Renowned Death Hag
I can remember watching him on This is your Life a programme we used to have over here in the UK to celebrate someone's success be it an actor singer writer etc
i remember Peter being so humble and was thanking all his surprise guests with such gratefullness they had came to this show to celebrate with him
truly a lovely man
Renowned Death Hag
Mr Cushing was one of the truly great horror movie stars (back when horror movies were great and not the slasher movie crap of today). He stars in my favorite horror classic "The House of the Long Shadows". It also stars Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Shelia Keith (all the greats) and the Superstar Desi Arnaz, Jr (kidding). Be sure to check it out if you can find it!
Let us not forget his role as Grand Moff Tarkin in the first Star Wars movie.
Originally Posted by Screwtape
I had forgotten that!! I need to go back and watch the first Star Wars again, it's been awhile
Renowned Death Hag
Loved him in all those Hammer films, then to see him in Star Wars was a thrill.
I remember Carrie Fisher saying in some interview that she had a hard time being angry/afraid of him in those scenes she did with him, because off camera he was such a sweetheart.
I found him to be a fabulous actor... I loved him in Sherlock Holmes... watched him all the time, then found him in those fantastic horror films (true horror films not blood slashers of today) and was totally thrilled when he was in Star Wars!!! He could give a look that would freeze your soul..... but was thrilled to learn offscreen he was such a gentleman!
i loved peter cushing. i was in the mall a few years back around holloween and saw a shirt with vincent price, peter, and christopher lee on the front. i did want the shirt so i could wear it to work on holloween but they did not have my size. yes, i am a big girl, but a cute one. lol i read something on christopher lee and he and peter were best friends and real life. they were neighbors and talked everyday. he said it hurt him when he died. my mother introduced me and my siblings to horror movies. all the above named are my favorites. did you know christopher lee was ian flemings cousin?? and chris was in one of the bond movies. he also was in "lord of the rings" and also knew the person who wrote "lord of the rings" personally. i was watching a movie with peter cushing when i found out he'd passed. i was like "ain't that a blip"
I was going to recite a memorable episode of the British comedy quiz 'QI', where Stephen Fry speaks of a hillarious meeting he had with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, but the god that is YouTube actually HAS THE CLIP. Some nice impressions too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2Ma7bZ2dH0
Renowned Death Hag
Oh, that's so great! I love them both (and the Vincent Price bit at the end is a great bonus)! It's so nice to hear they got along so well. I like Stephen Fry, too, so it's a great clip!I was going to recite a memorable episode of the British comedy quiz 'QI', where Stephen Fry speaks of a hillarious meeting he had with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, but the god that is YouTube actually HAS THE CLIP. Some nice impressions too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2Ma7bZ2dH0
Cheers,
Amy
Here's one better, the 'Peter Cushing Lives in Whitstable' song on myspace, as plugged by Alan Davies on the QI clip above:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=162234453
Classic!
Renowned Death Hag
Wow. That's a great find, epicentre! I'm torn between horror and hilarity at the moment! Bless them!Here's one better, the 'Peter Cushing Lives in Whitstable' song on myspace, as plugged by Alan Davies on the QI clip above:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=162234453
Classic!
Cheers,
Amy
Renowned Death Hag
A Chump at Oxford(February 16, 1940)
A very recognizable (though extremely young) Cushing has a bit part in this Laurel and Hardy picture, of all things. It seems that the film was originally released as a 42 minute featurette, and was only expanded to the more familiar feature-length version upon its release in the U.K. (this is the version available today on video). I don't know if any of the additional footage involves Cushing or not.
looked everywhere for a pic couldn't find it.
pull the string!
What would Hammer studios have been without Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee? I love those movies--especially the Dracula, Frankenstein & Mummy series. Also loved Cushing in the Amicus productions ('Tales From the Crypt,' etc.).
Wow! The fab four! GREAT pic!
This may sound odd, but I actually mainly know Peter as the big-screen version of Doctor Who.
Although it's a drastic rewrite of the character (his 'Dr. Who' has little relation to the BBC Time Lord, outside of the customary time-traveling police box), he's still a great Doctor, and a very pleasant alternative to his cranky TV counterpart William Hartnell. Apparently he was very nice on set as well - he refused to do a sequel unless he was able to act again alongside Roberta Tovey, the little girl who played Susan in the first movie. Of course, his wish was granted.
I visited the town where he lived and is somewhere buried, Whitstable in Kent. Had to have some fish and chips at his favourite cafe too. He was a great actor and is sorely missed. Despite his many roles for me I will always think of him in the Hammer Horrors.
I was watching "The Gorgon" and wanted to bump this thread. I just love this man, a really great actor.
From Wikipedia:
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an Englishactor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played Baron Frankenstein and Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally Vincent Price. A familiar face on both sides of the Atlantic, he also starred as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) and in two Doctor Who cinema films, Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD in 1965 and 1966.
Early life
Cushing was born in Kenley, Surrey, the son of George Edward Cushing and Nellie Marie Cushing née King. He was raised there and in Dulwich, South London. Cushing left his first job as a surveyor's assistant to take up a scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After working in repertory theatre in Worthing, West Sussex, he left for Hollywood in 1939, but returned in 1941 after roles in several films, one of them A Chump at Oxford (1940) appearing alongside Laurel and Hardy. His first major film part was as Osric in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948).
In the 1950s, he worked in television, most notably as Winston Smith in the BBC's adaptation of the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954), scripted by Nigel Kneale. Cushing drew much praise for his performance in this production, although he always felt that his performance in the surviving version of the broadcast — it was performed live twice in one week, then a common practice, and only the second version exists in the archives — was inferior to the first. During many of his small screen performances, Cushing also starred as Fitzwilliam Darcy in the BBC's 1952 production of Pride and Prejudice and as King Richard II in Richard of Bordeaux in 1955. He also went to Shoreham College for one term.
Hammer Horror
His first appearances in his two most famous roles were in Terence Fisher's films The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958). Cushing is closely associated with playing Victor Frankenstein and Abraham Van Helsing in a long string of horror films produced by Hammer Horror. He later said that career decisions for him meant choosing roles where he knew the audience would accept him. "Who wants to see me as Hamlet? Very few. But millions want to see me as Frankenstein so that's the one I do." He also said "If I played Hamlet, they'd call it a horror film."
Cushing was often cast opposite the actor Christopher Lee, with whom he became best friends. "People look at me as if I were some sort of monster, but I can't think why. In my macabre pictures, I have either been a monster-maker or a monster-destroyer, but never a monster. Actually, I'm a gentle fellow. Never harmed a fly. I love animals, and when I'm in the country I'm a keen bird-watcher," he said in an interview published in ABC Film Review in November 1964.
In the mid-1960s, he played the eccentric "Doctor" in two movies (Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks — Invasion Earth 2150 AD) based on the television series Doctor Who. He made a conscious decision to play the part as a lovable, avuncular figure, as an effort to escape from his perceived image as a "horror" actor. "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 said in an interview in 1966. He also appeared in the cult series The Avengers and then again in its successor, The New Avengers. In 1986, he played the role of Colonel William Raymond in Biggles. In Space: 1999, he appeared as a Prospero-like character called Raan.
He was one of many stars to guest on The Morecambe and Wise Show — the standing joke in his case being the idea that he was never paid for his appearance. He would appear, week after week, wearily asking hosts Eric and Ernie, "Have you got my five pounds yet?" When Cushing was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1989, one of the guests was Ernie Wise, who promptly presented him with a five pound note, but then, with typical dexterity, extorted it back from him. Cushing was absolutely delighted with this, and cried: "All these years and I still haven't got my fiver!"
Cushing played Sherlock Holmes many times, starting with Hammer's The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), the first Holmes film made in colour. Cushing, who resembled classic Holmes portrayer Basil Rathbone, seemed a natural for the part, and he played the part with great fidelity to the written character - that of a man who is not always easy to live with or be around - which had not been done up to that point. He followed this up with a performance in 16 episodes of the BBC series Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (1968), of which only six episodes remain. Finally, Cushing played the detective in old age, in The Masks of Death (1984) for Channel 4.
Last edited by Northern Lights; 05-19-2009 at 01:14 PM.
I remember him, I'd forgotten a lot of things he starred in! He was such a great actor. RIP, man!
Personal life
In 1971, Cushing withdrew from the film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb when his wife died. He and actress Helen Beck (8 February 1905 â?? 14 January 1971) had been married since 1943. The following year, he was quoted in the Radio Times as saying "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 united 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."[3]
Six years later, his feelings were unchanged: "When Helen passed on six years ago I lost the only joy in life that I ever wanted. She was my whole life and without her there is no meaning. I am simply killing time, so to speak, until that wonderful day when we are together again."
In his autobiography, he implies that he attempted suicide the night that his wife died, by running up and down stairs in the vain hope that it would induce a heart attack. He later stated that this was a hysterical reaction to his wife's death, and that he was not consciously trying to end his life - his strong religious beliefs prevented him from attempting suicide "for real".
In 1986, Cushing appeared on the British TV show Jim'll Fix It. His "wish", "granted" by Jimmy Savile, was to have a strain of rose named after his late wife. Cushing's letter to the show, in copperplate handwriting, was shown, as was the identification and naming of a rose named "Helen Cushing".
Star Wars
In 1976, he was cast in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, which was shooting at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood. He appeared as one of his (now) most recognised characters, Grand Moff Tarkin, despite having originally been considered for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Cushing found accepting the role in a science fiction fantasy easy. "My criterion for accepting a role isn't based on what I would like to do. I try to consider what the audience would like to see me do and I thought kids would adore Star Wars."
Costuming difficulties resulted in a piece of trivia about Star Wars. He was presented with ill-fitting riding boots for the role and they pinched his feet so much that he was given permission by George Lucas to play the role wearing his slippers. The camera operators filmed him above the knees or standing behind the table of the conference room set. Also, during filming of Star Wars, a star-struck Carrie Fisher found it hard to deliver her lines to him and seem terrified in the presence of a charming, polished man who smelled of 'linen and lavender' when in their first scene together, her character speaks of Cushing as having a 'foul stench'.[citation needed]
For Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Lucas wanted Cushing, now deceased, to reprise his role as Tarkin through the use of archive footage and digital technology, but poor film quality made this impossible. Besides, the scene required a full-body appearance of Tarkin, which was unavailable due to Cushing's use of slippers instead of boots when performing. Instead, Wayne Pygram took the role, though he underwent extensive prosthetic makeup for his brief cameo.
Later career
After Star Wars, he continued appearing in films and television sporadically, as his health allowed. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but without surgery managed to survive several years, though his health was precarious.
In 1989, Cushing was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He retired to Whitstable, where he had bought a seafront house in 1959, and continued his hobby of birdwatching, and to write two autobiographies. Cushing also worked as a painter, specialising in watercolours, and wrote and illustrated a children's book of Lewis Carroll style humour, The Bois Saga. He was also the patron of The Vegetarian Society from 1987 up until his death.[5]
His final professional engagement was as co-narrator of Flesh and Blood, the Hammer Heritage of Horror, produced by American writer/director Ted Newsom. As co-narrator, Cushing thus took his "last bow" with friend Christopher Lee, the BBC and Hammer Films. The narration was recorded in Canterbury near Cushing's home. The show was first broadcast in 1994, the week before Cushing's death.
Death
Cushing died of prostate cancer on 11 August 1994, aged 81 in Canterbury, Kent, England five years after he was made an Officer of the British Empire in recognition of his contributions to the acting profession in Britain and worldwide.
In an interview on the DVD release of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Christopher Lee remarked on 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".
Partial filmography
The Man in the Iron Mask (1939, not actually seen in the movie because of cutting)
Laddie (1940)
Vigil in the Night (1940)
A Chump at Oxford (1940)
Women in War (1940)
The Howards of Virginia (1940) (uncredited)
Dreams (1940)
They Dare Not Love (1941) (uncredited)
Hamlet (1948)
Pride and Prejudice (1952)
Moulin Rouge (1952)
The End of the Affair (1955)
Alexander the Great (1956)
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas (1957)
The Horror of Dracula (1958, released in the UK under the title Dracula)
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
The Mummy (1959)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
John Paul Jones (1959)
The Flesh and the Fiends (1960)
The Brides of Dracula (1960)
The Hellfire Club (1960)
Cash On Demand (1961)
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
The Gorgon (1964)
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)
She (1965)
The Skull (1965)
Island of Terror (1966)
Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966)
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
The Torture Garden (1967)
Blood Beast Terror (1967)
Corruption (1968)
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
Incense for the Damned (1970)
Scream and Scream Again (1970)
The Vampire Lovers (1970)
The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
Twins of Evil (1971)
Tales From The Crypt (1972)
Dracula AD 1972 (1972)
Fear In The Night (1972)
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
Asylum (1972)
From Beyond the Grave (1973)
The Creeping Flesh (1973)
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
Horror Express (1973)
Shatter (1974)
The Beast Must Die (1974)
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
Legend of the Werewolf (1975)
Space 1999 (TV) (1975)
The Ghoul (1975)
Land of the Minotaur (1976)
At the Earth's Core (1976)
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Shock Waves (1977)
The Uncanny (1977)
Arabian Adventure (1979)
A Tale of Two Cities (TV) (1980)
House of the Long Shadows (1983)
The Masks of Death (1984)
Top Secret! (1984)
Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986)
Renowned Death Hag
I sometimes watching old horror movies get Peter Cushing
and Christopher Lee mixed up with each other.
A Hammer legend! Again, someone of who I am a big fan. Peter was a rare breed - a gentleman offscreen and often on it.
He had such kindly, but sad eyes - especially after the death of his beloved wife Helen.
i love the old actors peter cushing was one of my favorites.RIP
Senior Death Hag
I loved him in Star Wars
He was great in those old Hammer films with Christopher Lee.
Senior Death Hag
I agree. Those old horror films were the best.
I loved peter, I was a big fan for years. The light went out of his eyes when Helen died. I saw the jim will fix it episode with the roses, for some reason that episode is one of the ones I remember most about the program. Such a sweet man.
Administrator
I know that's, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, and Peter, But who is the other guy? (my guess is boris karloff) am I right?
Administrator
That is John Carradine.
As noted above, Cushing appeared in a 1967 episode of The Avengers (which has a cult following as does Dr. Who). Of course Peter was the "diabolical mastermind" of that episode but as suave as Steed and his peer on his expertise of champagne. Here's the first two clips of the show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZyRlPtiG4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybz6rP3X2UU
A little trivia: the man seen in a wheelchair during the second clip is Michael Gough, who in latter life played Alfred Pennyworh. Cushing's friend, Chris Lee, also did a 1967 episode of The Avengers and then again in the short-lived The New Avengers.
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