They were the best of friends. Peter Cushing's wife died in the early 1970's, they never had children so when he died of cancer in 1994 he left his estate to his secretary Joyce Broughton. [21][53] The two men continued to work together in many films for Hammer, and their names became synonymous with the company. [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. [2] His father, a quantity surveyor, was a reserved and uncommunicative man whom Peter said he never got to know very well. 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. He was forced to withdraw from the film to care for his wife, and was ultimately replaced by Andrew Keir. [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. [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. 4 Grand Moff Tarkin. [105] Cushing used the emotions from the recent loss of his wife to add authenticity to the widower character's grieving. He also staged An Evening with Peter Cushing at St. Edmund's Public School in Canterbury to raise money for the local Cancer Care Unit. [14] Also appearing in the film was Christopher Lee, who eventually became a close friend and frequent co-star with Cushing. Even though Peter Cushing was on screen for only a . There is a photo in Peter's biography showing a smiling Helen and 2014-12-17 19:28:59. As a Hammer Film actor, he portrayed Baron Frankenstein, Dr. Van Helsing, and . 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. [135] Also that year, a sketch Cushing drew of Sherlock Holmes was accepted as the official logo of the Northern Musgraves Sherlock Holmes Society. The horror films were produced by Hammer Films in Britain.Peter Cushing, a British actor who chilled a generation of filmgoers as the evil Baron Frankenstein, died yesterday in a hospice in Canterbury, England. The horror films were produced by Hammer Films in Britain. Clothes did not flatter his frame but they were flattered by him. [29] Cushing eventually had to leave ENSA due to lung congestion, an ailment his wife helped him recover from. In January 1995, a memorial service was held in The Actor's Church in Covent Garden, with addresses given by Christopher Lee, Kevin Francis, Ron Moody and James Bree. His stoic portrayals in Hammer horror films and Star Wars is legendary, but did you know that he also played Dr Who in two films? [48] The Curse of Frankenstein also featured Christopher Lee, who played Frankenstein's monster. [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. [10], In 1947, when Laurence Olivier sought him out for his film adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Cushing's wife Helen pushed him to pursue a role. Peter Cushing is one of the most highly regarded performers amongst all manner of cinephiles. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't have a crush on Brigitte Bardot. 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. [153], Several filmmakers and actors have claimed to be influenced by Peter Cushing, including actor Doug Bradley, who played Pinhead in the Hellraiser horror films,[154] and John Carpenter, who directed such films as Halloween (1978), Escape from New York (1981) and The Thing (1982). "Peter Cushing, 81; Starred in Classic Horror Movies". The film gave Cushing the highest amount of visibility of his entire career, and helped inspire younger audiences to watch his older films. [61], In 1959, Cushing agreed to reprise the role of Van Helsing in the sequel, The Brides of Dracula (1960). Like Guinness, Cushing had difficulty with some of the technical jargon in his dialogue, and claimed he did not understand all of the words he was speaking. Tender Dracula. [106] After Cushing was cast in the role, several changes were made to the script at his suggestion. 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. Cushing also wrote a children's book called The Bois Saga, a story based on the history of England. Ryan and Slater agreed, and Cushing later said performing the part was his most pleasant experience since his wife had died four years earlier. [88] Production lasted from May to December,[90] and Cushing adopted a strict regimen of training, preparation and exercise. According to Peter Cushing's autobiography, he took a piece of silk that Helen's family had smuggled out of Russia. Please say that. MacDonald, Andrew and MacDonald, Gina (2003). Answer (1 of 2): His former secretary and the executor/manager of his estate was apparently pleased with the result. The set provided technical difficulties, and all of Cushing's lines had to be post-synched. It was so successful that he learned how to screen print and began designing scarves professionally. [91] He tried to keep his performance identical to his portrayal of Holmes from The Hound of the Baskervilles. [9] He attended the Purley County Grammar School, where he swam and played cricket and rugby. His is most identified with the horror films of Hammer Pictures, often sharing the screen with Christopher Lee. Though only in his early 50s at the time, Cushing regularly played decrepit characters. 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. [140] He also loved games and practical jokes,[15] and enjoyed drawing and painting watercolours, the latter of which he did especially often in his later years. . 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. Cushing himself passed away in 1994 aged 81, leaving behind an . [152] In total, Cushing appeared in more than 100 films throughout his career. Peter Bogdanovich's passing was announced by one of his daughters, Antonia, on Thursday, January 6. Cushing 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. As one of the most famous women on the planet throughout the 1950s and '60s the one thing that she didn't have . Peter Cushing seems like the perfect person to play the Doctor. 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. Despite performing in a string of roles, including one as Osric in Laurence Olivier's film adaptation of Hamlet (1948), Cushing struggled greatly to find work during this period. 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. [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. He scrutinised the costumes and screenwriter Peter Bryan's script, often altering words or phrases. Did Peter Cushing have any family? The cause was cancer, The Associated Press reported. [99][141] He was an ardent vegetarian for most of his life who served as a patron with the Vegetarian Society from 1987 until his death. He and his older brother David were raised first in Dulwich Village, a south London suburb, and then later back in Surrey. What movie did Peter Cushing play a vampire or has he ever played a vampire? [112] 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 each other. Cushing sought and was cast in the role. ", British Academy Television Award for Best Actor, Coulsdon and Purley Urban District Council, Entertainments National Service Association, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, "Great Britons" commemorative postage stamp, Lawrence Van Helsing and Lorrimer Van Helsing, Medalla Sitges en Plata de Ley Award for Best Actor, "Horror actor Peter Cushing dead at age 81", Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Haeritage of Horror, Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror, "The effect was achieved by drawing on preexisting footage of the actor, particularly his work in A New Hope", "the CGI used to repurpose the footage may not age well", "Rogue One VFX head: 'We didn't do anything Peter Cushing would've objected to', "CGI resurrection of Peter Cushing is thrilling but is it right? Answer (1 of 4): Absolutely. Cushing agreed to take his place with very little notice or time to prepare, and earned a salary of ten pounds a week for the job. His first film for the studio was 1957's "The Curse of Frankenstein," in which he played Frankenstein's monster opposite actor Peter Cushing. [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. Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death. In the Gospel of Matthew, Peter was living with his mother-in-law in Capharnaum, and thus was married with a wife. Peter Wilton Cushing was born on May 26, 1913 in Kenley, Surrey, England, to Nellie Maria (King) and George Edward Cushing, a quantity surveyor. "Who wants to see me as Hamlet? Before filming began, however, Cushing said he had reservations about the screenplay written by Jimmy Sangster and Peter Bryan. [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. "Horror-film actor Peter Cushing dies at 81, Played variety of roles From Sherlock Holmes to Baron Frankenstein" (12 August 1994). Actor. He and his older brother David were raised first in Dulwich Village, a south London suburb, and then later back in Surrey. As a result, he asked Lucas to film more close-up shots of him from the waist up and, after the director agreed, Cushing wore slippers during the scenes where his feet were not visible. Known for a number of iconic roles, Peter Cushing's career stretched across multiple genres. Despite making the movie in the late Seventies his fiendish character lives on the character was even revived in CGI form for 2016's Rogue One. "Charleston fanatics ready to celebrate 'Revenge'". "[31] Nearing middle age and finding it increasingly harder to make a living in acting, Cushing began to consider himself a failure. [10] Cushing felt his first performance was much stronger than the second, but the second production is the only known surviving version. To his many fans, the British star was known as 'The Gentle Man of Horror' and is recognized for his work with Hammer Films which began in the late 1950's, but he had numerous memorable roles outside of Hammer. Their marriage seemed an idea one, each completely devoted to the other and despite never having children, they seemed a very happy couple. Cushing and Lee did switch roles for one Hammer film . Doctors determined he had twelve to eighteen months to live, and that his left eye might be lost. In the films where Lee iconically played Dracula, Cushing plaid his foil and rival, the righteous vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing. It received poor reviews, however, and ran for only eleven days. Grant, Devin (19 May 2005). "Horrormeister Cushing belonged to gentlemanly school of actors". However, when producer Anthony Hinds proposed removing the character's deerstalker, Cushing insisted they remain because audiences associated Holmes with his headgear and pipes. When Peter Cushing was a child, his mother dressed him as a girl. 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'." As a Hammer Film actor, he portrayed Baron Frankenstein, Dr. Van Helsing, and Sherlock Holmes. 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. Peter Cushing. [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. [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! [3], The Cushing family lived in Dulwich during the First World War, but moved to Purley after the war ended in 1918. It was at home, with Peter beside her, that Helen Cushing passed away on January 14, 1971. This led Lucas to write the character of Grand Moff Tarkin: a high-ranking Imperial governor and commander of the planet-destroying battlestation, the Death Star. Text taken from Peter Cushing, Wookieepedia, Wikia. [87] Cushing played the role in Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. The only enjoyment he got out of it was drawing prospectives 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. [51] Many felt Cushing's performance helped create the archetypal mad scientist character. The episodes aired in 1968. [10] In 1986, he appeared on the British television show Jim'll Fix It, hosted by Jimmy Savile, in which it was arranged for the wishes of guests to be granted. [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. And then when that person is gone, there will be nothing like that in your life ever again. [10] However, Cushing was very proud of his experiences with the Hammer films, and never resented becoming known as a horror actor. 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