Sir Christopher Lee & A Slice of Death

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23rd April 2019  •  4 min read

June 17, 1939 wasn’t an ordinary summer’s day for Parisians, nor for 17-year-old Englishman Chrisopher Lee. Decades before portraying French executioner Charles-Henri Sanson in 1989’s ‘La Revolution Francaise,’ Lee had his own close encounter with what the French called their ‘National Razor.’


Sir Christopher Lee & A Slice of Death

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Robert Walsh is a freelance writer based in the UK. Formerly a regular contributor to Real Crime Magazine, he’s also been an expert consultant for the BBC. He currently owns and operates Crimescribe.


June 17, 1939 wasn’t an ordinary summer’s day for Parisians, nor for 17-year-old Englishman Chrisopher Lee. Decades before portraying French executioner Charles-Henri Sanson in 1989’s ‘La Revolution Francaise,’ Lee had his own close encounter with what the French called their ‘National Razor.’

As Lee went to Saint-Pierre prison (today’s Palace of Justice) he didn’t know he was about to make his first, uncredited, appearance on film. In a cell on Saint-Pierre’s notorious Death Alley, German serial killer Eugen Weidmann was also about to take a bow. Weidmann’s appearance would be brief, but he played the starring role at what would be France’s last public execution.

Weidmann was there to die. Lee was there to watch. At a window overlooking the guillotine somebody else was there to film, illegally so. As executioner Jules-Henri Desfourneaux and his assistants (known as ‘valets’) prepared Weidmann for his date with history, Lee stood in the crowd not really knowing what he was about to see. He would never forget it.

Sir Christopher Lee & A Slice of Death
Eugen Weidmann.

Public executions had been a part of French life for centuries. Whether they were hanged, burned, beheaded by axe or sword or tortured to death France’s felons had traditionally died before an audience. The Revolution had changed things somewhat, no longer was the sword exclusively for condemned noblemen while mere peasants made do with the gallows.

The guillotine was intended to be as egalitarian as it was quick, as much a political statement as a more humane method of execution. No matter what their social status, all France’s condemned would die in the same way. Weidmann would be the last to do so in public. The sinisterly-nicknamed ‘Monsieur de Paris (‘The Man from Paris’) had long plied his trade in public, one of the central characters in France’s own theatre of death.

Abolition had started to become an issue among the French people although decades would pass before the guillotine went the way of the thousands who died on it. The scenes of drunkenness and debauchery that were typical of public executions were grist to the abolitionist mill.

The crowd were less than respectful of what should have been a solemn occasion. Many were drunk, the cafes and bars having stayed open all night to make the best of a thirsty crowd. By dawn, the traditional time for French executions, some were already asleep and many others were remarkably intoxicated. Gendarmes were also having trouble maintaining order. All told, what should have been a solemn affair was more like a Roman holiday with many spectators drunk well before the dawn.

Lee wasn’t one of them. At only 17 he was too young to drink, although he might have needed one after Weidmann made his grand entrance and speedy exit. The illegal film-maker was also ready. Positioned carefully for as clear a view as possible, he would make his own entry in cinematic history. The footage, for those who can watch it, is still available on Youtube.

Sir Christopher Lee & A Slice of Death
Christopher Lee.

In his memoir ‘Lord of Misrule: The Autobiography of Sir Christopher Lee’ the man himself takes up the story:

“The war correspondent Webb Miller took me to see the beheading of the murderer Eugen Weidmann in Versailles because he thought it important, with the war clouds gathering, that I see something of the world. They rushed Weidmann to the extraordinary structure, so that his feet came off the ground. His hands were tied behind him and his head was held back.

They set him down by the plank and punched him in the stomach so that he fell forwards on to it, a strap went over his back, the plank tilted forward and the man they called The Photographer adjusted his head. In that instant the knife fell, and I thought I would die myself.”

Weidmann certainly had and the crowd, still unmindful of the occasion, continued carousing while some dipped their handkerchiefs and scarves in Weidmann’s blood. These they kept as souvenirs. President Lebrun, long an opponent of the death penalty, was as appalled as the press at the exhibition. A week later he permanently outlawed public executions.

Until France’s last execution, that of Hamida Djandoubi at Marseilles’s notorious Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977, the condemned died more discreetly behind prison walls. With abolition in 1981 the guillotine became a museum piece. Just as ‘Monsieur de Paris’ ceased performing for his public in 1939 the guillotine’s blade never fell again except in fiction.

In 1989 Sir Christopher Lee would portray France’s most famous executioner, never having forgotten watching one of Sanson’s descendents at work.

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Kim
Kim
4 years ago

Cool story. I hadn’t heard about this and I’m a big fan of Christopher Lee. I am glad we don’t have public executions any longer… I wish we didn’t have them full stop tbh.

Robert Walsh
Robert Walsh
4 years ago
Reply to  Kim

Glad you liked it, it’s certainly a curious tale and often forgotten. I tend to hunt out crime’s more unusual and overlooked events.

Keith Bouchey
Keith Bouchey
4 years ago

I wonder if there’s some kind of study into public executions and post traumatic stress disorder or other mental ailments? I guess it was “just a way of life” back then but I can’t imagine seeing something so graphic and just forgetting about it and carrying on like normal… I guess people back then were more desensitised.

Very interesting piece. Great actor too!

Robert Walsh
Robert Walsh
4 years ago
Reply to  Keith Bouchey

There isn’t one into public executions as far as I know, but there re many documented cases of executioners themselves succumbing to addiction, PTSD, suicide and other negative outcomes. There have even been quite a few executioners who were themselves executed.

Lee Gross
Lee Gross
2 years ago
Reply to  Keith Bouchey

Im late here but death was much closer to home in history than now. Infants and birthing moms routinely died. Flu Polio tuberculosis small pox and more meant death was more common and often happened at home. Even in my own family it isn’t surprising to hear stories of old relatives whose siblings passed away at very young ages. So yes, desensitizing I’m sure is part of it, particularly in drunken 1930s end game. But I would be careful with the word “desensitized” from our current vantage point. desensitization would be due to the closeness of death in general, and… Read more »

Richard Jessep
Richard Jessep
4 years ago

In your opinion, Mr. Walsh, does this experience give Lee a better acting ability? Plus, I really enjoy your writing style. Keep writing for this website!

Robert Walsh
Robert Walsh
4 years ago
Reply to  Richard Jessep

Well, he certainly wasn’t upset by making horror movies or playing Sanson. After seeing Weidmann die within feet of him it probably gave him a unique perspective.

B.B
B.B
3 years ago

I’ve seen the video of Weidmann’s execution many, many times. There was no punching, no strap, so Lee’s account is to be taken with a grain of salt (IMO).

Michael T
Michael T
2 years ago

Imagine the money to be made for the victim’s families if tickets could be sold, viewings televised and streamed. I don’t support the death penalty only because it is more expensive for death row inmates to be housed, the appeals system in America is a joke and it’s proven to not be a deterrent. However, if some states are still going to insist wasting taxpayer money, why not public executions? Imagine the selfies taken afterwards….

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[…] Párizsba. A mai Igazságügyi Palota, akkor Saint-Pierre börtön felé vezetett az útja, oda vitte őt újságíró ismerőse, Webb Miller. “Elvitt, hogy megnézzem a gyilkos Eugen Weidmann kivégzését, mert úgy gondolta, a háború […]

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