Peter Cushing

"Killed Dracula with a pair of candle stick holders. Blew up Alderaan. Fought Daleks. Outsmarted Moriarty. Verbally bitch-slapped Darth Vader. I beg your pardon, but do you really think Chuck Norris can top that?"

- Peter Cushing Motivational Poster

Peter Cushing was an English actor famous for his roles in Horror films. He starred opposite Christopher Lee as Victor Frankenstein in the 1957 Hammer Horror film The Curse of Frankenstein and as Van Helsing in 1958's Dracula (called Horror of Dracula in the US). The two would become lifelong friends and appear together in films throughout the years. He is also recognisable for playing Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars, where he was apparently allowed to play the role in his slippers because the uniform boots didn't fit him. He also played Doctor Who in two non-canon films, Dr. Who and The Daleks and Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD.

Before he was launched by Hammer, Cushing appeared with Laurel and Hardy in A Chump at Oxford and played the small part of Osric in Laurence Olivier's 1948 film of Hamlet, as well as several notable roles in television, including Winston Smith in the 1954 adaptation of Nineteen Eighty Four and Darcy in the 1952 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. He returned to television several times after his film career took off, starring as Lije Bailey in a 1964 adaptation of Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel and Sherlock Holmes in the 1968 TV series. He also appeared several times with Morecambe and Wise, complaining that he hadn't been paid for the first time.

He was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1989.

He died of prostate cancer on the 11th of August, 1994, aged 81. In an interview after his death Christopher Lee remarked: "I don't want to sound gloomy, but, at some point of your lives, every one of you will notice that you have in your life one person, one friend whom you love and care for very much. That person is so close to you that you are able to share some things only with him. For example, you can call that friend, and from the very first maniacal laugh or some other joke you will know who is at the other end of that line. We used to do that with him so often. And then when that person is gone, there will be nothing like that in your life ever again".