It's a sad day for one of the biggest geek fandoms in the world, as the legendary British actor who played Saruman in all recent adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth books has passed away, as the official announcement that Christopher Lee's dead trends worldwide.

Last Sunday, after being rushed to the hospital over respiratory and heart problems, sir Christopher Lee's dead after almost six decades in the film business, in a career that turned the 93 year-old into one of the most legendary actors in horror film, with the likes of 30s stars Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

The Mirror reports that Christopher Lee's dead since last Sunday June 7, when he passed away at 8:30 am at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, news that has been confirmed by sources close to the legendary actor's family.

According to The Guardian, news that Christopher Lee's dead was delayed because his wife, former Danish model Birgit "Gitte" Kroencke, wished to inform all family members before making the official announcement to the press, after the couple was married for more than 50 years following their 1961 nuptials.

Now that Christopher Lee's dead, news outlets around the world are celebrating his long-lasting career, which went from his best known ventures as a film actor to the stage (often playing villains, like his iconic Dracula, Saruman and Count Duku in the second "Star Wars" trilogy), plus having had extensive work as a voice actor, writer, and in his most recent years even singing, as, after years narrating albums for symphonic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire, he later took to releasing his own, even marking a tradition for a few years of putting out a heavy metal Christmas album, his most recent one having been released last December.

He was also a distant cousin to Ian Fleming, the author of the "James Bond" films and a lifelong friend - Lee even got to play a Bond villain in "The Man with a Golden Gun."

As The New York Daily News reports, following the report that Christopher Lee's dead, he's survived by his wife Brigit and their only daughter, Christina.