Peter Cushing

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Peter Cushing
OBE
Cushing in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
Born
Peter Wilton Cushing

(1913-05-26)26 May 1913
Kenley, Surrey, England
Died11 August 1994(1994-08-11) (aged 81)
Canterbury, Kent, England
Resting placeSeasalter Old Church, Seasalter, Kent[1]
EducationShoreham College
Alma materGuildhall School of Music and Drama
OccupationActor
Years active1935–1994
Spouse
Violet Hélène Beck (Helen)
​
​
(m. 1943; died 1971)​
AwardsBritish Academy Television Award for Best Actor (1956)

Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage and radio roles. He achieved recognition for his leading performances in the Hammer Productions horror films from the 1950s to 1970s and as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977).

Born in

British television. He earned particular acclaim for his lead performance as Winston Smith in a BBC adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four
(1954).

Cushing gained worldwide fame for his appearances in twenty-two horror films from the Hammer studio, particularly for his role as Baron Frankenstein in six of their seven Frankenstein films and Doctor Van Helsing in five Dracula films. Cushing often appeared alongside actor Christopher Lee, who became one of his closest friends, and occasionally with the American horror star Vincent Price. Cushing appeared in several other Hammer films, including The Abominable Snowman (1957), The Mummy and The Hound of the Baskervilles (both 1959), the last of which marked the first of the several occasions he portrayed the detective Sherlock Holmes. Cushing continued to perform in a variety of roles, although he was often typecast as a horror film actor. He played Dr. Who in Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966), and became even better known through his part in the original Star Wars film. Cushing continued acting into the early to mid-1990s and wrote two autobiographies.

Early life

Peter Wilton Cushing was born in

née King) Cushing (1882–1961).[2] His father, a quantity surveyor, was a reserved and uncommunicative man whom Peter said he never got to know very well. His mother was the daughter of a carpet merchant and considered of a lower class than her husband.[3] Cushing's family consisted of several stage actors, including his paternal grandfather Henry William Cushing (who toured with Henry Irving),[4] his paternal aunt Maude Cushing (his father's sister) and his step-uncle Wilton Herriot, after whom Peter Cushing received his middle name.[3]

English Heritage blue plaque at 32 St James' Road, Purley, London

The Cushing family lived in

double pneumonia". The latter was often fatal during that period, although he survived.[5] During one Christmas in his youth, Cushing saw a stage production of Peter Pan, which served as an early source of inspiration and interest in acting.[6] Cushing loved dressing up and make believe from an early age, and later claimed he always wanted to be an actor, "perhaps without knowing at first."[7] A fan of comics and toy collectibles in his youth, Cushing earned money by staging puppet shows for family members with his glove-puppets and toys.[8]

He began his early education in Dulwich, South London, before attending the

Shoreham Grammar School in Shoreham-by-Sea, on the Sussex coast between Brighton and Worthing. Prone to homesickness, he was miserable at the boarding school and spent only one term there before returning home.[9] He attended the Purley County Grammar School, where he swam and played cricket and rugby.[5] With the exception of art, Cushing was a self-proclaimed poor student in most subjects and had little attention span for that which did not interest him. He got fair grades only through the help of his brother, a strong student who did his homework for him.[7] Cushing harboured aspirations for the arts all throughout his youth, especially acting. His childhood inspiration was Tom Mix, an American film actor and star of many Western films.[10] D.J. Davies, the Purley County Grammar School physics teacher who produced all the school's plays, recognised some acting potential in him and encouraged him to participate in the theatre, even allowing Cushing to skip class to paint sets. He played the lead in nearly every school production during his teenage years, including the role of Sir Anthony Absolute in a 1929 staging of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners play, The Rivals.[11]

Cushing wanted to enter the acting profession after school, but his father opposed the idea, despite the theatrical background of several of his family members. Instead, seizing upon Cushing's interest in art and drawing, he got his son a job as a surveyor's assistant in the drawing department of the

Coulsdon and Purley Urban District Council's surveyor's office during the summer of 1933.[11]
Cushing hated the job, where he remained for three years without promotion or advancement due to his lack of ambition in the profession. The only enjoyment he got out of it was drawing perspectives of proposed buildings, which were almost always rejected because they were too imaginative and expensive and lacked strong foundations, which Cushing disregarded as a "mere detail."

Thanks to his former teacher Davies, Cushing continued to appear in school productions during this time, as well as amateur plays such as W. S. Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea,[12] George Kelly's The Torch-Bearers, and The Red Umbrella, by Brenda Girvin and Monica Cosens.[13] Cushing often learned and practised his lines in an attic at work, under the guise that he was putting ordnance survey maps into order. He regularly applied for auditions and openings for roles he found in the arts-oriented newspaper The Stage, but was turned down repeatedly due to his lack of professional experience in the theatre.[12]

Career

Early films and acting

Cushing eventually applied for a scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.[14] His first audition was before the actor Allan Aynesworth, who was so unimpressed with Cushing's manner of speech that he rejected him outright and insisted he not return until he improved his diction.[13][15] Cushing continued to pursue a scholarship, writing twenty-one letters to the school,[15] until actor and theatre manager Bill Fraser finally agreed to meet Cushing in 1935 simply so he could ask him in person to stop writing. During that meeting, Cushing was given a walk-on part as a courier in that night's production of J.B. Priestley's Cornelius. This marked his professional stage debut, although he had no lines and did little more than stand on stage behind other actors. Afterward, he was granted the scholarship and given odd jobs around the theatre, such as selling refreshments and working as an assistant stage manager.[13]

One of his earliest professional stage performances was in 1935 as Captain Randall in Ian Hay's The Middle Watch at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing.[16][17] By the end of the summer of 1936, Cushing accepted a job with the repertory theatre company Southampton Rep, working as assistant stage manager and performing in bit roles at the Grand Theatre in the Hampshire city.[13] He spent the next three years in an apprenticeship at Southampton Rep.,[10] auditioning for character roles both there and in other surrounding theatres, eventually amassing almost 100 individual parts.[13][18] While he was in Southampton, he met an 18-year-old fellow actor, Doreen Lawrence, and they were engaged to be married. Lawrence broke off the engagement, citing his frequent crying and bringing his parents on dates.[19]

Soon, he felt the urge to pursue a film career in the United States. In 1939, his father bought him a one-way ticket to Hollywood, where he moved with only £50 to his name.

Louis XIV of France.[20] Cushing was hired as a stand-in for scenes that featured both characters played by Louis Hayward, who had the dual lead roles of King Louis XIV and Philippe of Gascony. Cushing played one part against Hayward in one scene, then the opposite part in another, and ultimately the scenes were spliced together in a split screen process that featured Hayward in both parts and left Cushing's work cut from the film altogether.[18] Although the job meant Cushing received no actual screen time, he was eventually cast in a bit part as the king's messenger, which made The Man in the Iron Mask his official film debut.[21] The small role involved sword-fighting and, although Cushing had no experience with fencing, he told Whale he was an excellent fencer to ensure he got the part. Cushing later said his unscreened scenes alongside Hayward were terrible performances, but that his experience on the film provided an excellent opportunity to learn and observe how filming on a studio set worked.[20]

Only a few days after filming on The Man in the Iron Mask was completed, Cushing was in the

of the same name, it was a drama film about a nurse played by Carole Lombard working in a poorly-equipped country hospital. Stevens cast Cushing in the second male lead role of Joe Shand, the husband of the Lombard character's sister. Shooting ran from September to November 1939,[23] and the film was released in 1940, drawing Cushing's first semblance of attention and critical praise.[10]

Cushing continued to work in a few Hollywood engagements, including an uncredited role in the

summer stock theatre company to raise money for his voyage back to England. He performed in such plays as Robert E. Sherwood's The Petrified Forest, Arnold Ridley's The Ghost Train, S. N. Behrman's Biography and a modern dress version of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. He was eventually noticed by a Broadway theatre talent scout,[25] and in 1941 he made his Broadway debut in the religious wartime drama The Seventh Trumpet. It received poor reviews, however, and ran for only eleven days.[18]

Return to England and theatrical work

Cushing returned to England during the Second World War. Although some childhood injuries prevented him from serving on active duty,

Phoenix Theatre.[29]

Cushing recorded occasional radio spots and appeared in week-long stints as a featured player in London's Q Theatre, but otherwise work was difficult to come by.[18] He found a modest success in a 1945 production of Sheridan's The Rivals at Westminster's Criterion Theatre, which earned him enough money to pay off some growing debts.[30] The war years continued to prove difficult for him, however, and at one point he was forced to work designing ladies head-scarves at a Macclesfield-based silk manufacturer to make ends meet.[18] In the autumn of 1946, after the war ended, Cushing unsuccessfully auditioned for the part of Paul Verrall in a stage production of the play Born Yesterday that was being staged by famed actor and director Laurence Olivier. He was not cast because he insisted he could not perform in an American accent.[18] After Cushing attempted the accent and failed, Olivier replied, "Well, I appreciate you not wasting my time. I shall remember you."[31] Nearing middle age and finding it increasingly harder to make a living in acting, Cushing began to consider himself a failure.[10]

In 1947, when Laurence Olivier sought him out for his film adaptation of

Horatio while walking down a wide stone spiral stairway. The set provided technical difficulties, and all of Cushing's lines had to be post-synched. Cushing had recently undergone dental surgery and he was trying not to open his mouth widely for fear of spitting. When this hindered the post-synching process, Olivier leaned in close to Cushing's face and said, "Now drown me. It'll be a glorious death, so long as I can hear what you're saying."[32]

Hamlet won the

Antigone and Anton Chekhov's The Proposal.[34]

Success in television and major films

Cushing struggled greatly to find work over the next few years, and became so stressed that he felt he was suffering from an extended

nervous breakdown.[34] Nevertheless, he continued to appear in several small roles in radio, theatre and film.[10][35] Among them was the John Huston film Moulin Rouge (1952) in which he played a racing spectator named Marcel de la Voisier appearing with José Ferrer, who played the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.[21] During this discouraging period for Cushing, his wife encouraged him to seek roles in television, which was beginning to develop in England.[10] She suggested he write to all the producers listed in the Radio Times magazine seeking work in the medium. The move proved to be a wise one, as Cushing was hired to complement the cast of a string of major theatre successes that were being adapted to live television. The first was J.B. Priestley's Eden End, which was televised in December 1951. Over the next three years, he became one of the most active and favoured names in British television,[10][15][35] and was considered a pioneer in British television drama.[21][28]

He earned praise for playing the lead male role of

totalitarian regime. The production proved to be controversial, resulting in death threats for director Rudolph Cartier and causing Cushing to be vilified for appearing in such "filth."[35] Parliament even considered a motion immediately after the first screening to ban the play's live repeat.[28][35] Nevertheless, a second televised production was filmed and aired, and Cushing eventually drew both critical praise and acting awards, further cementing his reputation as one of Britain's biggest television stars.[10] Cushing felt his first performance was much stronger than the second, but the second production is the only known surviving version.[38]

In the two years following Nineteen Eighty-Four, Cushing appeared in thirty-one television plays and two serials, and won Best Television Actor of the Year from the

Richard of Bordeaux, and the production of Nigel Kneale's The Creature (1955),[35] the latter of which Cushing starred in film adaptation released in 1957.[41] Despite this continued success in live television, Cushing found the medium too stressful and wished to return to film.[10] Cinematic roles proved somewhat difficult to find, however, as film producers were often resentful of television stars for drawing audiences away from the cinema.[42]

Nevertheless, he continued to work in some film roles during this period, including the adventure film The Black Knight (1954) opposite Alan Ladd.[39] For that film, he travelled to Spain and filmed scenes on location in the castles of Manzanares el Real and El Escorial.[43] He also starred in the film adaptation of the Graham Greene novel The End of the Affair (1955) as Henry Miles, an important civil servant and the cuckolded husband of Sarah Miles, played by Deborah Kerr.[21] Also around the same time, he appeared in Magic Fire (also 1955), an autobiographical film about the German composer Richard Wagner. Filmed on location in Munich, Cushing played Otto Wesendonck, the husband of poet Mathilde Wesendonck, who in the film is portrayed as having an affair with Wagner.[44]

Hammer Frankenstein films

As Victor Frankenstein in Revenge of Frankenstein

During a brief quiet period following Cushing's television work, he read in

trade publications about Hammer, a low-budget production company seeking to adapt Mary Shelley's horror novel Frankenstein into a new film.[39] Cushing, who enjoyed the tale as a child,[10] had his agent John Redway inform the company of Cushing's interest in playing the protagonist, Baron Victor Frankenstein. The studio executives were anxious to have Cushing; in fact, Hammer co-founder James Carreras had been unsuccessfully courting Cushing for film roles in other projects even before his major success with Nineteen Eighty-Four. Cushing was about twenty years older than Baron Frankenstein as he appeared in the original novel, but that did not deter the filmmakers.[39] Cushing was cast in the lead role of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), marking the first of twenty-two films he made for Hammer.[45] He later said that his career decisions entailed selecting roles where he knew that he would be accepted by the audience. "Who wants to see me as Hamlet? Very few. But millions want to see me as [Baron] Frankenstein, so that's the one I do."[46] The film critic Roger Ebert described Cushing's work in the Hammer films: "[Cushing is] the one in all those British horror films, standing between Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. His dialog usually runs along the lines of, 'But good heavens, man! The person you saw has been dead for more than two centuries!'"[47]

Unlike Frankenstein (1931) produced by Universal, the Hammer films revolved mainly around Victor Frankenstein, rather than his monster.[48] Screenwriter Jimmy Sangster wrote the protagonist as an ambitious, egotistical and coldly intellectual scientist who despised his contemporaries.[39] Unlike the character from the novel and past film versions, Cushing's Baron Frankenstein commits vicious crimes to attain his goals, including the murder of a colleague to obtain a brain for his creature.[48] The Curse of Frankenstein also featured Christopher Lee, who played Frankenstein's monster.[21] Cushing and Lee became extremely close friends, and remained so for the rest of Cushing's life. They first met on the set of the film, where Lee was still wearing the monster make-up prepared by Phil Leakey. Hammer Studios' publicity department put out a story that when Cushing first encountered Lee without the make-up on, he screamed in terror.[49]

Cushing so valued preparation for his role that he insisted on being trained by a surgeon to learn how to wield a scalpel authentically.[28] Shot in dynamic colour with a £65,000-budget, the film became known for its heavy usage of gore and sexual content.[10] As a result, while the film did well at the box-office with its target audience, it drew mixed to negative reviews from the critics. Most, however, were complimentary of Cushing's performance,[50] claiming it added a layer of distinction and credibility to the film.[51] Many felt Cushing's performance helped create the archetypal mad scientist character.[28] Picturegoer writer Margaret Hinxman, who was not complimentary of Lee's performance, praised Cushing and wrote of the film: "Although this shocker may not have created much of a monster, it may well have created something more lasting: a star!"[50] Donald F. Glut, a writer and filmmaker who wrote a book about the portrayals of Frankenstein, said the inner warmth of Cushing's off-screen personality was apparent on-screen even despite the horrific elements of Frankenstein, which helped add a layer of likability to the character.[52]

The Curse of Frankenstein was an overnight success, bringing both Cushing and Lee worldwide fame.[21][53] The two men continued to work together in many films for Hammer, and their names became synonymous with the company. Cushing reprised the role of Baron Victor Frankenstein in five sequels.[21] In the first, The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), his protagonist is sentenced to death by guillotine, but he flees and hides under the alias Doctor Victor Stein.[21] He returned for The Evil of Frankenstein (1963), where the Baron has a carnival hypnotist resurrect his monster's inactive brain,[54] and Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), in which the Frankenstein's monster is a woman played by Playboy magazine centrefold model Susan Denberg. Cushing played the lead role twice more in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974).[21] The former film portrays Frankenstein as a far more ruthless character than had been seen before, and features a scene in which Cushing's Frankenstein rapes the character played by Veronica Carlson. Neither Carlson nor Cushing wanted to do the scene, filmed despite director Terence Fisher's objections, and the controversial sequence was edited out of the film for its American release.[55] In Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Cushing portrayed Frankenstein as having gone completely mad, in a fitting coda to the earlier films.[56][57]

Hammer Dracula films

Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing

When Hammer sought to adapt

top billing.[60] During filming, Cushing himself suggested the staging for the final confrontation scene, in which Van Helsing leaps onto a large library table, opens window curtains to weaken Dracula with sunlight, then uses two candlesticks as a makeshift crucifix to drive the vampire into the sunlight.[10] As with the Frankenstein film, critics largely disliked Dracula because of its violence and sexual content, deeming it inferior to the 1931 Universal version.[61]

In 1959, Cushing agreed to reprise the role of Van Helsing in the sequel,

Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), a Hammer modernisation of the Dracula story set in the then-present day. Lee once again starred as Dracula. In the opening scene, Cushing portrays the nineteenth century Van Helsing as he did in the previous films, and the character is killed after battling Dracula. Thereafter the action jumps ahead to 1972, and Cushing plays the original character's grandson for the bulk of the movie.[21] Cushing performed many of his own stunts in Dracula A.D. 1972, which included tumbling off a haywagon during a fight with Dracula. Christopher Neame, who also starred in the film, said he was particularly impressed with Cushing's agility and fitness, considering his age.[64] Cushing and Lee both reprised their respective roles in the sequel The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974), which was known in the United States as Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride.[21] Around the same time, Cushing played the original nineteenth-century Van Helsing in The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (also 1974), a co-production between Hammer Studios and the Shaw Brothers Studio, which brought Chinese martial arts into the Dracula story.[21] In that film, Cushing's Van Helsing travels to the Chinese city Chongqing, where Count Dracula is heading a vampire cult.[65]

Other Hammer roles

Although most well known for his roles in the Frankenstein and Dracula films, Cushing appeared in a wide variety of other Hammer productions during this time. Both he and his wife feared that he would become

typecast into horror roles, but he continued to take them because they guaranteed regular work.[42][66] He appeared in the horror film The Abominable Snowman (1957), a Hammer adaptation of a BBC Nigel Kneale television play The Creature (1955) which Cushing had also starred in. He portrayed an English botanist searching the Himalayas for the legendary Yeti.[41] Director Val Guest said he was particularly impressed with Cushing's preparation and ability to plan which props to best use to enhance his performance, so much so that Cushing started to become known as "Props Peter".[67] Cushing and Lee appeared together in the Hammer horror The Mummy (1959), with Cushing as the archaeologist John Banning and Lee as the antagonist Kharis.[10] Cushing saw a promotional poster for The Mummy that showed Lee's character with a large hole in his chest, allowing a beam of light to pass through his body. There was no reference to such an injury in the film script, and when he asked the publicity department why it was on the poster, they said it was simply meant to serve as a shocking image to promote the movie. During filming, he asked director Terence Fisher for permission to drive a harpoon through the mummy's body during a fight scene to explain the poster image. Fisher agreed, and the scene was used in the film.[68]

Around the same time, he portrayed the detective

Monthly Film Bulletin called him "tiresomely mannered and too lightweight" and BBC Television's Barry Norman said he "didn't quite capture the air of know-all arrogance that was the great detective's hallmark".[75] The Hound of the Baskervilles was originally conceived as the first in a series of Sherlock Holmes films, but no sequels were made.[68]

Cushing in Cash On Demand (1961)

Immediately upon completion of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Cushing was offered the lead role in the Hammer film The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959), a remake of The Man in Half Moon Street (1945). He turned it down, in part because he did not like the script by Jimmy Sangster, and the lead role was taken instead by Anton Diffring. Cushing next appeared for Hammer when he played the Sheriff of Nottingham in the adventure film Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960), which starred Richard Greene as the outlaw Robin Hood.[21] It was filmed on location in County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland.[76] The next year, Cushing starred as an Ebenezer Scrooge-like manager of a bank being robbed in the Hammer thriller film Cash on Demand (1961). He considered this among the favourites of his films,[21] and some critics believed it to be among his best performances, although it was one of the least-seen films from his career.[10] He appeared in the Hammer film Captain Clegg (1962), known in the United States as Night Creatures. Cushing starred as Parson Blyss, the local reverend of an 18th-century English coastal town believed to be hiding his smuggling activities with reports of ghosts.[21] The film was roughly based on the Doctor Syn novels by Russell Thorndike. Cushing read Thorndike to prepare for the role and made suggestions to make-up artist Roy Ashton about Blyss' costume and hairstyle.[77] He and director Peter Graham Scott did not get along well during filming and at one point, when the two were having a disagreement on set, Cushing turned to cameraman Len Harris and said, "Take no notice, Len. We've done enough of these now to know what we're doing."[77]

Cushing and Lee appeared together in the horror film

puritans trying to stamp out witchcraft and satanism.[78] Among his final Hammer roles was Fear in the Night (1972), where he played a one-armed school headmaster apparently terrorising the protagonist, played by Judy Geeson.[79]

Non-Hammer film work

Although best known for his Hammer performances from the 1950s to the 1970s, Cushing worked in a variety of other roles during this time, and actively sought roles outside the horror genre to diversify his work.

bird-watcher." In an interview published in 1966, he added, "I do get terribly tired with the neighbourhood kids telling me 'My mum says she wouldn't want to meet you in a dark alley'." He continued to perform in occasional stage productions, such as Robert E. MacEnroe's The Silver Whistle at Westminster's Duchess Theatre in 1956.[80] Around the same time, he appeared in the film Alexander the Great (1956) as the Athenian General Memnon of Rhodes.[44] In 1959, Cushing originally planned to appear in the lead role of William Fairchild's play The Sound of Murder, while shooting a film at the same time. The hectic schedule became overbearing for Cushing, who had to drop out of the play and resolved to never again attempt a film and play simultaneously.[81]

He appeared in the biographical epic film John Paul Jones (1959), in which Robert Stack played the title role of the American naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War.[21] Cushing became very ill with dysentery during filming and lost a considerable amount of weight as a result.[82] Cushing played Robert Knox in The Flesh and the Fiends (1960), based on the true story of the doctor who purchased human corpses for research from the serial killer duo Burke and Hare.[21] Cushing had previously stated Knox was one of his role models in developing his portrayal of Baron Frankenstein.[83] The film was called Mania in its American release. Cushing appeared in several films released in 1961, including Fury at Smugglers' Bay, an adventure film about pirates scavenging ships off the English coastline;[84] The Hellfire Club, where he played a lawyer helping a young man expose a cult;[85] and The Naked Edge, a British-American thriller about a woman who suspects her husband framed another man for murder. The latter film starred Deborah Kerr, Cushing's co-star from The End of the Affair, and Gary Cooper, one of Cushing's favourite actors.[84] In 1965, Cushing appeared in the Ben Travers farce play Thark at Westminster's Garrick Theatre. It was his final stage performance for a decade, but he continued to stay active in film and television during this period.[86]

Cushing took the lead role in two science fiction films by AARU Productions based on the British television series, Doctor Who. Although Cushing's protagonist was derived from television scripts used for First Doctor serials, his portrayal of the character differed in the fact that Cushing's Dr. Who was a human being, whereas the original Doctor as portrayed on TV by William Hartnell was extraterrestrial.[87] Cushing played the role in Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966).[21]

Cushing later starred in the fifteen-episode BBC television series Sherlock Holmes, once again reprising his role as the title character with Nigel Stock as Watson, though only six episodes now survive. The episodes aired in 1968. Douglas Wilmer had previously played Holmes for the BBC,[88] but he turned down the part in this series due to the extremely demanding filming schedule. Fourteen days of rehearsal was originally scheduled for each episode, but they were cut down to ten days for economic reasons. Many actors turned down the role as a result, but Cushing accepted,[89] and the BBC believed his Hammer Studios persona would bring what they called a sense of "lurking horror and callous savagery" to the series.[88] Production lasted from May to December,[90] and Cushing adopted a strict regimen of training, preparation and exercise.[91] He tried to keep his performance identical to his portrayal of Holmes from The Hound of the Baskervilles.[92] Although the series proved popular, Cushing felt he could not give his best performance under the hectic schedule, and he was not pleased with the final result.[90][93]

Cushing appeared in a handful of horror films by the independent Amicus Productions, including Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), as a man who could see into the future using Tarot cards;[94] The Skull (1965), as a professor who became possessed by a spiritual force embodied within a skull;[95] and Torture Garden (1967), as a collector of Edgar Allan Poe relics who is robbed and murdered by a rival.[96] Cushing also appeared in non-Amicus horror films like Island of Terror (1966) and The Blood Beast Terror (1968), in both of which he investigates a series of mysterious deaths. He appeared in Corruption (1968), a film that was billed as so horrific that "no woman will be admitted alone" into theatres to see it.[97] Cushing played a surgeon who attempts to restore the beauty of his wife (played by Sue Lloyd), whose face is horribly scarred in an accident.[98]

In July 1969, Cushing appeared as the straight man in The Morecambe & Wise Show, the British comedy series. In the skit, Cushing portrayed King Arthur, while the other two gave comedic portrayals of characters like Merlin and the knights of the Round Table. Cushing continued to make occasional cameos in the series over the next decade, portraying himself desperately attempting to collect a payment for his previous acting appearance on the show.[99] Cushing and Lee made cameos as their old roles of Frankenstein and Dracula in the comedy One More Time (1970), which starred Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr.[100] The single scene took only one morning of filming, which Cushing agreed to after Davis asked him to do it as a favour.[63] The next year, Cushing appeared in I, Monster (1971),[10] which was adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, alongside Lee as the Jekyll/Hyde figure. Later that year he was set to appear in Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971), an adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. He was forced to withdraw from the film to care for his wife, and was ultimately replaced by Andrew Keir.[101]

Cushing and his close friend Christopher Lee in Horror Express (1972). They starred in twenty-two films together, including three Dracula Hammer films.[102]

In 1971, Cushing contacted the

Royal National Institute for the Blind and offered to provide voice acting for some of their audiobooks. They immediately accepted, and among the works Cushing recorded was The Return of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of thirteen one-hour stories.[103] He appeared alongside Vincent Price in Dr. Phibes Rises Again! (1972), a sequel to The Abominable Dr. Phibes, and then co-starred with Price again in the film Madhouse (1974).[14] He once again starred with longtime collaborator Christopher Lee in Horror Express (1972). Cushing continued to appear in several Amicus Productions films during this period, including Tales from the Crypt (1972), From Beyond the Grave (1973),[104] And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973),[65] and The Beast Must Die (1974).[105]

For Tales from the Crypt, an anthology film made up of several horror segments, Cushing was offered the part of a ruthless businessman but did not like the part and turned down the role. Instead, Cushing asked to play Arthur Grymsdyke,[106] a kind, working-class widower who gets along well with the local children, but falls subject to a smear campaign by his snobbish neighbours. Eventually, the character is driven to commit suicide, but returns from the grave to seek revenge against his tormentors.[107] After Cushing was cast in the role, several changes were made to the script at his suggestion. Originally, all of the character's lines were spoken aloud to himself, but Cushing suggested he speak to a framed photo of his deceased wife instead, and director Freddie Francis agreed.[106] Cushing used the emotions from the recent loss of his wife to add authenticity to the widower character's grieving.[107] Make-up artist Roy Ashton designed the costume and make-up Cushing wore when he rose from the dead,[107] but the actor helped Ashton develop the costume, and donned a pair of false teeth that he previously used in a disguise during the Sherlock Holmes television series.[108] His performance in Tales from the Crypt won him the Best Male Actor award at the 1971 French Convention of Fantasy Cinema in France.[106]

In 1975, Cushing was anxious to return to the stage, where he had not performed in ten years. Around this time he learned that Helen Ryan, an actress who impressed him in a televised play about

King Edward VII, was planning to run the Horseshoe Theatre in Basingstoke with her husband, Guy Slater. Cushing wrote to the couple and suggested they stage The Heiress, a play by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, with Cushing himself in the lead role. Ryan and Slater agreed, and Cushing later said performing the part was his most pleasant experience since his wife had died four years earlier.[86] Cushing also starred in several horror films released in 1975. Among them were Land of the Minotaur, where he played Baron Corofax, the evil leader of a Satanic cult opposed by a priest played by Donald Pleasence.[109] Another was The Ghoul, where he played a former priest hiding his cannibalistic son in an attic. That film marked the first Cushing worked for producer Kevin Francis, who worked in minor jobs at Hammer and had long aspired to work with Cushing, whom he admired deeply. They went on to make two other films together, Legend of the Werewolf (1975) and The Masks of Death (1984) with the actor playing Sherlock Holmes once more.[110] Cushing appeared in the television film The Great Houdini (1976) as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.[87][103] Cushing wrote the forewords to two books about the detective: Peter Haining's Sherlock Holmes Scrapbook (1974) and Holmes of the Movies: The Screen Career of Sherlock Holmes (1976), by David Stuart Davies.[111] Cushing also appeared in the horror film The Uncanny (1977).[112]

Star Wars

Film director George Lucas approached Cushing with the hopes of casting the actor in his upcoming space fantasy film, Star Wars. Since the film's primary antagonist Darth Vader wore a mask throughout the entire film and his face was never visible, Lucas felt that a strong human villain character was necessary. This led him to write the character of Grand Moff Tarkin: a high-ranking Imperial governor and commander of the planet-destroying battlestation, the Death Star. Lucas felt a talented actor was needed to play the role and said Cushing was his first choice.[113] However, Cushing has claimed that Lucas originally approached him to play the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and only decided to cast him as Tarkin instead after the two met. He said he would have preferred to play Kenobi rather than Tarkin but could not have done so because he was to be filming other movie roles when Star Wars was shooting, and Tarkin's scenes took less time to film than those of the larger Kenobi role. Although not a particular fan of science fiction, Cushing accepted the part because he believed his audience would love Star Wars and enjoy seeing him in the film.[10]

Cushing joined the cast in May 1976, and his scenes were filmed at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood.[10] Along with Alec Guinness, who was ultimately cast as Kenobi, he was among the best-known actors at the time to appear in Star Wars, as the rest of the cast were then relatively unknown.[114] As a result, he was paid a larger daily salary than most of his fellow cast, earning £2,000 per day compared to weekly salaries of $1,000 for Mark Hamill, $850 for Carrie Fisher, and $750 for Harrison Ford, who played protagonists Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa, and Han Solo, respectively.[113] When Cushing smoked between shots, he wore a white glove so the make-up artists would not have to deal with nicotine stains on his fingers. Like Guinness, he had difficulty with some of the technical jargon in his dialogue and claimed he did not understand all of the words he was speaking. Nevertheless, he worked hard to master the lines so that they sounded natural and his character appeared intelligent and confident.[115]

Cushing got along well with the entire cast, especially his old

bad breath.[115]

During the filming of Star Wars, Cushing was provided with a pair of boots far too small to accommodate his size twelve feet. This caused a great deal of pain for him during shooting, but the costume designers did not have enough time to get him another pair. As a result, he asked Lucas to film as many shots of him as possible from the waist up and, after the director agreed, Cushing wore

slippers during the scenes where his feet were not visible.[116][117][118][119][120] During rehearsals, Lucas originally planned for Tarkin and Vader to use a giant screen filled with computerised architectural representations of hallways to monitor the whereabouts of Skywalker, Solo, and Organa. Although the idea was abandoned before filming began, Cushing and Prowse rehearsed those scenes in a set built by computer animation artist Larry Cuba.[121] The close-up shots of Cushing aboard the Death Star, shown right before the battlestation is destroyed, were actually extra footage taken from previously shot scenes with Cushing that did not make the final film. During production, Lucas decided to add those shots, along with second unit footage of the Death Star gunners preparing to fire, to add more suspense to the film's space battle scenes.[122]

When Star Wars was first released in 1977, most preliminary advertisements touted Cushing's Tarkin as the primary antagonist of the film, not Vader;[123] Cushing was extremely pleased with the final film, and he claimed his only disappointment was that Tarkin was killed and could not appear in the sequels. The film gave him the highest amount of visibility of his entire career and helped inspire younger audiences to watch his older films.[10][124][125]

For the film Rogue One (2016), CGI and digitally-repurposed-archive footage[126][127] were used to insert Cushing's likeness from the original movie over the face of actor Guy Henry.[128] Henry provided the on-set capture and voice work with the reference material augmented and mapped over his performance like a digital body-mask. Cushing's estate owners were heavily involved with the creation, which took place more than twenty years after Cushing died.[129] This extensive use of CGI to "resurrect" an actor who had died many years earlier created a great deal of controversy about the ethics of using a deceased actor's likeness.[130][131][132] Joyce Broughton, Cushing's former secretary, had approved recreating Cushing in the film. After attending the London premiere, she was reportedly "taken aback" and "dazzled" with the effect of seeing him on screen again.[133]

Later career

Toward the end of his career, Cushing performed in films and roles critics widely considered below his talent.[10] Director John Carpenter approached him to appear in the horror film Halloween (1978) as Samuel Loomis, the psychiatrist of murderer Michael Myers, but Cushing turned down the role. It was also turned down by Christopher Lee, and eventually went to Donald Pleasence, another of Cushing's former co-stars.[134] Cushing appeared alongside his old co-stars Christopher Lee and Vincent Price in House of the Long Shadows (1983), a horror-parody film featuring Desi Arnaz Jr. as an author trying to write a gothic novel in a deserted Welsh mansion.[41]

Cushing appeared in the television film The Masks of Death (1984), marking both the last time he played detective Sherlock Holmes and the final performance for which he received top billing.

Edwalton, Nottinghamshire.[119]

During this period, Cushing was honoured by the

Prince Edward and auctioned at a charity event he organised to raise funds for The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.[136] Also that year, a sketch Cushing drew of Sherlock Holmes was accepted as the official logo of the Northern Musgraves Sherlock Holmes Society.[137]

Cushing wrote two autobiographies, Peter Cushing: An Autobiography (1986) and Past Forgetting: Memoirs of the Hammer Years (1988).

Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to the British film industry.[138] Cushing also wrote a children's book called The Bois Saga, a story based on the history of England. Published in 1994, it was originally written specifically for the daughter of Cushing's long-time secretary and friend Joyce Broughton, to help her overcome reading problems resulting from her dyslexia. It was Broughton who encouraged Cushing to have the book published.[139] His final acting job was narrating, along with Christopher Lee, the Hammer Films documentary Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994), which was recorded only a few weeks before his death.[45] Produced by American writer and director Ted Newsom, his contribution was recorded in Canterbury, near his home.[citation needed] Lee recognised Cushing's health was fading and did his best to keep his friend's spirits up, but Lee later claimed he had a premonition that it would be the last time he saw Cushing alive, which proved to be true.[73]

Personal life

Cushing had a variety of interests outside acting, including collecting and battling model soldiers, of which he owned over five thousand.[140] He hand-painted many and used the Little Wars rule set by H. G. Wells for miniature wargaming.[141] He also loved games and practical jokes,[15] and enjoyed drawing and painting watercolours, the latter of which he did often in his later years.[45]

After his wife's death, Cushing visited several churches and spoke to religious ministers, but was dissatisfied by their reluctance to discuss death and the afterlife, and never joined an organized religion. He nevertheless maintained a belief in both

nyctophobia from early in his life, but in his later years overcame this by forcing himself to take walks outside after midnight.[144]

Cushing was known among his colleagues for his gentle and gentlemanly demeanour, as well as his professionalism and rigorous preparation as an actor.[21] He once said that he learned his parts "from cover to cover" before filming began.[145] His co-stars and colleagues often spoke of his politeness, charm, old-fashioned manners and sense of humour.[10] While working, he actively provided feedback and suggestions on other elements beyond his performance, such as dialogue and wardrobe. At times, this put him at odds with writers and producers; Hammer Studios producer Anthony Hinds once declared him a "fusspot [and] terrible fusser about his wardrobe and everything, but never a difficult man."[71]

Although he appeared in both television and stage productions, Cushing preferred the medium of film, which allowed his perfectionist nature to work out the best performance possible.[10] He did not enjoy the repetitive nature of stage performances, and once compared it to a painter being forced to paint the same picture every day.[92] Cushing himself was not a particular fan of horror or science fiction films, but he tended to choose roles not based on whether he enjoyed them, but whether he felt his audience would enjoy him in them.[10] However, Cushing was very proud of his experiences with the Hammer films, and never resented becoming known as a horror actor.[4] He always took the roles seriously and never portrayed them in a campy or tongue-in-cheek style because he felt it would be insulting to his audience.[10][42][68]

On 10 April 1943, Cushing married Violet Hélène Beck, sister of Reginald Beck.[14][28][29][146]

In 1971, Cushing's wife died of emphysema. Cushing often said he felt his life had ended when hers did,[10] and he was so crushed that when his first autobiography was published in 1986, it made no mention of his life after her death.[28] In 1972, he was quoted in the Radio Times as having said, "Since Helen passed on I can't find anything; the heart, quite simply, has gone out of everything. Time is interminable, the loneliness is almost unbearable and the only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that my dear Helen and I will be reunited again some day. To join Helen is my only ambition. You have my permission to publish that ... really, you know, dear boy, it's all just killing time. Please say that."[147]

In his autobiography, Cushing implies that he attempted suicide on the night of his wife's death by running up and down stairs in the vain hope that it would induce a

heart attack. He later stated that this had simply been a hysterical response borne out of grief, and that he had not purposely attempted to end his life; a poem left by Helen had implored him not to die until he had lived his life to the full.[142]

The effects of his wife's death proved to be as much physical as mental. For his role in

Van Helsing's desk includes a photograph of her. He repeated the role of the man who lost family in other horror films, including Asylum (1972), The Creeping Flesh (1973), and The Ghoul
(1975).

Death and legacy

In May 1982, Cushing was diagnosed with prostate cancer.[149] He was rushed to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital when his left eye had swollen to nearly three times its normal size, a side effect of the cancer. Doctors determined he had twelve to eighteen months to live, and that his left eye might be lost. To their surprise, however, Cushing recovered well enough to be released from the hospital,[150] and although his health continued to gradually decline, Cushing lived another twelve years without any operative treatment or chemotherapy. During this period, he lived with Joyce Broughton and her family at their homes in Hartley, Kent.[151] In August 1994, Cushing entered himself into Pilgrims Hospice in Canterbury, where he died on 11 August at 81 years old.[14][152] In accordance with his wishes, Cushing had a low-profile funeral with family and friends, although hundreds of fans and well-wishers came to Canterbury to pay their respects. In January 1995, a memorial service was held in The Actors' Church in Covent Garden, with addresses given by Christopher Lee, Kevin Francis, Ron Moody and James Bree.[153]

In total, Cushing appeared in more than 100 films throughout his career.[4][42]

In an interview included on the DVD release of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Lee said of his friend's death:

I don't want to sound gloomy, but at some point of your lives, every one of you will notice that you have in your life one person, one friend whom you love and care for very much. That person is so close to you that you are able to share some things only with him. For example, you can call that friend, and from the very first maniacal laugh or some other joke you will know who is at the other end of that line. We used to do that with him so often. And then when that person is gone, there will be nothing like that in your life ever again.[154]

Several filmmakers and actors have cited Cushing as an influence, including Doug Bradley, who played Pinhead in the Hellraiser horror films,[155] and John Carpenter, who directed such films as Halloween (1978), Escape from New York (1981) and The Thing (1982).[10] Director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp both said the portrayal of Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow was intended to resemble that of Cushing's old horror film performances.[156][157]

In 2008, fourteen years after his death, Cushing's image was used in a

"Great Britons" commemorative postage stamp issue.[158]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Note
1939 The Man in the Iron Mask Second Officer Playing opposite Louis Hayward to facilitate the double exposure scenes, with a small role of his own
1940 Laddie Robert Pryor
A Chump at Oxford Student
Vigil in the Night Joe Shand
Women in War Captain Evans Uncredited
The Howards of Virginia Leslie Stephens Uncredited
1941 They Dare Not Love Sub-Lieutenant Blackler Uncredited
1948 Hamlet Osric
1952 Moulin Rouge Marcel de la Voisier
1954 The Black Knight Sir Palamides
1955 The End of the Affair Henry Miles
Magic Fire Otto Wesendonk
1956 Alexander the Great General Memnon
1957 Time Without Pity Jeremy Clayton
The Curse of Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein First lead role
The Abominable Snowman Dr. Rollason
1958 Violent Playground Priest
Dracula Doctor Van Helsing
The Revenge of Frankenstein Doctor Victor Stein
1959 The Hound of the Baskervilles Sherlock Holmes
John Paul Jones Captain Richard Pearson
The Mummy John Banning
1960 The Flesh and the Fiends Dr. Robert Knox Released in U.S. as Mania[159]
Cone of Silence Captain Clive Judd Released in U.S. as Trouble in the Sky[160]
The Brides of Dracula Doctor Van Helsing
Suspect Professor Sewell
Sword of Sherwood Forest Sheriff of Nottingham
1961 The Hellfire Club Merryweather
Fury at Smugglers' Bay Squire Trevenyan
The Naked Edge Mr. Evan Wrack
Cash on Demand Harry Fordyce
1962 Captain Clegg Parson Blyss Alternative title: Night Creatures
The Devil's Agent (Cushing's scenes were deleted); co-stars Christopher Lee[161]
1963 The Man Who Finally Died Dr. Peter von Brecht
1964 The Evil of Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein
The Gorgon Dr. Namaroff
1965 Dr. Terror's House of Horrors 'Dr. Terror' / Dr. W. R. Schreck
She Major Holly
The Skull Christopher Maitland
Dr. Who and the Daleks Dr. Who
1966 Island of Terror Dr. Brian Stanley
Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Dr. Who
1967 Frankenstein Created Woman Baron Frankenstein
Night of the Big Heat Dr. Vernon Stone
Torture Garden Lancelot Canning (segment 4: "The Man Who Collected Poe")
Some May Live John Meredith
1968 The Blood Beast Terror Detective Inspector Quennell Alternate title: The Vampire-Beast Craves Blood[162]
Corruption Sir John Rowan
1969 Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed Baron Frankenstein
1970 Incense for the Damned Dr. Walter Goodrich Alternative title: Bloodsuckers
Scream and Scream Again Major Heinrich Benedek
One More Time Baron Frankenstein Uncredited
The Vampire Lovers General von Spielsdorf
1971 The House That Dripped Blood Philip Grayson (segment 2: "Waxworks")
Twins of Evil Gustav Weil
I, Monster Frederick Utterson
1972
Tales from the Crypt
 		Arthur Edward Grimsdyke (segment 3: "Poetic Justice")
Dracula A.D. 1972 Lawrence Van Helsing and Lorrimer Van Helsing
Dr. Phibes Rises Again Captain
Asylum Mr. Smith (Segment 2: "The Weird Tailor")
Fear in the Night Michael Carmichael
Horror Express Dr. Wells
1973
Nothing But the Night
 		Sir Mark Ashley
The Creeping Flesh Emmanuel Hildern
And Now the Screaming Starts! Dr. Pope
The Satanic Rites of Dracula Lorrimer Van Helsing
1974 Shatter Rattwood
From Beyond the Grave Antique Shop Proprietor
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell Baron Frankenstein
The Beast Must Die Dr. Christopher Lundgren
Madhouse Herbert Flay
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires Professor Van Helsing
Tender Dracula MacGregor
1975 Legend of the Werewolf Professor Paul
The Ghoul Dr. Lawrence Medalla Sitges en Plata de Ley Award for Best Actor
1976
Trial by Combat
 		Sir Edward Gifford Alternative title: Dirty Knights Work
At the Earth's Core Dr. Abner Perry This film was "riffed" on 14 April 2017 as part of the Season One (episode 14) release of
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return on Netflix
.
Land of the Minotaur Baron Corofax Alternative title: The Devil's Men
1977 Star Wars Grand Moff Tarkin Nominated:
Saturn Award
for Best Supporting Actor
Shock Waves SS Commander Alternative title: Almost Human
The Uncanny Wilbur
The Standard Baron von Hackenberg
1978 Son of Hitler Heinrich Haussner
1979 Arabian Adventure Wazir Al Wuzara
A Touch of the Sun Commissioner Potts Alternative title: No Secrets!
1981
Misterio en la isla de los monstruos
 		William T. Kolderup Alternative title: Mystery on Monster Island
Black Jack Sir Thomas Bedford Alternative title: Asalto al casino
1983 House of the Long Shadows Sebastian Grisbane Caixa de Catalunya Award for Best Actor
(shared with Vincent Price, Christopher Lee & John Carradine)
1984 Top Secret! Bookstore Proprietor Swedish Bookstore scene, filmed in reverse with Val Kilmer
Sword of the Valiant Seneschal – Gaspar
1986
Biggles: Adventures in Time
 		Air Commodore William Raymond

Television

Year Title Role Note
1952 Pride and Prejudice Mr. Darcy TV mini-series (all 6 episodes)
1953 Epitaph for a Spy Josef Vadassey TV mini-series (all 6 episodes)
You are There Rudolf Hess Season 1, episode 20: "The Escape of Rudolf Hess"
1951–1957
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre
 		Charles Appleby
Cyril Beverly
Simpson
Antoine Vanier
Piotr Petrovsky
Seppi Fredericks
Prince Mikhail Alexandrovitch Ouratieff
Beau Brummell
Winston Smith
Dr. John Rollason
Prime Minister
Mr. Manningham 		Season 2, episode 48: "Eden End (I)"
Season 3, episode 15: "Bird in Hand"
Season 4, episode 5: "Number Three"
Season 4, episode 25: "The Road"
Season 4, episode 28: "Anastasia"
Season 4, episode 34: "Portrait by Peko"
Season 5, episode 4: "Tovarich"
Season 5, episode 11: "Beau Brummell"
Season 5, episode 50: "
Nineteen Eighty-Four
"
Season 6, episode 5: "The Creature"
Season 6, episode 10: "The Moment of Truth"
Season 8, episode 2: "Gaslight"
1962 Drama 61-67 Frederick James Parsons Season 2, episode 7: "Drama '62: Peace with Terror"
ITV Television Playhouse Fred Parsons Season 8, episode 3: "Peace with Terror"
1963 The Spread of the Eagle Cassius TV mini-series
Comedy Playhouse Albert Fawkes Season 3, episode 6 "The Plan"
1964 Story Parade Elijah Baley Episode: "The Caves of Steel" (unknown season)
1965 Thirty-Minute Theatre Leonard Season 1, episode 5: "Monica"
1967 The Avengers Paul Beresford Episode: "Return of the Cybernauts" (season 5, episode 17 or season 6, episode 1)
1968 Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes All 16 episodes from season 2:
"The Second Stain"
"The Dancing Men"
"A Study in Scarlet"
"The Hound of the Baskervilles (Part 1)"
"The Hound of the Baskervilles (Part 2)"
"The Boscombe Valley Mystery"
"The Greek Interpreter"
"The Naval Treaty"
"Thor Bridge"
"The Musgrave Ritual"
"Black Peter"
"Wisteria Lodge"
"Shoscombe Old Place"
"The Solitary Cyclist"
"The Sign of Four"
"The Blue Carbuncle"
1973 Orson Welles Great Mysteries Count Gerard De Merret Season 1, episode 4: "La Grande Breteche"
1974 The Zoo Gang Judge Gautier Season 1, episode 5: "The Counterfeit Trap"
1976 Space: 1999 Raan Season 1, episode 7: "Missing Link"
Looks Familiar 1 episode – dated 2 February 1976
The New Avengers Von Claus Season 1, episode 1: "The Eagle's Nest"
1980 Hammer House of Horror Martin Blueck Season 1, episode 7: "The Silent Scream"
1983 Tales of the Unexpected Von Baden Season 6, episode 8: "The Vorpal Blade"

Television films

Year Title Role Note
1951 When We Are Married Gerald Forbes
1952 If This Be Error Nick Grant
Asmodée Blaise Lebel
The Silver Swan Lord Henriques
1953 Rookery Nook Clive Popkiss
The Noble Spaniard Duke of Hermanos
A Social Success Henry Robbins
1954 The Face of Love Mardian Thersites[163]
1955
Richard of Bordeaux
 		Richard II
The Browning Version Andrew Crocker-Harris
1957 Home at Seven David Preston
1958 The Winslow Boy Sir Robert Morton
Uncle Harry Uncle Harry
1976 The Great Houdini
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1980 A Tale of Two Cities Dr. Alexander Manette
1984 Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues Professor Charles Copeland
The Masks of Death Sherlock Holmes

Short films

Year Title Note Role
1940 The Hidden Master Robert Clive of India (Uncredited role)
1940 Dreams First Dreamer
1946 It Might Be You The Doctor

Other credits

Year Title Role Note
1965 Late Night Line-Up Himself Four separately recorded interviews, (with
Rudolf Cartier, and Yvonne Mitchell) about the 1954 tv. production of Nineteen Eighty-Four
1969–1980 The Morecambe & Wise Show Himself Long running gag involving being owed payment
1971 BBC Wildlife Spectacular Himself – Presenter
1986 Dieter & Andreas Grateful acknowledgment
1986–1988 Wogan Himself Regular guest
2012 House of the Long Shadows... Revisited Dedicated to
2016 Rogue One Grand Moff Tarkin Special acknowledgment;
Posthumous release;
CGI recreation used for likeness
2021 Bad Batch Grand Moff Tarkin Animated Recreation

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (license statement/permission). Text taken from Peter Cushing​, Wookieepedia, Wikia.

References

  1. ISBN 9780759123793
    .
  2. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/54835. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. ^
    ISBN 1887664262
    .
  4. ^ a b c Barker, Dennis and Malcolm, Dennis (12 August 1994). "Horrormeister Cushing belonged to gentlemanly school of actors". The Gazette: p. D2.
  5. ^ a b c Cushing, p. 28
  6. ^ Cushing, p. 19
  7. ^ a b Cushing, p. 30
  8. ^ Cushing, p. 21
  9. ^ Cushing, p. 24
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj Star Wars Insider 37, "Peter Cushing: Charming to the Last" by Constantine Nasr
  11. ^ a b Cushing, p. 35—37
  12. ^ a b Cushing, pp. 37—41
  13. ^ a b c d e Cushing, pp. 45—49
  14. ^ a b c d e f "Horror actor Peter Cushing dead at age 81" (12 August 1994). Bangor Daily News. p. C10.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Payne, Graham (June 1958). "The star who never grew up". New Zealand Home Journal.
  16. ^ "Peter Cushing – Films as actor". Filmreference.com. Archived from the original on 24 August 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  17. Salt Lake Tribune
    : p. A5.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h Earnshaw, p. 3
  19. ISBN 978-1-4766-3842-3
    .
  20. ^ a b Cushing, pp. 56—58
  21. ^
    ISBN 1557835519
    .
  22. ^ Cushing, p. 60
  23. ^ Cushing, p. 62
  24. ^ Cushing, pp. 64—65
  25. ^ Cushing, pp. 67—69
  26. ^ "Obituary: Peter Cushing". The Independent. 12 August 1994. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017.
  27. ^ Cushing, p. 75
  28. ^ a b c d e f g h "Obituary: Peter Cushing OBE" (Autumn 1994). The Vegetarian.
  29. ^ a b c Cushing, p. 81
  30. ^ Cushing, p. 84
  31. ^ Cushing, p. 87
  32. ^ Cushing, p. 90
  33. ^ a b Monush, p. 419
  34. ^ a b Cushing, pp. 92—95
  35. ^
    ISBN 0810838745
    .
  36. ISBN 0521797284
    .
  37. ^ Cushing, p. 140
  38. ^ Cushing, p. 110
  39. ^ a b c d e Meikle, p. 37
  40. ^ "Peter Cushing – Awards" Archived 17 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine. IMDb. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  41. ^
    ISBN 0810863545
    .
  42. ^ a b c d Wogan (24 February 1988). Cushing, Peter. White City, London: BBC One.
  43. ^ Cushing, p. 118
  44. ^ a b Cushing, p. 119
  45. ^ a b c Higham, Nick (11 August 1994). BBC News. BBC, London.
  46. ^ Brosnan, John. The Horror People, 1976, Plume Books. p. 190.
  47. ISBN 978-0740706721
    .
  48. ^ a b O'Flinn, Paul (1983). "Production and Reproduction: The Case of Frankenstein". Literature and History. 9.2: 194—213.
  49. ^ Cushing, p. 112
  50. ^ a b Meikle, p. 42
  51. ISBN 0786411678
    .
  52. ISBN 0786413530
    .
  53. ISBN 041521355X
    .
  54. ISBN 0520209702
    .
  55. Image Entertainment
    . Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  56. ISBN 1570614156
    .
  57. ^ Leggett, p. 147
  58. ^ Leggett, p. 49
  59. ^ Cushing, p. 147
  60. ^ Meikle, p. 55
  61. Image Entertainment
    . Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  62. ^ Meikle, p. 98
  63. ^ a b Cushing, p. 149
  64. Image Entertainment
    . Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  65. ^
    ISBN 1903364213
    .
  66. ^ Cushing, p. 114
  67. Image Entertainment
    . Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  68. ^
    Image Entertainment
    . Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  69. ^ a b Earnshaw, p. 1
  70. ^ Wogan (19 December 1987). Cushing, Peter. White City, London: BBC One.
  71. ^ a b Earnshaw, p. 10
  72. ^ Earnshaw, p. 11—12
  73. ^ a b Lee, Christopher (actor). (2002). Actor's Notebook: Christopher Lee. [Documentary, from The Hound of the Baskervilles DVD]. Greg Carson: MGM Home Entertainment. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  74. ^ Earnshaw, p. 23
  75. ^ Earnshaw, p. 24
  76. ^ Cushing, p. 120
  77. ^ a b Meikle, p. 126
  78. ^ Chibnall, p. 2
  79. ^ Chibnall, p. 76
  80. ^ Cushing, p. 116
  81. ^ Cushing, p. 160
  82. ^ Cushing, p. 191
  83. ^ Meikle, p. 65
  84. ^ a b Cushing, p. 166
  85. ^ American Film Institute, p. 468
  86. ^ a b Cushing, p. 158
  87. ^
    ISBN 0546718116
    .
  88. ^ a b Meikle, p. 280
  89. ^ Earnshaw, p. 29
  90. ^ a b Earnshaw, p. 30
  91. ^ Earnshaw, p. 31
  92. ^ a b Knight, Chris (1971). "Talking to...Peter Cushing". L'Incroyable Cinema.
  93. ^ Cushing, p. 124
  94. ^ American Film Institute, p. 274
  95. ^ American Film Institute, p. 998
  96. ^ American Film Institute, p. 1125
  97. ^ Chibnall, p. 213
  98. ^ American Film Institute, p. 204.
  99. ^
    Press Association
    .
  100. ^ Glut, p. 63
  101. ^ Meikle, p. 191
  102. ^ Hamilton, Alex (11 June 2015). "Christopher Lee obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  103. ^ a b Earnshaw, p. 65
  104. ISBN 0415230039
    .
  105. ^ Chibnall, p. 222
  106. ^ a b c Cushing, p. 153
  107. ^
    ISBN 1556527705
    .
  108. ^ Cushing, p. 190
  109. ^ Monush, p. 599
  110. ^ Cushing, p. 11
  111. ISBN 0810823454
    .
  112. ^ Chibnall, p. 228
  113. ^
    ISBN 0345494768
    .
  114. ^ Grant, Devin (19 May 2005). "Charleston fanatics ready to celebrate 'Revenge'". The Post and Courier: p. 24F.
  115. ^ a b c Rinzler, p. 177
  116. ISBN 978-0-7864-1932-6
    .
  117. ISBN 978-0-415-19205-7
    .
  118. ISBN 978-0-7864-2016-2
    .
  119. ^ a b "How Jim fixed it for horror actor Cushing" (8 May 2004). Nottingham Evening Post: p. 16.
  120. ^ O'Brien, John (20 April 2002). "Bring on the Clones". The Courier-Mail: p. M01.
  121. ^ Rinzler, p. 180
  122. ^ Rinzler, p. 238
  123. ^ Kroll, Jack (30 May 1977).
  124. ^ a b Majendie, Paul (7 August 1986). "Master of horror tells his story." Chicago Tribune: p. D9.
  125. ^ Kroft, Jack (30 May 1977). "Fun in Space". Newsweek.
  126. ^ Lincoln, Kevin (24 December 2016). "How Did Rogue One Legally Re-create the Late Peter Cushing?". Vulture. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  127. ^ "the CGI used to repurpose the footage may not age well..." 24 December 2016. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  128. ^ Pulver, Andrew (16 January 2017). "Rogue One VFX head: 'We didn't do anything Peter Cushing would've objected to'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017.
  129. ^ Telegraph Film. "'Morbid and off-putting' or 'convincing'? Rogue One's CGI Peter Cushing gets a mixed response from Star Wars fans". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 18 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  130. ^ "CGI resurrection of Peter Cushing is thrilling – but is it right?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  131. ^ Fullerton, Huw (15 December 2016). "How a Holby City actor brought one of Star Wars' most iconic characters back to life". Archived from the original on 16 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  132. ^ Miller, Matt (5 January 2017). "See the Stunning Detail That Went into Recreating Two Star Wars Characters For Rogue One". Variety. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2017. Many debates have raged on the ethics of these characters being digitally placed in the film and if Industrial Light & Magic (the Star Wars visual effects company) even pulled it off. Certainly, the computerized characters look stunningly lifelike, but still kind of creepy in an uncanny valley sort of way.
  133. ^ Tapley, Kristopher; Debruge, Peter (24 December 2016). "What Peter Cushing's Digital Resurrection Means for the Industry". Variety. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  134. ^ "Death on DVD: Halloween [R2]" (2001). Film Review 36—43: 284.
  135. ^ Earnshaw, p. 82
  136. ^ Cushing, p. 208
  137. ISBN 0826411169
    .
  138. ^ Oliver, Myrna (12 August 1994). "Peter Cushing, 81; Starred in Classic Horror Movies". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  139. ^ "CUSHING, PETER (1913–1994) The Bois Saga" Archived 22 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine. AntiQBook. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  140. ^ Cushing, p. 169
  141. YouTube
  142. ^ a b Couch, Aaron (19 December 2016). "'Rogue One': Peter Cushing's Views on Life, Death and the Beyond Are Worth Revisiting". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  143. ^ "Peter Cushing's Obituary – The Vegetarian (Autumn 1994)". 5 December 1998. Archived from the original on 5 December 1998. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  144. ^ Cushing, p. 27
  145. ^ Meikle, p. 71
  146. ^ "Remembering Helen". petercushing.co.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  147. ^ Hearn, Marcus (2013). "The Peter Cushing Scrapbooks". Doctor Who Magazine (461). Panini Comics: 16–21.
  148. ISBN 978-1848562295
    .
  149. ^ "Peter Cushing, actor, Dies at 81; Known for Playing Frankenstein". The New York Times. 12 August 1994. Archived from the original on 18 November 2017.
  150. ^ Cushing, p. 206
  151. ^ Cushing, p. 211
  152. ^ a b "Movie star Cushing's stamp of approval Archived 14 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine" (6 September 2008). Kent News.
  153. ^ Cushing, p. 218
  154. ^ The Hound of the Baskervilles (DVD). 1959.
  155. ^ Chibnall, p. 181
  156. ISBN 1550224700
    .
  157. ^ Burton, p. 177
  158. ^ "Royal Mail celebrates 'Great Britons' with launch of latest special stamp collection". Royal Mail. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  159. ^ https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150040362 [bare URL]
  160. ^ Erickson, Glenn. "Best of! British Classics: Trouble in the Sky a.k.a.Cone of Silence." DVD Savant, 10 July 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  161. ^ "Collections Search | BFI | British Film Institute".
  162. ^ "The Vampire Craves Blood". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  163. ^ The Peter Cushing Companion David Miller – 2002 – Page 45 "Cushing's fee for The Face of Love was 74 guineas. ... There was a general increase in BBC artists' fees, but Cushing's growing standing as a film actor must have given John Redway extra clout. "
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peter Cushing.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Peter Cushing.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Cushing&oldid=1282851104"