Has said that his favorite director is Tim Burton.
Has starred in three different films/television series in which he had either known or met the (late) author of the original work: "Gormenghast" (2000) (Mervyn Peake), The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) (Ian Fleming, his cousin).
Has starred in three movies with Johnny Depp: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride (2005), Sleepy Hollow (1999).
Has three roles in common with Boris Karloff. They have both played Fu Manchu, The Mummy and Frankenstein's Monster.
Has worked with three different Gollums. The first Gollum, Brother Theodore, provided a voice in The Last Unicorn (1982). The second, Peter Woodthorpe, appeared with him in "The Odyssey" (1997). The last, Andy Serkis, appeared with him in the Lord of the Rings films.
Has worked with three James Bonds: Roger Moore in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Pierce Brosnan in "Around the World in 80 Days" (1989/I), and Daniel Craig in The Golden Compass (2007).
He appears in a scene from The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) on screen during the drive-in sequence in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962).
He has also done a few small roles that only require his voice, such as the priest in Corpse Bride (2005), and the Jabberwocky in Alice in Wonderland (2010).
He has one child, Christina Erika Lee (b. November 23rd, 1963) with his wife Birgit Kroencke Lee (Gitte Lee).
He is fluent in German.
He is of noble Italian ancestry on his mother's side (Carandini).
He is possibly the only actor in cinematic history to have achieved a unique trifecta. He has played a Star Wars villain (Count Dooku), a James Bond villain (Francisco Scaramanga), and a classic movie horror monster (Dracula, the Mummy, and Frankenstein's Monster).
He is the tallest of the many actors who have played Count Dracula.
He learned how to speak German by listening to Richard Wagner records.
He made his stage debut in school as the demonic lead in "Rumpelstiltskin", a sign of things to come.
He struggled to get work early in his career as a supporting actor because almost all the male stars were shorter than he.
He studied at Summerfield Preparatory School and attended Wellington College.
He was awarded a Knight Bachelor in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama and to charity. The ceremony took place at Buckingham Palace on 30 October 2009, and was carried out by HRH Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales.
He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.
He was cast as a ballad soloist called The Gentleman Ghost in the film adaption of the Broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, but his role was cut when the ballad numbers were omitted. He never filmed the scenes, however, he was present for the recording session.