Johnny Depp salutes horror icon Christopher Lee at London Film Festival

LONDON – Johnny Depp has made a surprise appearance at the London Film Festival to give a career honour to horror icon Christopher Lee.

Depp called Lee “a national treasure” and “a genuine artist” as he presented the 91-year-old actor with a British Film Institute Fellowship.

Lee’s 250 movie roles include Dracula in a series of Hammer Films thrillers, Bond villain Scaramanga in “The Man With The Golden Gun,” the founder of Pakistan in “Jinnah” and Saruman in “The Lord of the Rings.”

During a ceremony Saturday, the London festival gave its best-picture prize to U.K.-based Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski for “Ida.”

The 12-day festival ends Sunday with a gala screening of “Saving Mr. Banks,” starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as “Mary Poppins” author P.L. Travers.

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