Peter Cushing

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9.4 Superb
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Biography

Recent Role:
Dr. Wells on Steve Smith Playhouse
Gender:
Male
Born:
5-26-1913
Died:
8-11-1994 (In Canterbury, Kent, England, UK of prostate cancer.)
Birthplace:
Kenley, Surrey, England, UK
Birth Name:
Peter Wilton Cushing
Peter Cushing was born in 1913 in Kenley, Surrey, in England. He and his older brother David were raised first in Dulwich Village, a south London suburb, and then later back in Surrey by his mother Nellie Marie and father George Edward, who was a Quantity Surveyor.
At an early age, Cushing was attracted to acting, inspired by his favorite aunt who was a stage actress. While at school, a young Cushing pursued his interests in acting and drawing, a talent that he put to good use later in his first job as a government surveyor's assistant in Surrey. At this time, he also dabbled in local
… More amateur theater until moving to London to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on scholarship. He then performed in repertory theater, deciding in 1939 to head for Hollywood, where he made his film debut in The Man in the Iron Mask. Other Hollywood films included A Chump at Oxford with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Vigil in the Night, and They Dare Not Love. But, after a short stay, Cushing returned to England by way of New York (making brief appearances on Broadway) and Canada. Back in his homeland, he contributed to the war effort during World War II by joining the Entertainment National Services Association. After the war, he performed in the West End and had his big break appearing with Laurence Olivier in the film Hamlet (1948), in which Cushing's future partner-in-horror Christopher Lee also had a bit part. Both actors also appeared in Moulin Rouge (1952) but didn't meet until their later horror films.

During the 1950s, Cushing became a familiar face on British television, appearing in numerous teleplays, such as 1984 (1954), Beau Brummell (1954), and The Creature (1955), until the end of the decade when he began his legendary association with Hammer Film Productions in their remakes of the 1930s Universal horror classics. His first Hammer roles included "Dr. Frankenstein" in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), "Dr. Van Helsing" in Dracula (1958), "Sherlock Holmes" in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), and "John Banning" in The Mummy (1959). Cushing continued playing the roles of "Dr. Frankenstein" and "Van Helsing," as well as taking on other horror characters, in Hammer films over the next 20 years. He also appeared in many films for the other major horror producer of the time, Amicus Productions, including Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) and their later horror anthologies, a couple of Dr. Who films (1965, 1966), I, Monster (1971), and others. By the mid-1970s, these companies had stopped production, but Cushing, firmly established as a horror star, continued in the genre for some time thereafter. Perhaps his best-known appearance outside of horror films was as "Grand Moff Tarkin" in George Lucas' phenomenally successful science fiction film Star Wars (1977). Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986) was Cushing's last film before his retirement, during which he made a few television appearances, wrote his two autobiographies, and pursued his hobbies of bird watching and painting.

In 1989, he was made an Officer of the British Empire in recognition of his contributions to the British film industry.

Peter succumbed to complications of prostate cancer on August 11, 1994.

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  •  
    9.2 Superb
    Peter Cushing: A shadow that should have stepped out of the mist! hide show

    Peter Cushing always seemed to me to be aa actor that was overshadowed by the great Christopher Lee. Cushing had immense talent. I oft wondered why he didn't do more theatre. I can just see him as " Richard III. Perhaps he played this part and I didn't know, but he would have been perfect in the role. Peter Cushing had the ultimate relationship with his wife. He often commented after her death that he was just biding time until he could be with her again. Now that is the kind of love that all of us strive for. Peter Cushing was a gentleman, something missing in society today!

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    koberfan Added Jun 14, 2007 All my reviews
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    10 Perfect
    Absolutely brilliant! hide show

    To this day I absolutely adore Peter Cushing. He was and is one of my all time favourite actors, and I have possibly seen every film that he has appeared in more than once. From The Uncanny (1977) to Star Wars (1977) this man gave his all to any role he appeared in.

    He was incredibly talented, versatile, intelligent, kind, a perfect gentleman, and many throughout the world love and miss him just as I do.

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    xGowronx Added Feb 7, 2006 All my reviews
 
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