CHRISTOPHER Lee, the man famed as Dracula, Count Dooku in Star Wars and Saruman in The Lord Of The Rings, admits that he always wanted to be an opera singer.

Knighted this year, after making more than 220 films, the imposing 87-year-old, 6ft 5in star says: “Not many know this, but my ancestors opened the first opera touring company in Australia. Once upon a time I would have said yes to the chance of touring, but not any more.”

He speaks as the narrator of the Magic Of The Dance show which returns to Darlington Civic Theatre, July 20-25, and Scarborough’s Futurist, August 17-18.

The Irish dancers are celebrating the tenth anniversary of touring and Lee reveals that he was invited by the show’s producer Jaka Bizilj to act as narrator after he was invited to light a peace torch at the Berlin Film Festival.

“I lit the peace torch and sang with a hundred-strong chorus. Quite an experience. We started to work on a few projects together and I recorded the narration for Magic Of The Dance in one arduous session in a studio,” he says, but admits that dancing is a younger man’s game.

“The stamina of these dancers have is incredible, not only to dance eight shows a week, but eight shows a week for 15 weeks.”

Lee has also narrated the show live and says he was amazed at the skill and precision of the dancers. “It takes an extraordinary amount of focus and training to become that accomplished.”

So did his love of a challenged tempt him to take up Irish dancing.

“Oh no, I think I’ll leave that up to the professionals.

Since my sword-fight with Yoda in Stars Wars I have to be very careful with quick movements and I very much doubt that I would be a good dancer,” he says.

The actor is aiming to catch a performance of the show from the safety of the stalls this time and picks out his proudest moment from 60 years of work as being still able to work into his Eighties.

“I have been very fortunate. Two films stick in my mind, Wicker Man and Jinnah (the 1998 movie about the founder of Pakistan), both very challenging roles, but also rewarding when you get it right. A piece of work has to be challenging, for whatever reason. Even narrating, for instance, you have to convey passion, depth and gravitas without people seeing your face, that for me was the exciting part of working with Magic Of The Dance. That and the beautiful dancing.”

COMPETITION HERE’S your chance to win one of five pairs of tickets to see the Magic Of The Dance at Darlington Civic Theatre.

Tickets costing, £17-£22.50, are on sale for a week of performances for July 20-25. Box office: 01325- 486-555.

To stand a chance of winning a pair of tickets see today's Northern Echo.