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Peter Cushing
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Peter Cushing (May 26, 1913–August 11, 1994) was the actor who played Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin in A New Hope. He was best known for his work in horror films produced by Hammer Studios, as well as some other British B-movies. These films often had him collaborating with his good friend and frequent co-star Christopher Lee, who played Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. In another Hammer Studios Film, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell Peter Cushing plays Dr. Victor aka Dr. Frankenstein. The Monster he creates in the film is played by David Prowse who would later play Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
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Peter Cushing was an unforgettable presence in cult cinema of the fifties, sixties and seventies, and remains one of Britain's best-loved film stars. Cushing made a huge impact in the groundbreaking television adaptation of
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Peter Cushing had a long and distinguished career as a stage and film actor, perhaps best remembered for his partnership with Christopher Lee in Hammer Studios long-running Dracula series. His first appearance as Sherlock Holmes was part of a planned series of Holmes films from Hammer Studios. 1958's The Hound of the Baskervilles was the first Sherlock Holmes film in colour. Although Hammer never did get a series under way, Cushing did portray Sherlock Holmes many more times for television, including yet another remake of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
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From All Movie Guide: Imperious, intellectual-looking British actor Peter Cushing studied for a theatrical career under the guidance of Cairns James at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Cushing supported himself as a clerk in a surveyor's office before making his first professional stage appearance in 1935. Four years later, he came to America, where he was featured in a handful of Broadway plays and Hollywood feature films. He had a small part in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) and ... doubled for Louis Hayward in the "twin" scenes; he was among the rather overaged students in Laurel and Hardy's A Chump at Oxford (1940); and he was second male lead in the Carole Lombard vehicle Vigil in the Night (1940). After closing out his Hollywood tenure with They Dare Not Love (1941), he returned to stage work in England. His next film appearance was as Osric in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), which also featured his future co-star Christopher Lee in a nonspeaking bit (Cushing and Lee's paths would cross again cinematically in Moulin Rouge [1952], though, as in Hamlet, they shared no scenes).
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After Grand Moff Tarkin met his end on the detonated Death Star in the original "Star Wars," actor Peter Cushing's life took a turn for the quieter. He appeared sporadically in films and TV shows, completed two autobiographies and relegated himself to spectator status for his favorite hobby, bird watching. However, his retirement years did not abandon him as a lost figure in the acting world: in 1989, he was made an officer of the British Empire, receiving recognition for his contributions to acting, both in England and worldwide. Cushing died in 1994 at the age of 81 of prostate cancer.
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Peter Cushing was indeed an icon of the horror genre, while at the same time conveying his real-life humility and mild manner—the Gentle Man of Horror, in the title of one biography. What should be remembered is that this episode was something of a return to old haunts (sorry!), as he was one of the first actors to have been really made by television. In the days of the BBC as the only channel, when a play would be broadcast live, Cushing was constantly playing lead roles, from Eden End (1951) onwards. It's well known that his performance in Nigel Kneale's controversial adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 (1954, alongside another horror habitue, Donald Pleasence) led to his being cast by Hammer in The Curse of Frankenstein. In spite of being an icon of the horror genre, Cushing played romantic leads like Beau Brummel and Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, and was in The Spread of the Eagle, a chronological staging of Shakespeare's Roman plays. He played Sherlock Holmes in a BBC series in 1968, one of the first in colour, but was dissatisfied with the result, citing the rapid pace of production.
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Peter Cushing