The British actor 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 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 (1939). Other Hollywood films included
A Chump At Oxford (1940) with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy,
Vigil In The Night (1940), and
They Dare Not Love (1941). 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) (TV),
Beau Brummell (1954/II) (TV), 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), and Sherlock Holmes in
The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1959).
Cushing continued playing the roles of Drs. 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 acting profession in Britain and worldwide.
Peter died on August 11, 1994 in Canterbury, Kent, England of prostate cancer.
