As we mourn the loss of horror legend Christopher Lee, tributes have focused on his famous roles: Count Dracula, Saruman and Count Dooku. He was fantastic in all of those roles, but I love him best in a lesser-known Hammer film: The Devil Rides Out.
It's one of the rare times he played a hero instead of a villain.
With Lee's impressive stature (he was 6'5”) and preternaturally deep voice, he was destined to play the bad guy time and again. And he was damn good at it. But in The Devil Rides Out, (aka The Devil's Bride) he plays Nicholas, Duke de Richleau, who faces down a satanic cult to save a friend's son.
Richleau was featured in 11 novels by British novelist Dennis Wheatley, a friend of Lee's who sparked his lifelong interest in the occult.
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