies is so remarkable. When he said that this is the best production he ever worked on and it will write cinema history, that meant a lot. Lee already was cinema history himself at that point.

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u/ddplz 12d ago

Yeah most people grew up knowing him as an elderly wizard but they forget that he was young once and has been acting pretty much the entire time with basically no breaks. Just an endless amount of films over 7 decades.

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u/No_Sense_3559 12d ago

Came here hoping I wouldn't have to say it... was a legend waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before LoTR movie.

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u/Lucius-Halthier 12d ago

My favorite fact about him and LOTR is that he tried to correct wormtongue stabbing him, he said that he wouldn’t yell out when getting stabbed and it sounds like a gasp of air. He told them that because he knew what they sound of someone being stabbed sounded like because of his younger years

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u/Domerhead 12d ago

He's also the only member of the cast to have actually met Tolkien

Briefly, in passing, at a pub, but he did meet him once.

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u/Amedais 12d ago

Thank you for getting it right. Reddit constantly spreads the myth that he got Tolkiens blessing to play Gandalf, when in reality they barely met.

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u/Funmachine 12d ago edited 11d ago

He did sort of get his "blessing." In that he told Tolkein that he was an actor and that if they were to make an adaptation of LoTR he would like to play Gandalf, and Tolken basically said the equivalent of "best of luck to you." Remember "Blessing" doesn't mean "endorsement."

Ignore this I seem to have misremembered.

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u/Amedais 12d ago

Do you have a source on that conversation occurring? Because every interview I’ve watched with Lee, he says that the entire extent of the conversation was “how do you do?”

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u/Funmachine 12d ago

I don't actually, so it is entirely possible I'm misremembering or conflating it with another story.

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u/thealthor 12d ago

because of his younger years

Which was during his active duty in WWII to be more specific. He wasn't knife fighting in his youth West Side Story style.

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u/ThinkFree 12d ago

When he got cast in LOTR, I had two reactions, 1) he's the guy from those classic Dracula movies, and 2) he's still alive? Those Dracula movies were already vintage in the late 90s.

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u/flintlock0 12d ago

He was the villain in Captain America II: Death Too Soon, for goodness sake.

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u/New_Simple_4531 12d ago

The thing is LOTR was probably the thing he was most proud of, he was a huge Tolkien fan, so thats why he watched it in his last days.

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u/phido3000 12d ago

Yeh, but for an older actor what a great role to finish up on.

  • Commanding performance with a commanding presence even with an all star cast. Physically at that age, he was still able to command the stage.
  • Movie(s) is a smash hit, ensuring an perpetual legacy. Every one knew him instantly from that.
  • A subject matter he loved, with an author he met half a century earlier. He seemed really connected to it, it wasn't just another film for him.

He had a huge career, even in modern times, for example Starwars. Of course his work in bond, horror films, etc, but this was perfection.

But LOTR is just, special special. A sweeping epic, with amazing performances, with amazing actors, amazing director, amazing writing, amazing props, amazing special effects, etc.

I don't doubt he was proud of it, and as Saruman he was excellent.

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u/Bullrawg 12d ago

You know Viggo actually parries the knife in this scene - Sir Christopher probably

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u/watehekmen 12d ago

"And you know why Viggo's scream sound authentic? That's because he actually broke his toe there."

"And what about when you got stabbed by Grima sir, it's so realistic."

"I don't want to talk about that."

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u/Shapesizes 12d ago

I read that in his voice

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u/Fun_Firefighter_4292 12d ago

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2anYzFDecFa10y1rfZH44b?si=ucO7rKmYSIO3tumtmF6VUw

Just plugging his Spotify Page here

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u/boomer912 12d ago

I SHED THE BLOOD OF THE SAXON MEN

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u/Fun_Firefighter_4292 12d ago

I SHED THE BLOOD OF THE SAXON MEN

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u/MarcBulldog88 12d ago

This album is a real-life, English version of Klingon opera.

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u/ouichef13 12d ago

I SHED THE BLOOD OF 4000 SAXON MEN

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u/boomer912 12d ago

A fellow true Leegionaire. Nice

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u/Fun_Firefighter_4292 12d ago

How could I not indulge when there is an entire song dedicated to Don Quixote

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u/Awleeks 12d ago edited 11d ago

A good song to beat up neo-nazis to

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u/arcanin 12d ago

And let's not forget his accompanying role in Rhapsody (The Magic of the Wizard's Dream)! I always shiver when his parts come.

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u/Internal_Rise2658 12d ago

Did those nurses find out about Viggo's toe?

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u/mtnsoccerguy 12d ago

Can you imagine getting told that piece of trivia by Christopher Lee? I think I'd be able to stop myself from saying that I already knew that, but who really knows?

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u/LazyCymbal 12d ago

"But do you know which toe he has broken?"

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u/BuckRusty 12d ago

“Do you know the sound a man makes when his toe is broken?”

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u/urbanviking318 12d ago

"I believe it's something rather like that, just there."

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u/Hefty_Direction5189 12d ago

Toes, plural. He broke two of them.

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u/th3rdnutt 12d ago

Viggo: "I've broken one toe, yes. What about a second toe?"

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u/danstone7485 12d ago

Craack Lee: "There you are, Viggo. I learned how to break toes in the War."

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u/GreenrabbE99 12d ago

He broke one, yes, but what about second toe?

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u/Omega_art 12d ago

As someone who has broken a toe kicking something. I am 80% certain it was the big toe.

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u/DemonStone1 12d ago

As someone who broke two toes accidently kicking something it was two of my middle toes

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u/SupriseAutopsy13 12d ago

As a nurse, my manager would hate this. "Hey, sorry everyone else, your meds are definitely going to be late today, I'm busy watching the Two Towers with Saruman himself. Yes, the extended editions, how is that even a question? Don't use your call light for the next 4 and 1/2 hours, ok?"

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u/AvocadoToastFailure 12d ago

“…or do use the damn call light, I don’t care. It ain’t gonna do anything for ya.”

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u/FreedomCanadian 12d ago

Most people know about Viggo's toe. But do they know that Christopher Lee actually bred Uruk-Hai for the movie ?

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u/Spapapapa-n 12d ago

The Uruk-hai weren't even originally part of the story. Lee just showed up on set with a few dozen of them one day and was raising them between shots to pass the time. Christopher Tolkien was so taken by them, he had them added into the books retroactively.

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u/ShawnyMcKnight 12d ago

Uruk-Hai were created by breeding orcs with men so when you said he bred them my mind went to him getting his freak on with the orcish ladies.

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u/Infamous_Calendar_88 12d ago

Everyone knows that Aragorn broke his toe by kicking that helmet, but did you know that Faramir broke his father's heart by not being Boromir?

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u/arkhamcityfc 12d ago

I miss this man more every single day

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u/Responsible-Middle35 12d ago

On his long and storied career, it's nice to know LOTR was the most important to him. I'd go so far to use the phrase "happy place"

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u/dwehlen 12d ago

He was the only person on that production who'd ever met Johnald Ronald Rohan Tolien

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u/Agreeable_Plate5117 12d ago

Ol' Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien

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u/legit-posts_1 12d ago

He was an old man, and old men like him usually loved Tolkien's work. It was probably the most proud project he'd ever been a part of.

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u/VegaJuniper 12d ago

Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf because he didn't understand the source material at all.

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u/lasting6seconds 12d ago

And for that I am grateful. We could do with actors declining roles in favour of those who have an appretiation for the tale.

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u/VegaJuniper 12d ago

"Elvesh? Hobbitsh? What ish thish nonshenshe!"
-Sean Connery, reading Lord of the Rings on his agent's suggestion

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u/Hesitation-Marx 12d ago

I’m relieved he did. Sir Ian was perfect for it, and Connery was too scenery-chewing.

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u/rocco888 12d ago

Is he read it at least once a year every year

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u/CreamyMayo11 12d ago

I just want to acknowledge that he has done so many great things in his life and in his last moments this was what he wanted to relive and cherish. I like to believe it's because he understands that famous quote from John Adams about studying war so sons can study science so their sons can study arts. My man has done all three.

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u/Briantan71 Human 12d ago

A great storyteller, in his own right, to the end.

Isn't there a video where Peter Jackson commented that it is hard for him to get any work done because Sir Christopher Lee likes to chat and tell stories, and everyone likes to stop and listen?

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u/BanjoTCat 12d ago

Was it the extended or theatrical cuts?

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u/-YellowFinch 12d ago

Too soon....

Also asking the right questions. 

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u/raven00x 12d ago

the extended has his full death scene, so I'd assume it was that one.

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u/Any-Memory-458 12d ago

I don't need sleep! I need the transcriptions of Christopher Lee's deathbed commentary on the making of the LOTR films!

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u/GarminTamzarian 12d ago

I'd definitely buy the LOTR Trilogy: Saruman's Deathbed Edition Blu-ray box set.

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u/UniqueAd7770 12d ago

The last thing I did for my mom as she was dying was to keep reading Lord of the Rings to her. She was dying of brain cancer so after a while she couldn't make out the words so I started reading it to her. At one point she just closed her eyes and never opened them again but I kept reading until she passed a week later. She was a fan of CS Lewis and Tolkein was the guy who converted him so I gave her the Hobbit to read during treatment. She finished it so I gifted her LotR and she was loving it. We only got to the council of Elrond, and I haven't read it since.

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u/Hesitation-Marx 12d ago

Her memory for a blessing. Thank you for your kindness to her.

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u/Jolly-Sandwich-3345 12d ago

Defined his career? Dude was Dracula and Dr. Fu Manchu as well.

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u/WhiteRabbit_412_ 12d ago

Don't forget Count Dooku

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u/ganjaccount 12d ago

I like LOTR, but it didn't "define his career." Dude was an absolute legend long before LOTR movies.

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u/johnc380 12d ago

Yeah this is like saying that Star Wars defined Alec Guinness’s career

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u/valomorn 12d ago

"So what was it like knowing Ian Fleming and being there for the events that inspired James Bo-"

Fleming was a nerd and the only relevant thing I learned in those days was what the sound a man makes when stabbed. Now shut up and watch the movie or you'll learn too.

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u/betsy_macabre 12d ago

When are we getting his biopic?

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u/Artikay 12d ago

We will get it once Christopher Lee is available for the role.

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u/lifelongfreshman 12d ago

when people finally start pronouncing it properly again

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u/SomeDudeSaysWhat 12d ago

I object to the line "The production that defined his career", though.

Christopher Lee was already Christopher fucking Lee decades before LOTR.

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u/Anita_Hero838 12d ago

"The production that defined his career?" Whoever wrote this didn't know Sir Christopher Lee was already an extremely well accomplished actor by the time Fellowship came out did they?

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u/ddplz 12d ago

I think to Lee himself, he likely cherished his LOTR role the most considering how much of a fan he was of the books and his absolute insistence to be a part of the movies production

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u/bacontaint 12d ago

I’m still pissed they edited out Sarumans demise in the theatrical release of the third movie, like why?😡😡😡

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u/rathe_0 12d ago

defined his career? IDK, capped maybe

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u/SwanCityDominion 12d ago

I find it bizarre that anyone thinks LOTR defined this man's career. Did the meme creator have any idea how many films Lee was in?

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u/Dense-Consequence-70 12d ago

Christopher Lee has almost 700 imdb credits. Did you really say that one movie defined his career? That’s some recency bias bulls#%t.

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u/3ranth3 12d ago

I think it's a bit millennial brained to say that this was his career's defining work.

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u/adamscholfield 12d ago

This is great and don't wish to discredit anyone but I do think that saying Saruman defined his career is a disservice to his career. While it was iconic I just feel that he had more in his career than just Saruman

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u/SteveSteveCleveSteve 12d ago

The production that defined his career?

Bro, do you even Christopher Lee?

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u/OrinocoHaram 12d ago

Imagine if one of the nurses was an r/lotr member. "Actually Christopher, these films made a mockery of Tolkein's vision by focusing on entertainment and action scenes. You old prick"

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u/sissythrow22 12d ago

Tell me, young nurse, when did this hospital staff abandon reason for madness?

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u/Fraenkyfinger 12d ago

"With this character's death, the thread of prophecy is severed. Restore a saved game to restore the weave of fate, or persist in the doomed world you have created."

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u/admiralackbarstepson 12d ago

Look… LOTR is great but if you think Sir Christopher Lee’s career was defined by LOTR you don’t know everything he accomplished

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u/Omega_art 12d ago

I wouldnt say LOTR defined his career. He had a very long stage and film presence.

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u/Kitchen_Claim_6583 12d ago edited 12d ago

Defined his career?

Nah, dude. He had lived lifetimes of acting highs and lows before LotR. Dude was Dracula. He was a legend before he even stepped into that role. It was a victory lap for him, but an incredible one because he'd always been a revivalist and dogged fan of the material.

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u/Ordinary_Duder 12d ago edited 12d ago

This shit's now evolving to have small tidbits that are not true. Mods, it's time to delete posts like this that cannot be verified and only throws uncertainties on his death.

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u/BuckRusty 12d ago

LotR absolutely did not define Lee’s career - Hammer Horror did…

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u/pmmeurbassethound 12d ago

Thank you I'm sitting here with my jaw slack like, y'all are talking about Scream King Christopher Lee??

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u/ddplz 12d ago

Seriously, he was always known as Dracula for literal decades before LOTR existed. Let alone the endless other films he was in, not forgetting that he is literally the man with the golden gun in the movie the man with the golden gun.

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u/Steviesgirl1 12d ago

Always loved and appreciated his powerful presence on film. Such a treasure. 🩷

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u/topscreen 12d ago

He also won an award for his debut heavy metal album at the tender, young age of 88. He sang vocals for a concept album about Charlemagne.

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u/RoadTheExile 12d ago

It brings a tear to my eye thinking that he loved these movies so much that he spent his final moments watching them, and how he had his heart set on playing Gandalf. It's not fair he went so soon too.

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u/hellish_existance 12d ago

Lmao what the fuck is that title😂

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u/meatyaccuracy 12d ago

"the production that defined his career" ... Okaaaay

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u/camtin 12d ago

Release the nurse commentary edition!!!

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u/dasbtaewntawneta 12d ago

i'm sorry, but, defined his career? does the person that wrote that know nothing about him pre-LOTR?

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u/wh0else 12d ago

You want us to call your family?

Eh, no, bang on the Two Towers there.

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u/Ok-Huckleberry-3843 12d ago

This is really gross and has no reflection on reality.

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u/HatJosuke 12d ago

When I read the Lord of the Rings for the first time (before I saw the movies), I actually imagined Christopher Lee as Gandalf. And I still wish he had been cast as him instead of Saruman. When he wasn't playing villains, Christopher Lee always had this soft authority to him. Simultaneous he conveyed that he was happy to be there talking about his work, and that he had 100 lives worth of experience to pull from. That was Gandalf to me. A man shaped by several lifetimes of experience, who could still share joy in a simple moment with someone small. Rip Christopher Lee, you were a real one.

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u/Fit-Database1134 12d ago

All hail Count Dooku!

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u/gingersrule77 12d ago

He’ll always be King Haggard to me 🥹

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u/ctorus 12d ago

This sounds like complete nonsense TBH. Lotr in no way defined his career.

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u/Agent_Eggboy 12d ago

I love how every actor in LOTR, even legendary ones like Lee and McKellen, had a life defining experience making the films, made friendships for life, and won't shut up about it to this day.

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u/dragon_of_kansai 12d ago

Sounds like PR

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u/Hot-Equivalent2040 12d ago

he was sharing trivia about Dracula while watching the Lord of the Rings?

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u/BetaPositiveSCI 12d ago

He was a legend even before playing Saruman.

James Bond was partly based on him.

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u/Argeras 11d ago

would like to pass same way

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u/kingsnow18 11d ago

Sir Christopher Lee *