"Christopher Lee as Saruman. He was the only LOTR cast member to have met JRR Tolkien and deeply loved the books. He had preferred to play Gandalf, but that role was a bit too physical for him at his age. He did a recording the All That is Gold Does Not Glitter poem and I get the vibe that he channeled Gandalf in that reading. Back to the Saruman character, while that’s more of a Plan B for him, I cannot imagine anyone ever coming close to Christopher Lee’s performance of that character."