According to dozens of interviews Christopher Lee has given over the years, he's best known for playing a wizard in Lord Of The Rings, being sixth-billed in Richard Lester's Musketeers movies and his fine operatic voice. However, in our world, his finest eight minutes came in 1958 when he took the title role in Hammer's first Dracula film.

He returned to the role many times, and just as Sean Connery will always be 007 rather than Indy's Dad, and no amount of West End musicals will let Michael Crawford escape Frank Spencer, Lee remains the reigning incarnation of perhaps our greatest popular villains.

So, when Christopher Lee strides into Attack Of The Clones wearing a long black cloak, flashing his trademark glower and bearing the significant title and initial, it's as if Dracula has stepped into the Star Wars universe. If Bela Lugosi were still alive, he couldn't have done it better. However, Dooku isn't just Dracula: in his swordsmanship, he's any number of swashbuckling baddies Lee played in a run of films from The Crimson Pirate in 1952 and Hammer's Devil Ship Pirates to Rochefort in the Musketeers films; and, in his brutally obvious baddie-ness (the point is that everyone knows Dooku is a rotter, but trusts Palpatine), he's the Nazi from 1941, Fu Manchu, Lord Summerisle, Scaramanga, the Satanist of To The Devil A Daughter, Mr Midnight from Return Of Captain Invincible, Saruman and all the other villains Lee has ever played rolled up into one hissable whole.

Having underused Lee's old sparring partner Peter Cushing in Star Wars, George Lucas knew the worth of iconic casting when he called in Christopher Lee. And, despite nay-sayers, it's obvious from that Empire-award-winning duel at Episode II's climax that Dooku can kick Yoda's Muppet ass all the way to Alderaan and back. KIM NEWMAN