Christopher Lee, the second most famous Dracula of the 20th century - an impressive feat - and a memorably irrepressible villain in James Bond film "The Man With the Golden Gun," in the Star Wars films and in "The Lord of the Rings" pics, has died. He was 93.

Lee appeared in 10 films as Count Dracula (nine if his uncredited role in the comedy "One More Time" is excluded).

His first role for famed British horror factory Hammer Films was not the Transylvanian vampire, however, but Frankenstein's Monster in 1957's "The Curse of Frankenstein." His close friend Peter Cushing, with whom he would co-star in horror films frequently, starred as the Baron.

Lee made his first appearance as the sharp-toothed Count in 1958's "Horror of Dracula."

For reasons not quite certain, he skipped the 1960 sequel "Brides of Dracula," but he returned to the role for 1965's "Dracula: Prince of Darkness" - a movie in which he hissed a lot but had no dialogue, because the dialogue was so bad, Lee later claimed.

Lee said later that he was reluctant to continue in the role but appeared in "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave" (1968), "Taste the Blood of Dracula" (1969) and "Scars of Dracula" (1970), hit films that are all now considered classics of the genre. In his last Dracula films for Hammer, Lee starred in the less-successful "Dracula A.D. 1972" and "Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride" (1973), which brought the character into a contemporary setting. (Lee also starred in "Count Dracula," a film by cult exploitation director Jess Franco that was made in 1970 and released in 1973; in 1976, the multilingual Lee appeared as Dracula in a French film called "Dracula and Son.")

Lee made horror films for Hammer that were not vampire-centered. He was the title character in 1959's "The Mummy" and 1966's Rasputin, the Mad Monk." He also brought Dennis Wheatley, an acclaimed author of occult thriller, to Hammer, where two adaptations were produced, both starring Lee: "The Devil Rides Out" (1967) and "To the Devil a Daughter" (1976) The first is considered among Hammer's best work. The second, although financially successful, was something of a disaster, with the author disowning the film, which was the studio's last horror pic.

He also appeared in a number of non-Hammer horror films, including the "Fu Manchu" series of the late 1960s; "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" adaptation "I, Monster" (1970); "The Creeping Flesh," with Cushing; and Lee's favorite horror effort, "The Wicker Man," in which he played Lord Summerisle.

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There was no reason to suspect, in short, that Lee would have his profile raised substantially during the 2000s, in his 80s. Lee was, however, the only actor to make substantial appearances in both the "Lord of the Rings" and "Stars Wars" film franchises. In the trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's books (Lee's appearance in the third film was cut from the theatrical version but restored for DVD), he played the duplicitous and ultimately villainous wizard Saruman; he repeated the role in the three "Hobbit" movies. In the "Star Wars" pics "Episode II - Attack of the Clones" and "Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," he played Count Dooku (the name chosen almost certainly in tribute to Lee's most famous character), who becomes the evil Darth Tyranus. The highlight of Lee's appearance in the "Star Wars" films was the six-foot-five actor's lightsaber duel with a fully digitized and diminutive Yoda.