LONDON -- With more screen credits to his name than any other international star, Christopher Lee has at age 79 finally gained recognition as one of Britain's acting stalwarts.

Listed in the Guinness book of movie facts and figures for having upwards of 250 screen credits, Lee won a special achievement award late on Sunday from the Evening Standard British film awards.

Lee's latest hit was playing Saruman the White, the master of evil in the "Lord of the Rings" epic that is now a worldwide blockbuster. But he clearly tires of being remembered for the dracula movie role that made him famous.

"Why do we keep going back to dracula? that was a part of my career that at the time -- 43 years ago -- was very important but that was a long time ago," He told Reuters in an interview in December.

Lee is to feature in the next ***Stars Wars**** instalment due for release later this year. He played the evil Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond thriller ***Man with the Golden Gun". The current Bond, Pierce Brosnan, bestowed the award.

Lee has said he has one ambition -- to live long enough to see the next two films in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy when they come out at the end of this year and in 2003.