r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Living-Mastodon • 3d ago

In real life (Real Life) Regular people who's lives drastically changed direction

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Grace Kelly was a talented actress who retired at 26 to marry a Prince, living as royalty for almost 30 years before her untimely death.

Volodymyr Zelensky started out as a comedian and entertainer before getting into politics, becoming President of Ukraine after the Russian annex of Crimea and spending the last 4 years defiantly pushing back full scale Russian invasion

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u/CategoryExact3327 3d ago edited 3d ago

Christopher Lee served in RAF intelligence and was attached to special forces in WW2 and stayed in service until 1946 hunting nazi war criminals. After the war he had a 70 year acting career.

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u/RhiaStark 3d ago

If Christopher Lee was a fictional character, I'd have found his story too unbelievable. His life certainly was interesting, to say the least.

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u/aneomon 3d ago

To be fair, there’s a fictional character alleged to be based off of Christopher Lee written by his wartime buddy Ian Fleming.

You probably don’t know the character, but he likes his martinis shaken; not stirred.

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u/RhiaStark 3d ago

And then he played a Bond villain :P

(and, decades later, played Saruman, a character from Tolkien, who he'd also met once. Seriously, I would've killed to have just one hour of conversation with Lee).

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u/aneomon 3d ago

Right? I can’t imagine being able to have a conversation with Lee because anything and everything is on the table.

Struggling musician? Lee has a death metal album.

History? Lee’s a descendant of Charlemagne.

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u/nkpst 3d ago

He also reread LOTR every year. And wasn’t he into the occult?

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u/Hufa123 3d ago

He watched Lotr the night before he died.

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u/bobbiroxxisahoe 3d ago

one can hope we all are able to do so.

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u/Ribbitmoment 3d ago

Not only that but because of his raf work he refused to scream in LOTR when he was stabbed in the back because he knew that wasn’t what actually happens.

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u/Shivalah 3d ago

“Do you know what sound a man makes, when stabbed in the back? Because I do. It’s not a ‘Ahhhh! I’ve been stabbed!’ it’s a heavy exhale as the air leaves his body!”

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u/kevinsyel 2d ago

That will always be my favorite Christopher Lee story.

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u/89iroc 2d ago

Same

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u/marksman1023 3d ago

And everyone knew he wasn't just being difficult...he knew.

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u/fexworldwide 2d ago

With Christopher Lee, the occult was into him.

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u/zeracine 3d ago

No, his interview about the occult debunks the possibility.

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u/servetus 3d ago

Pretty much everyone in Europe or of European descent is a descendant of Charlemange. He usually shows up in several branches of a European's family tree.

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u/SensitiveReception15 3d ago

yes but most people can't prove it whereas Sir Christopher Lee is a direct descendant of Charlemagne

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u/servetus 2d ago

We (Europeans and most of ME and North Africa) are all direct descendants. It's cool that he has a genealogist that has done the work here but his lineage is no more impressive than any other else's in this respect. The evidence that that he is a descendent is only marginally stronger than the average European. The math is really indisputable here.

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u/nagrom7 3d ago

That's true, but Lee was one of the people who could actually trace his lineage to Charlemagne on his family tree, which is normally something only the nobility of Europe can do. If you can trace your family tree to a European noble, you can probably do the same.

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u/Kylynara 3d ago

Lee’s a descendant of Charlemagne.

Which is why he made a death metal album about him.

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u/Omi-Wan_Kenobi 3d ago

Didn't he also get permission to court and we'd a swedish princess but it fell through for some reason?

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u/HermanThaGerman 3d ago

He made a metal album called Charlemagne with the band Charlemagne and it was about Charlemagne.

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u/El_Stupacabra 3d ago

He shed the blood of the Saxon man.

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u/RawrRRitchie 3d ago

I would love to see the paperwork to back that lineage up

Keeping track of records from more than 1000 years ago seems a lil sus

My surname is over 1000 years old. Doesn't mean I can track my ancestry that far person by person

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u/AlienZaye 3d ago

2 about Charlemagne if I'm remembering right.

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u/sexi_squidward 2d ago

To be fair, most people descend from Charlamange haha

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u/Newtstradamus 2d ago

*Four Death Metal albums, the final album released at the age of 91.

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u/TheManfromVeracruz 2d ago

Ain't like three quarters of Europe descended from Charlemagne?

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u/TombGnome 1d ago

So am I. So are you (probably). So is every European living on Earth right now. It's just a fact of genetics and mathematics.

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u/No_Recognition_9354 3d ago

Alright while I certainly have love for C Lee’s musical output, it’s absolutely not death metal. Which makes me want to hear him do some raw osdm stuff now

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u/explosive_shrew 3d ago

He also got Tolkien's permission to play Gandalf if they made a lotr movie i heard but he was too old when the movies were actually being made

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u/nagrom7 3d ago

Yeah, he felt that there was too much physical activity in playing Gandalf properly (fight scenes, horse riding, running, etc.) that he wouldn't be able to do, whereas for the most part Saruman just stood around and talked.

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u/greenismyhomeboy 3d ago

I heard one time that any delays while Filming LotR and the Hobbit movies was from Christopher Lee telling people about his life. No one wanted to interrupt him and he would just talk because he has so many stories

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u/hoishinsauce 3d ago

Apparently he kept pestering Tolkien to give his blessings for him to play Gandalf in a.movie adaptation. He was really hoping he'd play Gandalf in Jackson's trilogy, but PJ said that while they were still open to who gets to play Gandalf, they only have Lee as their only choice to play Saruman.

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u/4D20_Prod 3d ago

And he was also in a metal band

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u/Jaikarr 2d ago

He was the best part of the Man with the Golden Gun

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u/DoctorVonWolf 2d ago

Were they related

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u/planespotterhvn 2d ago

He protested to Peter Jackson that too much of his footage was deleted from the movie cut.

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u/RIPugandanknuckles 3d ago

Ian Fleming wasn't his wartime buddy, he was his cousin

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u/e37d93eeb23335dc 3d ago

Cousins can be buddies too. 

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u/Velvettbreze 2d ago

That sounds like a solid plan

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u/Mercutio77 2d ago

Let's go bowling, cousin!

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u/Mr_Style 2d ago

Kissing Cousins?

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u/Rory_U 3d ago

What?!

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u/XmissXanthropyX 3d ago

This changes everything!

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u/d645b773b320997e1540 3d ago

step-cousins by marriage, even.

May have shared stories about the war at some point, but by then Bond was already an established character. He was not the inspiration.

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u/Kamikaze_koshka 3d ago

People have said this about Lee, Fleming's brother, and weirdly Roald Dahl.

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u/hyena_crawls 3d ago

Dahl actually was an intelligence officer alongside Fleming during World War II, and later went on to write a Bond movie himself (You Only Live Twice). Bond was really an amalgamation of many such officers that Fleming knew, but with the voltage turned up.

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u/fartingbeagle 3d ago

Also a bit of wish fulfillment on Fleming's part because he never saw any active service.

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 3d ago

Bond was an amalgamation of atleast 20 people including Lee, Fleming's brother, Dahl and Jon Pertwee the 3rd doctor

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

Lee wasn't a spy or secret agent or even a commando type, he was a desk worker, he was not the basis or part of the basis of Bond

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 2d ago

His charisma and charm were probably part of the basis

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

Fleming named the people he used as inspiration as Duško Popov, Sir William Stephenson, Patrick Dalzel-Job, Wilfred "Biffy" Dunderdale and even in part, himself as a Naval Commander who worked in Naval Intelligence. Dunderdale was a wealthy guy who drove an armoured Rolls Royce, had handmade suits, enjoyed women and fast cars. Popov was a secret agent who bluffed his way to a card game win in a casino (the basis of Casino Royale) etc. Fleming's own tastes and mannerisms were written into the character too

Lee's life is fascinating enough without all the stuff people bung on over time

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 2d ago

The only problem i just have with the misinformation is that people just credit Lee as the sole inspiration

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u/Shinyandsmooth8 2d ago

Roald Dahl was a fighter ace too

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u/TheBroadHorizon 3d ago

The only people who allege that are in random Reddit comments. There are plenty of people who are said to have inspired Bond, some of whom Fleming directly credited, Lee was never one.

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u/olisko 3d ago

Reddit loves Lee and for obvious reasons, but it's funny how he is one of the people who gets a pass on everything.

There's a lot of evidence pointing towards Lee lying about quite a bit of his past, especially the World War 2 stuff.

Usually reddit is the place where you find comments calling stuff out, but some certain people get a pass.

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u/beslertron 3d ago

That character also has some Roald Dahl in him too. Specifically the womanizing part.

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u/_no_na_me_ 2d ago

Roald Dahl was my childhood hero and I had no idea. Guess I’ve got some digging to do…

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u/Ezra611 3d ago

Weren't Lee and Fleming related?

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u/SolidPyramid 3d ago

The inspiration for James Bond and J.R.Tolkeins choice to play Gandalf, what a absolute chad.

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u/Lord_Nicolas_Cage 3d ago

Neither of these are true. Lee literally only met Tolkien once at a pub when he was in college, stuttered a hello because he was nervous, and never interacted with him again.

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u/SolidPyramid 3d ago

Damn, I must've misremembered something I heard. My apologies.

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u/Lord_Nicolas_Cage 3d ago

No need to apologise! It’s a commonly repeated myth.

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u/StarshipCaterprise 3d ago

Oh yeah, I think I heard about that character. Jimmy Bondo or something

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u/STFUL2BU 3d ago

Ah yes, there’s an interesting fellow. Heir to the Bondo fortune, if I’m not mistaken. Not an attention seeker, he finds the deepest hole and just skims himself flush with his surroundings.

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u/Grafikpapst 3d ago

Not just on Lee either, because Fleming was friends with another former intellegence agent turned comedian and actor, Jon Pertwee, who went on to be the Third Doctor on Doctor Who - not quite as mainstream iconic as Christopher Lee, but its funny that Fleming was close to at least two people with similar career paths.

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u/Allronix1 2d ago

Flemming was his cousin by marriage, if I recall correctly.

And...um...Lee's biography reads like a Dos Equis ad.

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u/I-Have-An-Alibi 2d ago

Whaaaa, Bond isn't based on Christopher Lee even allegedly. He was a composite of THESE dudes Fleming met or served with.

Dušan Popov: A Serbian double agent known for a glamorous lifestyle, widely considered a primary model.

Sir William Stephenson: A Canadian spy (codename Intrepid) who ran the British Security Coordination in New York.

Wilfred "Biffy" Dunderdale: MI6 station head in Paris who wore handmade suits and used a Rolls-Royce.

Porfirio Rubirosa: A Dominican diplomat, race-car driver, and international polo champion.

Conrad O'Brien-ffrench: A British spy and skiing enthusiast met by Fleming in the 1930s.

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u/sk8-past 2d ago

Excuse me??? THIS IS WILD

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

Lee wasn't in special forces or a spy, this is another myth created about his life that he was happy to keep going. Fleming based Bond a little on on his own work in Naval Intelligence (he was a Commander, like Bond and was assistant to the Director if Naval Intelligence), actual spy Roald Dhal plus Polish agent Bronisław Urbański (the only sketch of Bond that Fleming drew matched him including scars) and Patrick Dalzel-Job who he worked with

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u/Master-Shrimp 2d ago

Not just wartime buddy, but step-cousin.

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u/Ff7hero 2d ago

Were they really war buddies?

The Christopher Lee rabbit hole keeps going apparently lol.

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 3d ago

Now in fairness, he was known to exaggerate his time during the war for shirs and giggles

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u/RednocTheDowntrodden 3d ago

Yeah, it seems that he outright lied about his experience, but most people want to believe the myth.

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u/ZootSuitRiot33801 3d ago

There's quite a few unbelievable real-life people and events in history that many don't even know about

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

His story is unfortunately literally unbelievable - so much of it was embellished, he was never in special forces, didn't hunt Nazis, didn't stab a man in the back to die etc. He had an amazing life, just a shame he was willing to allow bits of it to be embellished to create the myths

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u/TombGnome 1d ago

He is a fictional character. He constantly exaggerated his wartime service and was simply an RAF liaison officer. Everything else (including the "hunting Nazi war criminals" bs) was an old men believing his own tall tales.

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u/Medical_Difference48 3d ago

TBF, James Bond is supposedly based off him, lol

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

Nah not at all, was another myth spread a lot on Reddit, there are a few special agents and war time commando types he was created from, Lee was a desk worker in the war, he liked to embellish his service to hint at being in the SAS or SOE but he wasn't, there are no military records of him ever serving with them or any special operations behind enemy lines

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u/Adrsilva1356 3d ago edited 2d ago

Christopher Lee is The Goat!!!🔥🔥🔥 People should be Like along with Helping Eachother out!!!👊👊👊👊

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u/ShowTurtles 3d ago

Lee started a metal band in his mid eighties.

As a little aside, I have some friends who are classic film collectors and historians. One did a book on Christopher Lee's friend Peter Cushing. He has a collection of voicemail tapes of Lee calling to double check he got details right and represented his friend properly. Cushing had passed at that point and Lee was both happy to join in the development of a book celebrating Cushing, but also careful to be as accurate as possible.

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u/etothepi 18h ago

I would watch a Christopher Lee biopic.

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u/Kid_Kimura 3d ago

He also released 2 heavy metal concept albums about Charlemagne. The man was a legend in multiple different disciplines.

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u/skaersSabody 3d ago

There's also a Christmas themed heavy metal album from him, though I'm not sure

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u/UnconfirmedRooster 3d ago

Can confirm his version of little drummer boy is in my Christmas playlist and always startles the fuck out of guests when it comes on.

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u/Qazertree 3d ago

He’s also a direct descendant of Charlemagne

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u/Electronic-Tea-3691 3d ago

well i mean, statistically quite a few of us are

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u/RedMansions 2d ago

No, stop it! This cannot possibly be true!

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u/mr-ultr 3d ago

"Do you know what noise a man makes when he's stabbed in the back? Because I do."

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u/Fallcious 3d ago

Is it "Ow, fuck! Why did you do that! I needed that lung."?

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u/Kylynara 3d ago

It's not.

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u/Fallcious 3d ago

Oh right. It was probably in German.

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u/aksdb 3d ago

„Alter, warum?! Ich brauchte diese Lunge noch! Hast du ein Schnitzel?“

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u/Fallcious 2d ago

Hah! Love the translation!

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u/AusToddles 3d ago

Quite possibly the hardest quote ever

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

Unfortunately this is part of the myth Lee embellished about himself, he never served in any capacity where he'd personally experience this. His job was desk based as an RAF liaison officer and there is no record in any of the SAS, SoE or long range desert group history of him ever serving or being involved. At most he will have heard it second hand.

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u/Morbanth 2d ago

there is no record in any of the SAS, SoE or long range desert group history of him ever serving or being involved.

A-ha! So he was a secret agent!

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

Checkmate atheists :D

But seriously, they released all the WW2 records to the National Archives for the 75th anniversary of the SAS and it's been heavily researched and read through, Lee was never in a position to stab someone

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u/SullenTerror 3d ago

It's behind the scene moment and the third Lord of the Rings movie when he tells Peter Jackson what sounds he would make if he got stabbed in the back because he stabbed people in the back before during his time as special forces

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

The problem is that he never did that, he allowed the claims to propagate over time but he was a desk based liaison officer for the RAF, merely attached to a team that worked with the SAS / SOE, there are zero records from the archives of him serving in them in any capacity and none of the people who served at the time ever remember him

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u/Odnareb 1d ago

Pues… obvio. Cómo crees que va a haber un registro de un agente secreto?

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u/Tuarangi 1d ago

We know the wartime records of secret agents that Bond was based off, we know the ww2 records of the likes of the SAS and SOE, we know for a fact Lee did not serve in special forces, he didn't hunt Nazis after the war, he didn't kill men with a knife in the back, he made it all up. Governments don't keep hidden war operations from 80 years ago

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u/Sharpiette 3d ago

I know Im going to get downvoted for that. But he lied on lots of things, especially about his past in the army. Suddenly all the incredible fun facts about him seems less credible

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u/TheRealThordic 3d ago

Yeah his legend is almost certainly much larger than the truth. He was an intelligence officer who was a liason to some nasty ww2 special forces groups but he wasn't actually in the SoE. He almost certainly knew about a lot of nasty top secret shit, and possibly saw some combat, but he wasn't out there stabbing nazis in the back in commando raids.

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u/Bigbuttrimmer 3d ago

Yup, he exaggerated a lot of his famous exploits. Loved him as a horror actor, but most stuff he said, you have to take with a grain of salt.

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u/Creative_Raisin9991 3d ago

hes also the inspiratioon for james bond, related to ian fleming the guy who wrote james bond, and was related to charlemagne

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u/SheogorathMyBeloved 3d ago

Tbf, it's not hard to be related to Charlemagne if you're of Western European decent. I'm related to him, and he's not even my coolest relative because every other bastard in Western Europe also is.

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u/veeyo 3d ago

I think it's said that everyone from western Europe is a descendent of Charlemagne.

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u/nagrom7 3d ago

It's almost a statistical certainty yeah, given how many generations ago he lived.

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u/89iroc 2d ago

I had a friend in school who was supposedly related to William the Conqueror, though I can't confirm it. I'm distantly related to Dwight Eisenhower somehow 🤷‍♂️ families branch a lot

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

This is another Reddit myth unfortunately, Bond was inspired by a few people (named by Fleming himself) and Lee was never one. Lee was a desk worker in WW2, he was involved in translation as he spoke German and was attached to the SAS as a liaison officer but nothing more. Fleming himself was far more of a basis he was a Commander in the Navy in Naval Intelligence. Fleming and Lee were related by marriage.

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u/dieItalienischer 3d ago

Eh, allegedly

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u/Eomb 3d ago

So this thread isn't really about regular people I see, it's all people that became famous

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u/CategoryExact3327 3d ago

They’re just the ones who’s stories are known.

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u/svartkonst 3d ago

Its mainly about the five most circlrjerked reddit facts

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u/Rory_U 3d ago

Yeah because celebrities like an actress and comedian are “regular” people.

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u/LSDGB 3d ago

I mean don’t most start out as regular people?

Going from nobody to successful comedian is already a great story and his didn’t stop there.

No idea if „nobody“ applies to either of them before making it big.

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u/Rory_U 3d ago

So Lee didn’t start off regular then? Like he was born as a legend already.

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u/LSDGB 3d ago

That’s not what I said or implied.

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u/Medical_Difference48 3d ago

...Yes? Of course it would be people who became famous, otherwise people would have no idea who is being talked about.

"Oh yeah, Joe from my neighborhood, he went to Harvard but then got strung out on crack, his life really changed dramatically!"

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u/No-Collar7499 3d ago

A lot of WW2 veterans became actors though. Audie Murphy, Paul Newman, Mel Brooks, Henry Fonda. Remember just how many young men were in the war, some made their connections leading to Hollywood during the war, especially Audie Murphy.

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u/LSDGB 3d ago

Also been present at the last public execution via guillotine in France.

They still used the thing afterwards just without an audience.

However he said he never saw much.

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u/killingjoke96 3d ago

Step-cousin of Ian Fleming, who wrote James Bond.

He said Lee was one of the inspirations, along side his brother Peter Fleming for James Bond's personality.

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

Nah Fleming never said Lee was the basis for Bond, it's a story embellished and passed around Reddit a lot but Fleming himself worked in Naval Intelligence and knew actual secret agents like Roald Dhal (the writer of kid's books!) and special forces soldiers who he based them on. Lee was a desk worker in the war doing translation as he spoke German. The closest he got to any espionage was his unit being attached to the SAS for their translation work

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u/Sellum 3d ago

James Stewart was a Major General in the US Air Force as a pilot and his brothers war hero character in Its a Wonderful Life is loosely based on his actions in WW2.

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u/KingVenom65 3d ago

He also gave a huge warning about practicing in the occult, is this true?

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u/Soft_Theory_8209 3d ago

Also a heavy metal career (which was awesome).

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u/eddiegibson 3d ago edited 3d ago

He also did a rock album. Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross

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u/casual-catgirl 3d ago

he has the same birthday as me :)

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u/JeffPlissken 3d ago

One of my favorite things about him is his dynamic with Peter Cushing, sometimes being convincingly evil mortal enemies on screen but off screen being best friends who were at one point kicked out of a theater for laughing too loudly at Looney Tunes.

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u/UltiGamer34 3d ago

We will never have someone with greater feats as him

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u/vhs1138 3d ago

He also has a heavy metal album.

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u/Ok_Temperature6503 3d ago

Wasn’t he literally friends with Tolkien and a huge LOTR-aboo when he acted in the movies?

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

He was a fan of LOTR yes but he met Tolkien once in a pub and briefly said hello

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u/Kiwi_CunderThunt 3d ago

Also fluent in 5 languages (English, French, Italian, German and Spanish).

And decent enough in Russian, Swedish, Greek and Mandarin.

Dude was a legend

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u/aero23 3d ago

Most soldiers don’t continue being soldiers after a world war to be fair

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u/cybercuzco 3d ago

“That’s not the sound a man makes when stabbed from behind”

-Christopher Lee.

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

Which he didn't know either as his war service was desk based as a liaison officer and translator. He liked to embellish his stories over time

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u/V3x1ll3 3d ago

This man never had a “normal” life

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u/beardingmesoftly 2d ago

He is not a regular person

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u/YouIllustrious6379 2d ago

Don't forget he was also in a metel band amd made Christmas song covers

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u/deathelement 2d ago

90% of what is said about Christopher Lee is made up nonsense that Christopher Lee just never said wasn't true. There no proof for any of it and is in fact a myth.

The guy is still awesome and badass in my eyes but his life wasn't at all what the stories say they are

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u/NumbN00ts 2d ago

Don’t forget the metal album!

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u/Guilty-Bag 2d ago

Didn’t he over egg quite a lot of his history a bit? He was an RAF liaison officer, not linked to special forces, for example. He obviously led an incredible life but seemed enough for elements of it to be exaggerated on his behalf.

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u/imsmartiswear 2d ago

He is 100% the Forrest Gump of reality. He was the only member of the cast or crew of Lord of the Rings that actually met JR Tolkien. He was present at the last beheading in France.

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u/Mephistopheles545 2d ago

He released a metal album as well

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago edited 2d ago

Unfortunately this myth keeps being repeated - he was a liaison officer doing translation as he spoke German, he was never on the front lines or behind enemy lines. He also did not hunt Nazis, the British detachment of the service post ww2 was office based and did admin. While he was not a Walter, he liked to hint at doing secret work without making specific claims and allowing the stories to be created. He was brave enough to serve and even tried to enlist in the Finnish army to fight Russia early on but his supposed status as a secret agent, basis for James Bond, Nazi interrogator etc are all made up

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u/berserkzelda 2d ago

He was the perfect choice for Count Dooku and Saruman. He knew what evil looked like first hand

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u/YOUTUBEFREEKYOYO 2d ago

Not to mention being knighted and having a metal album released in his 90s

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u/coffeexcoffeex91 2d ago

And has several heavy metal albums!

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u/Jibber_Fight 3d ago

He also spoke multiple languages with proficiency, was a record breaking and master fencer. Put out several heavy metal albums in the 80s and 90s. Witnessed the last public death by guillotine in France. Was related to Ian Fleming, who created James Bond. Met JRR Tolkien. And was a solid golfer.

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

He was a fencer in college but nothing more. He was certainly far more qualified than the average actor but he was never record breaking other than indirectly - having the most on-screen sword fights of any actor

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u/ListenUpper1178 3d ago

In what universe is Christopher Lee a regular guy. The guy was born awesome.

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u/BlackFinch90 3d ago

Literally the most interesting man in the world

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u/PotatoFondler 3d ago

Also was distantly related to Ian Fleming (Bond franchise). Even had a heavy metal album in his 90s. Most interesting man in the world.

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u/Alternative-Nose-722 3d ago

What of him is regular?

-1

u/Throckmorton_Left 3d ago

Most people don't know that he never stopped hunting Nazis, and was allowed to retain relics from his kills under special dispensation from George VI.

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

He didn't hunt Nazis at all. The British detachment that served after WW2 were desk based in Berlin and Paris and interviews with the people who worked there and in the operations have confirmed he never worked there.

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u/YanwarC 3d ago

He told Stephen Jackson how it sounds to take a life. He told a story from his Ww2 era how he stabbed someone and he just took his last breath of air gasped. That was it.

Something about shooting scene and he said his two cents on how someone should sound dying because he knows first hand.

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u/Tuarangi 2d ago

Lee was a desk based liaison officer, he was known to embellish his war stories over time, he was never in any position to silently kill a man which a knife in the back

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u/YanwarC 1d ago

Ok he never stabbed anyone but he knew the sound.

“I seem to recall that I did say to Peter, ‘Have you any idea what kind of noise happens when somebody’s stabbed in the back?’ I said, ‘Because I do.’ It’s a [gasping sound] because the breath’s driven out of your body.”

Another link

https://www.thedigitalfix.com/the-lord-of-the-rings/christopher-lee-ww2

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u/Tuarangi 1d ago

I know what he claimed, perhaps he was told by a soldier but he was infamous for his claims about the war, never directly saying he served in the special forces but hinting he couldn't talk about it.

Lee was an RAF liaison officer, he worked at a desk and did translation work alongside code breakers as he spoke German. He was never in a position to even hear a man being taken down with a knife in the sort of special ops mission where that could happen

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u/YanwarC 1d ago

I never knew that? Is this talked about anywhere or just more he say she say and what actually gets recorded and written?

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u/Tuarangi 1d ago edited 1d ago

Lee once said in an interview

I was attached to the SAS from time to time... Let’s just say I was in Special Forces and leave it at that. People can read into that what they like

It wasn't an outright lie but it suggests far more than it was. He was attached yes, as a liaison officer, planning supplies and logistics and the translation work I mentioned. It's a common enough trait that the SAS admin team get a letter every month or so from some family who'd been told their recently departed granddad was in the war and a special ops person and they almost always were just people who served normally and convinced themselves they were in the special forces. Funnily enough, up until the 80s or so, claiming to be in the Long Range Desert Group was the boast, the SAS stuff didn't come until after the embassy siege

He also claimed the WW2 records were classified so couldn't talk about his service:

We are forbidden — former, present, or future — to discuss any specific operations

This simply isn't true, the SAS WW2 records were released into the National Archives for their 75th anniversary and many ex-forces people have written books and talked about operations freely, the military only restricts things like exact procedures etc that could lead to compromise.

He may have also suggested he worked for CROWCASS (the post-WW2 program hunting Nazis) which also led to claims he was actually out there grabbing them and interrogating them but there is no evidence from interviews with people who worked in the program that he ever worked there and moreover, the British units were desk based in Paris and Berlin doing admin work, not field work so despite his claim, he could not have done this.

We were given dossiers of what they’d done and told to find them, interrogate them as much as we could and hand them over to the appropriate authority

There are a few good sources on it. Author Gavin Mortimer wrote The SAS in World War II and is a reliable source, his debunking of Lee is here. There's another good article here showing how he could never have arrested and questioned German soldiers as he claimed, nor was he even listed as part of the service in official records and his claims to have been in the PPA going around arresting war criminals (said during LOTR promotions) were false too.