Christopher Lee to receive BAFTA fellowship

Sir Christopher Lee will receive the Academy Fellowship at this year's Orange British Academy Film Awards.

The honour is the highest accolade handed out by BAFTA for contribution to film. Previous recipients have included Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Judi Dench and Terry Gilliam. Last year the prize went to Vanessa Redgrave.

"It's a very unexpected but very great honour to find myself in such distinguished company to receive the fellowship," Lee said of the honour.

BAFTA chairman Tim Corrie added: "I am absolutely delighted that the Academy is recognising Sir Christopher Lee. He has entertained me over many years and is a bastion of British filmmaking around the globe."

Lee shot to fame playing Frankenstein's creature and Dracula in the '50s Hammer Horror films. He has also appeared in The Wicker Man, The Man With The Golden Gun and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The BAFTAs take place on Sunday, February 13 at London's Royal Opera House.