THE YEAR IS 1973 AND CHRISTOPHER LEE HAS COME TO THE END OF HIS ROPE. IN HIS OPINION STUMBLING AROUND DRAFTY OLD CHURCHES, CLINGING TO WAFER THIN PLOTS AND TRAPPED BY TYPE CASTING, WAS NOT WHAT HE HAD IN MIND, WHEN HE PUT HIS NAME ON THAT HAMMER FILMS CONTRACT ALMOST TWENTY YEARS PREVIOUSLY. YET, STILL THE PUBLIC AND MEDIA WANT MORE.
JUST WEEKS BEFORE THE RELEASE OF WHAT WOULD BE THE LAST TIME THAT CHRISTOPHER LEE'S NAME WOULD BE ATTACHED TO A HAMMER/DRACULA FILM, HE AGREES TO ATTEND A PHOTO SESSION FOR THE DAILY MIRROR NEWSPAPER, AS COUNT DRACULA.
TWO VERSIONS OF ALL THE IMAGES WOULD BE TAKEN. ONE WITH MODELS CLOTHED, THE OTHER MINUS THEIR SILKY TOP GARMENTS. THE DAILY MIRROR AND MOST OF THE UK'S RED TOP TABLOIDS, DID AT THIS TIME, ALWAYS GIVE ROOM ON PAGE THREE OR FIVE FOR ANYTHING WITH LONG LEGS AND AMPLE PIEPT.
BY STUDYING THE EXPOSURES...NO PUN INTENDED...YOU CAN SEE LEE'S PATIENCE WAS TESTED. BUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER, ALONG WITH LEE'S NERVES, JUST KEPT SNAPPING. WHAT WE HAVE TODAY IS A ROLL IMAGES, THAT CAPTURE THE FINAL MOMENTS OF A ONCE MAJESTIC AND POWERFUL CHARACTER. NOW, WHEELED ON FOR THE LAST TIME.
IT IS THOUGHT SEVERAL COLLECTORS OWN COPIES OF THESE PHOTOGRAPHS, BUT OFCOURSE, AS COLLECTORS WANT, THEY DON'T SHARE. WE HOWEVER, WILL BE SHARING THE WHOLE TWENTY EXPOSURES WITH YOU, DURING HAMMER DRACULA MONTH...MINUS THE OUR CENSORS PENCIL!
I still can't believe that Lee agreed to do this shoot. Especially the topless photos....I wonder if Hammer paid him a bonus for doing it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Hammer paid him anything than was the agreed amount per contract and was standard with all their later projects. At this time, according to Christopher Lee he was doing many things that were above and beyond his contract, purely to help keep the company afloat, seal contracts with 'the money people' and keep the production crews in their jobs. The weird and interesting thing about this session is that...it was commissioned by Hammer. That is why we are doing the feature. All will be revealed..:)
ReplyDeleteI've seen the odd one of these over the last few years, but never realized they were taken by the Mirror newspaper group and also assumed Lee was mugging for the camera, with the unimpressed look. They make for a wonderful potted snapshot history of Lee's association with the role ... real talking point. Be nice to see more of this set :)
ReplyDeleteFascinating to see some facts concerning these photos - I've always wondered what the story behind them was. I've seen them referred to once or twice as publicity photos for 'AD 1972', despite the fact that the girls don't appear in the film, but that's clearly wrong. Presumably the plan was to plug 'Satanic Raites'? Apart from one of the colour photos from the shoot later appearing in an Alan Frank book, one result was a colour shot with a nude back view of the girls being sold as a poster amongst a range of mostly pop posters. This seems very rare, but I got one on eBay about a year ago.
ReplyDelete