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Peter Cushing

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Peter Cushing
File:Peter Cushing.jpg
Born
Peter Wilton Cushing

(1913-05-26)26 May 1913
Died11 August 1994(1994-08-11) (aged 81)
Canterbury, Kent, England
Cause of deathProstate cancer
EducationShoreham College
Alma materGuildhall School of Music and Drama
OccupationActor
Years active1939–86
Spouse
Violet Helene Beck (8 February 1905 – 14 January 1971)
(m. 1943⁠–⁠1971)
(her death)
Parent(s)George Edward and Nellie Maria (née King) Cushing
AwardsBritish Academy Television Award for Best Actor (1956)

Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, among many other roles. He appeared frequently opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally Vincent Price. A familiar face on both sides of the Atlantic, Cushing's best-known roles outside the Hammer productions include Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977) and Dr. Who in Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966), films based on the Doctor Who television series.

Early life and career

Cushing was born in Kenley, Surrey, the second son of George Edward Cushing and Nellie Maria (née King) Cushing.[1] Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Dulwich, South London. After the end of the First World War, they returned close to Kenley; this time to neighbouring Purley, Surrey, where in 1926 his quantity surveyor father built Clearview, an Art Deco house on St James Road. It was here that Cushing remained until early adulthood.

Educated at Shoreham College, 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, Sussex,[2] he left for Hollywood in 1939, debuting in The Man in the Iron Mask later that year, before returning to England in 1941 after appearing in several films. In one, A Chump at Oxford (1940), he appeared opposite Laurel and Hardy. His first major film role was that of Osric in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948).

In the 1950s, he worked in television, notably as Winston Smith in the BBC's 1954 adaptation of the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), scripted by Nigel Kneale. Cushing was highly praised for his performance, although he considered his acting 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 — to be inferior to the first.

Among other TV appearances, Cushing starred as Fitzwilliam Darcy in the BBC's production of Pride and Prejudice (1952), as King Richard II in Richard of Bordeaux (1955), and as Raan, a Prospero-like character, in "Missing Link" (1975), an episode of Space: 1999. He also appeared in The Avengers and its successor series, The New Avengers. In 1956, he received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor.

Hammer Horror and Doctor Who

Cushing is well known for playing Baron Victor Frankenstein and Professor Van Helsing in a long series of horror films produced by Hammer Film Productions in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was often cast alongside Christopher Lee, who became his best friend. His first appearances in his two most famous roles were in Terence Fisher's films The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958). 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 Frankenstein, so that's the one I do."[3]

Cushing also played Sherlock Holmes many times, originally in Hammer's The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), the first Holmes adaptation to be filmed in colour. This was followed by a performance in 16 episodes of the BBC series Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (1968), of which only six episodes survive. Cushing reprised the role, now playing the detective in old age, in The Masks of Death (1984) for Channel 4.

In the mid-1960s, Cushing played Dr. Who in two films (Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.) based on the BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who. He decided to play the part as a lovable and avuncular figure to counter the public's image of him as a horror actor.

In an interview published in ABC Film Review in November 1964, Cushing stated, "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." 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'."[This quote needs a citation]

Personal life

In 1971, Cushing withdrew from the filming of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb following the death of his wife, actress Violet Helene Beck (8 February 1905 – 14 January 1971), to whom he had been married since 1943. The following year, 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."[4][5]

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, and he had resolved that to commit suicide would have meant letting her down. Although not conventionally religious, Cushing maintained a belief both in God and an afterlife.[6]

The effects of his wife's death proved to be as much physical as mental. For his role in Dracula AD 1972, Cushing had originally been cast as the father of Stephanie Beacham's character, but had aged so visibly and lost so much weight that the script was hastily re-written to make him her grandfather: it was done again in the last Dracula film from Hammer, The Satanic Rites of Dracula. [7] In a silent tribute to Helen, a shot of 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).In 1986, Cushing appeared on the BBC TV show Jim'll Fix It, his wish being to have a strain of rose named after Helen; the "Helen Cushing Rose" was the result.[8] As the 1970s ended, Cushing did two final Hammer films, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires.

Later career

Star Wars

In 1976, Cushing was cast in Star Wars in the part of Grand Moff Tarkin. He was presented with ill-fitting riding boots, which pinched his feet so much that he was given permission by director George Lucas to play the role wearing his slippers. The camera operators filmed him only from the knees up, or else standing behind the table of the Death Star conference room set.[9][10][11][12]

Morecambe and Wise

Following Star Wars, Cushing continued to appear sporadically in film and television, as his health permitted. In 1969, he had appeared in a comedy play by Ernie Wise on The Morecambe and Wise Show on BBC2. Throughout the BBC era of the show, he would regularly join Wise and his comic partner, Eric Morecambe, on stage; he would constantly seek payment for his first appearance, wearily asking "Have you got my five pounds yet?"

This running joke continued when the duo left the BBC and moved to Thames Television in 1978. Cushing appeared in their first special for Thames Television on 18 October, still asking to be paid, with the hosts repeatedly trying to get rid of him; at the end of the show, Morecambe placed some money in a wallet wired up to a bomb, in an attempt to blow Cushing up in exaggerated comedic style. In the duo's Christmas special, Cushing pretended to be the Prime Minister while Morecambe and Wise caroled outside 10 Downing Street; he made the comedians give him money and finally came out to declare "paid, at last!"

Wise was a guest for Cushing's appearance on This Is Your Life in 1990. He promptly presented Cushing with a five pound note, only to extort it back from him. Cushing was delighted and exclaimed "All these years and I still haven't got my fiver!"

Later life and death

Cushing was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1982, but managed to survive for 12 years without surgery,[13] although his health remained fragile. In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, although his friend Christopher Lee publicly opined that the honour was "too little, too late". Cushing retired to Whitstable, on the Kent coast, where he had bought a seafront home in 1959, and continued his hobby of birdwatching while writing two autobiographies. He 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 the patron of the Vegetarian Society from 1987 until his death.[14]

Cushing's final professional commitment was the co-narration of the TV documentary Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror, produced by American writer and director Ted Newsom. His contribution was recorded in Canterbury, near his home. The programme was broadcast only a few days before his death on 11 August 1994, aged 81.[citation needed]

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."[15]

Filmography

Films

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

Television

Title Year Role Note
Pride and Prejudice 1952 Mr. Darcy TV mini-series (all 6 episodes)
Epitaph for a Spy 1953 Josef Vadassey TV mini-series (all 6 episodes)
You are There Rudolf Hess Season 1, episode 20: "The Escape of Rudolf Hess"
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre 1951–1957 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"
Drama 61-67 1962 Frederick James Parsons Season 2, episode 7: "Drama '62: Peace with Terror"
ITV Television Playhouse Fred Parsons Season 8, episode 3: "Peace with Terror"
The Spread of the Eagle 1963 Cassius TV mini-series
Comedy Playhouse Albert Fawkes Season 3, episode 6 "The Plan"
Story Parade 1964 Elijah Baley Episode: "The Caves of Steel" (unknown season)
Thirty-Minute Theatre 1965 Leonard Season 1, episode 5: "Monica"
The Avengers 1967 Paul Beresford Episode: "Return of the Cybernauts" (season 5, episode 17 or season 6, episode 1)
Sherlock Holmes 1968 Sherlock Holmes All 16 episodes from season 2:
"The Second Strain"
"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"
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries 1973 Count Gerard De Merret Season 1, episode 4: "La Grande Breteche"
The Zoo Gang 1974 Judge Gautier Season 1, episode 5: "The Counterfeit Trap"
Space: 1999 1976 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"
Hammer House of Horror 1980 Martin Blueck Season 1, episode 7: "The Silent Scream"
Tales of the Unexpected 1983 Von Baden Season 6, episode 8: "The Vorpal Blade"

Television films

Title Year Role Note
When We Are Married 1951 Gerald Forbes
If This Be Error 1952 Nick Grant
Asmodée Blaise Lebel
The Silver Swan Lord Henriques
Rookery Nook 1953 Clive Popkiss
The Noble Spaniard Duke of Hermanos
A Social Success Henry Robbins
The Face of Love 1954 Mardian Thersites
Richard of Bordeaux 1955 Richard II
The Browning Version Andrew Crocker-Harris
Home at Seven 1957 David Preston
The Winslow Boy 1958 Sir Robert Morton
Uncle Harry Uncle Harry
Beyond the Water's Edge 1972
The Great Houdini 1976 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A Tale of Two Cities 1980 Dr. Alexander Manette
Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues 1984 Professor Charles Copeland
The Masks of Death Sherlock Holmes

Short films

  • The Hidden Master as Robert Clive of India (1940) (uncredited role)
  • Dreams as First Dreamer (1940)
  • It Might Be You as The Doctor (1946)

References

  1. ^ "Peter Cushing Biography (1913-)". Filmreference.com. 26 May 1913. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  2. ^ "Peter Cushing - Films as actor". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  3. ^ Brosnan, John. The Horror People, 1976, Plume Books. p. 190.
  4. ^ Peter Cushing - Biography
  5. ^ Hearn, Marcus (2013). "The Peter Cushing Scrapbooks". Doctor Who Magazine (461). Panini Comics: 16–21. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  6. ^ "What's the point in praying or believing in God when something like this happens to you if this is all we've got? But it isn't. The Lord put it simply: in spring, everything comes to life; in summer, it blossoms; in autumn, it rests, and in winter, it dies. And what happens next season? The same cycle. So be it with human life, although I don't know what form the after-life will take; no one can know that." http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Kwgn7ZZDqeUC&pg=PA369&lpg=PA369&dq=peter+cushing+religious+beliefs&source=bl&ots=tbF9d2S2Fv&sig=9LDftSI1HEAQmWC0GSzMS9SRGuo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FmDZUo3XBqGw7AbKlIDwCQ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=peter%20cushing%20religious%20beliefs&f=false
  7. ^ Hearn, Marcus (2009) Hammer Glamour: Classic images from the archive of Hammer Films, Titan Books, London, p. 20.
  8. ^ Mallon, Kevin (2002). "MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR". Peter Cushing Museum. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  9. ^ Joseph Farrell (2003). The Giza Death Star Deployed. Adventures Unlimited Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-931882-19-4.
  10. ^ Mark Clark (2004). "Peter Cushing". Smirk, Sneer and Scream. McFarland. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-7864-1932-6.
  11. ^ Adam Charles Roberts (2000). "The History of Science Fiction". Science Fiction. Routledge. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-415-19205-7.
  12. ^ Brad Duke (2005). Harrison Ford: The Films. McFarland. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-7864-2016-2.
  13. ^ Video on YouTube[dead link]
  14. ^ "Peter Cushing's Obituary - The Vegetarian (Autumn 1994)". Web.archive.org. 5 December 1998. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  15. ^ The Hound of the Baskervilles (DVD). 1959.

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