Sir Christopher Lee on Occult Magic: ‘Never, Never, Never’
Sir Christopher Lee died on Sunday, The Telegraph reported today.
The veteran actor was nearly 93 and had not stopped working. He was famous for portraying Dracula and the evil wizard Saruman from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film series.
Skimming his listing on Wikipedia, I found a fascinating video from Nov. 8, 2011, in which the actor who played an evil sorcerer shared his thoughts on the actual occult. The clip is transcribed below.
Questioner: It’s well known that you have a huge interest in the occult and one of the largest collections of books —
I don’t have a huge collection [of occult books]. Somebody wrote I had 20,000 books. [Laughter.]
I’d have to live in a bath. [Laughter and long applause.]
I have maybe four or five. [Laughter.] I have The Devil Rides Out, first edition, signed to me by Dennis Wheatley. [There] was a book just come out about him, called [The] Devil is a Gentleman.
And I have met people who claimed to be Satanists, who claimed to be involved with black magic, who claimed that they not only knew a lot about it. But as I said, I certainly haven’t been involved. And I warn all of you—never, never, never. You will not only lose your mind. You’ll lose your soul.
I don’t have a big library on the occult, no. Look, the internet and the media—if they can’t think of something to do, they invent it. [Laughter.] If they can’t think of something to say, I mean, they invent it. I don’t know who thought that one up. Looks good in print, I suppose. But it’s not true.
E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi, fantasy, and beyond as well as nonfiction, such as The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ (coauthored with Ted Turnau and Jared Moore), which releases Sept. 7, 2020 from New Growth Press. Stephen explores biblical truth and fantastic stories as publisher of Lorehaven Magazine and cohost of the Fantastical Truth podcast. He and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, help with foster parenting, and serve as members of Southern Hills Baptist Church.
I’m pleasantly surprised to see Lee had something of a spiritual side. It looks like, whatever his exact beliefs were, he was the sort to keep them private.