Losing Depp will be a loss to the film industry says Lee

Johnny Depp's number one fan appears to have outed himself... veteran actor Christopher Lee.

The 91-year-old thespian, who has appeared with Depp in a number of films over the years, says that if he does quit the movie business, as he mentioned last week, it would be the industry's loss.

“Johnny is a star – and that’s not a term I ever use lightly,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“There are not a lot of them around today. It makes me sad that such a genuinely talented person is considering giving it all up.”

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Lee has appeared alongside Depp in a number of Tim Burton projects, including 'Alice In Wonderland', 'Dark Shadows', 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and 'Sleepy Hollow'.

But last week Depp revealed in an interview with BBC 'Breakfast' that he was 'probably not far away' from drawing a line under his acting career in favour of 'quieter things', branding the industry an 'insane option for a human being'.

“At a certain point you start thinking,” he said. “When you add up the amount of dialogue that you say per year and you realise that you've said written words more than you've had a chance to say your own words, you start thinking about that as an insane option for a human being.

“Are there quieter things that I wouldn't mind doing? Yeh, I wouldn't mind that.”

Lee, however, who at 91 might have retired any time in the last 20 years or so, has no intention of calling it a day.

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“I always ask myself 'well, what else could I do?'” he said.

“Making films has never just been a job to me, it is my life. I have some interests outside of acting – I sing and I’ve written books, for instance – but acting is what keeps me going, it’s what I do, it gives life purpose.”