<div><p>British actor Christopher Lee was knighted on Friday at Buckingham Palace, a far cry from the dark and gloomy Hammer Horror film sets where he made his name playing Dracula in the 1950s.</p><p>Lee, 87, became famous for his blood-curdling performances as the thirsty count. He has also portrayed a succession of baddies from Scaramanga in the James Bond movie "The Man With The Golden Gun" to Saruman in "The Lord of the Rings."</p><p>He was knighted by Prince Charles for his services to drama and to charity spanning during a decades-long career that has seen him appear in more than 250 film and television productions.</p><p>"A whole new career opened up for me when I was in "Lord Of The Rings" and "Star Wars (Episode II: Attack of the Clones)"," Lee said.</p><p>"What's really important for me is, as an old man, I'm known by my own generation and the next generation know me too."</p><p>Lee became a household name as Dracula but admitted he became typecast by the end of the 1960s -- a problem he quickly overcame with his performance in "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes."</p><p>"Since then I've never been typecast although I've played a lot of bad guys, there's more scope than being the man in the white hat," he said.</p><p>However, he returned to Hammer Horror for the first time since 1976 this year, filming "The Resident" with Hilary Swank.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=62311280&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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