Biographic - Sunday October 30, 2016 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

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Peter Cushing A Halloween Special by "Spooky" Steve McGarry Although we will always be associated with horror movies from Britians hammer studios, Peter Cushing- born in Kenley, Surrey, England, on May 26, 1913- made his screen debut in the 1939 U.S. production "The Man in The Iron Mask" and the following year appeared with Laurel and Hardy in "A Chump at Oxford" "Cushing's first British movie role was Orsic in Laurence Olivier's 1948 "Hamlet." Following numerous roles on British TV and in various British movies in the early 1950s, he began his long association wiht horror movie studio hammer films playing Victor Frankenstein in 1957's "The Curse of Frankenstein." He would return to the role five more times for the studio, as well as making five appearances as vampire hunter doctor Van Helsing in the studio's "Dracula" series. He frequently starred opposite Christopher Lee, and the two became close friends, Cushing also played Sherlock Holmes in film and on TV and played the lead in two Dr. Who movies: "Dr. Who and The Daleks" and "Daleks- Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D." The 1971death of his wife of 28 years, actress Violet Helene Beck, devastated Cushing. When he returned to acting after a period of mourning, he was cast as Van Helsing, opposite Stephanie Beacham as his daughter, "Dracula AD 1972." He had lost so much weight and aged so visibly that the script had to be rewritten to make him her grandfather! The same script adjustment was made for 1973's "The Static Rites of Dracula" He continued to rack up credits, primarily in horror movies, throughout the 1970s. His portrayal of the evil Grand Moff Tarkin in the 1977 blockbuster "Star Wars" introduced him to a new audience, the vast majority of whom may have been unaware that he played the role wearing carpet slippers because the riding boots that accomplished his costume were too uncomfortable! His career wound down gradually following a 1982 diagnosis of prostate cancer. He retired to the english seaside, where he pursued his hobby of birdwatching and wrote two autobiographies. He died in 1994 at the age of 81.

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