Known for his deep voice and the hundreds of roles he’s played on our screens from Dracula to Saruman, Christopher Lee has led a very eventful life – and that’s putting it mildly. Born in 1922 and a cousin of Ian Fleming (the man behind the James Bond spy novels), he was a spy himself during the Second World War and even met Rasputin’s assassins (who he would go on to play a few years later). He witnessed the last public execution in France in 1939, was the only Lord of the Rings actor to have actually met J.R.R. Tolkien, and was even a singer in a metal band.