At first glance, there isn’t much connective tissue between an actor famed for playing Dracula during the golden years of Hammer horror and the boxer most would agree is the greatest to ever throw on a pair of gloves, which left Christopher Lee understandably blindsided when Muhammad Ali earned victory in his honour.
They were both icons but of a very different kind. Lee was one of British cinema’s most statuesque and imposing screen presences, who’d become synonymous with Hammer throughout the 1960s and 1970s before squaring off with James Bond in The Man with the Golden Gun and making the jump to America, which injected him with a brand new lease of life. Lee was the consummate acting professional and operated without much fuss or fanfare.
Ali, meanwhile, wasn’t just the most recognisable athlete in the world at the peak of his powers, but he was one of the most famous people on the face of the planet. Endlessly charismatic and a promoter’s dream, the speed of the pugilist’s footwork and lightning-quick punches were matched only by his silver tongue. He used all of his attributes to devastating effect and operated as a counterpoint to Lee’s more demure presentations.
However, Ali was a regular visitor to the United Kingdom in a personal and professional capacity, during which time he gained a fondness for Lee’s movie roles. He spent plenty of time in the country, and when he wasn’t hitting the ring, painting the town red, or traipsing the promotional circuit, he watched a lot of movies, and the foreboding arch-villain quickly became a personal favourite.
“I was promoting a film in Cleveland in 1975, and this PR man said, ‘Muhammad Ali is in town promoting a title fight. He’s a big fan and would love to meet you,'” Lee recalled to Total Film. “We went to this hotel, we had a long chat, and I promised to watch the fight back in LA.”
Befitting his reputation as a transatlantic star, Lee naturally watched the fight at the Playboy Mansion “along with a bunch of celebrities and a few boxers,” which Ali won. When it came time for the victor to offer their post-fight comments, the first thing on his mind – much to the towering veteran’s surprise – was to dedicate the win in his honour.
“This reporter shoved a mic under Ali’s face; ‘Do you have anything to say to your fans?’ Ali says, ‘Yes. I just want to say that I won this fight for Christopher Lee, who’s out there watching me now,'” he recalled. “I couldn’t believe it because that’s a million dollars worth of publicity. And when the lights came up, people were looking at me, stunned.”
It’s unclear how much Ali’s endorsement affected the performance of the movie that Lee was initially promoting, if it did at all. Of course, it didn’t matter in the slightest when being named on TV in front of an audience of millions as the reason why the legendary boxer claimed victory was all the personal satisfaction Lee could have ever wanted.
