A WITTY AND POINTEDwonderful line of dialogue that Peter Cushing rattled off in what is one of his lesser known films, but often on TV. The photograph is from his 1968 film, CORRUPTION . . . not the film or character, we are looking for! BUT we will be sharing the answer NEXT Tuesday, along with ANOTHER TUESDAY TOUGHY!
BELOW LAST WEEKS TUESDAY TOUGHY AND ANSWER!
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REMEMBERING
Today we remember Valerie Gaunt. VALERIE'S short career on the big
screen featured only in two films, and they were along side Peter
Cushing. Just two roles, but they left a lasting impact, that would
outlast many longer career! Her playing of Justine in 'The Curse of
Frankenstein' (1957) and her performance in Hammer films,1958 'Dracula'
hold a special place for lovers of fantasy cinema.
Born Valerie Shelia Gaunt, on the 9th July 1932 in Stratford-on-Avon,
Warwickshire, England, following an interest in amateur theatre, after
leaving school embarked on a career as a model, before auditioning for
Hammer and landing her first professional role in 1957. Gaunt married
her husband Gerald Alfred Reddington on May 17th, 1958.
OUR
PCASFemme Fatale feature on the life and career of Valerie Gaunt at
our website! My apologies for the video clips that no longer work. This
is the result of a particular cretin out there who sabotaged our very
successful PCAS YOUTUBE channel.. real monsters DO exist! Another PCAS
YOUTUBE channel has been created and is being updated, so all clips will
be repaired and updated on our features and reviews eventually, Marcus. JUST click HERE!
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ABOVE THIS WEEK'S TUESDAY TOUGHIE. Although Cushing had this car for many years, he rarely actually drove it! Most journey's to the studios in Borehamwood, Elstree and the BBC, a driver was provided. IF he did travel using his car, his friend, stand in and driver GEORGE, would be behind the wheel. SO WHICH make of CAR, DID Cushing own from the early 1960's until the late 1970's??? ANSWER NEXT TUESDAY! You'll find the to our LAST Tuesday Toughie BELOW! How did you do?
TAKE IN OUR extensive gallery of photographs and review in the ABOVE feature at our website! JUST CLICK HERE!
ABOVE NEW THEME for SUNDAYS! Starting SUNDAY 15th JULY!
WE
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THIS IS THE FIRST PART of a series of features, focusing on THE MAKING OF THE LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF. This is quite a different series, compared to our usual theme of features on the work of PETER CUSHING. Each of our six parts will not just be looking at Cushing, the cast and a critque of the finished film, but we will also spend time hearing from the production crew, lighting, set design and the diector and producer. TYBURN FILMS were quite an unusual production company. At the time studios and companies were struggling to finance and make features, Tyburn approached the problem with a different concept, which makes this series all the more interesting. Peter Cushing appeared in four productions with Tyburn over the years. Three films, THE GHOUL (1975) THE LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF and THE MASKS OF DEATH, also a biographical tv programme called ONE WAY TICKET TO HOLLYWOOD. Tyburn's CEO Kevin Francis, first met Peter Cushing when he was working and finding his feet, for Hammer films. Both he and Cushing became friends, as Francis was such a fan of his work and Hammer films. The friendship helped too when Francis was looking for a top name, when casting his first Tyburn productions, it was a friendship that would grow even closer during and after Cushing's last few years.
ACTING UP!
OBVIOUSLY,
film acting has never been just a simply 'act' of learning your lines
and saying them with as much conviction as you can! There are various
technical things to think about, like keeping in frame, leaving seconds
at the beginning of takes, so the editor can get in, and keeping enegies
the same in the master shot, close ups and cut aways. The script for
THE LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF was like many scripts that director FREDDIE
FRANCIS worked with for another film production company to, AMICUS
FILMS. LEGEND had a script where actors were given a certain amount of
freedom in interpreting the script! Peter Cushing played the role of Paul Cataflanque, a skilled forensic surgeon. Here he explains his methods of performance for camera, and preparing for a role.
CUSHING AND THE LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF SCRIPT : CHANGES
PETER CUSHING:'I DO THE SAME THING on all film scripts. A play that's written for the
theatre, it's altered sometimes but it's done in a very different way. A
film script is such a technical thing, it's altered so much during the
original writing that sometimes the dialogue does get a little out of
hand. They've been concentrating on something else so much that in the
end they can't see the wood for the trees, but when an actor sees the
script for the first time he is able to see these little problems . Then
there are also certain ways of making exactely the same sense but
saying the line in a way that is better for the character. But one never
alters the gist of what is being said because obviously if you alter
that you alter the whole script. And then, a script is over written,
becauseit's much better to cut out, if you are over time, than to try
and add on if you are under, because it's when you add on, that begins
gto show a little, unless you have given it great thought to it. So
scripts are usually overwritten to about ten minutes so that you can cut
ten minutes offand come down to the required hour or hour and a half,
or whatever you want'.
CUSHING'S METHOD AND PREPARATION
PETER CUSHING:'I ALWAYS DO a tremendous amount of this, it's purely my way of working,
particularly in films, which is my favourite medium, But the actors get
very little rehearsal time, you see, so you must do your homework. I
naturally always ask the director, but the director has many things to
think of, not just me or the other actors, he got technical things,
lighting and so on, and what he's doing next week or next month. So
whatever you can do to help is good for everyone concerned. And
instinctively he knows immediately : it's marvelous and we'll add to it
or no, because I always do a little sketch of the clothes I want,
costume, because I think that is important. It helps with the character
to know, what you are goping to wear. This again is purely my 'method',
if you want to call it that. I think the more preparation you do the
better. I don't like the phrase 'technique of acting' because I don;t
think there is such a thing, but film making is very technical in as
much as you have to remember your 'marks', remember your 'key lights'
all sorts of things like that, and at the same time, you have to make it
all look as though, it's all just happening, when the camera films it.
"I DO A LOT OF WORK long before I start in the production and the shooting
begins. i know the whole script, because you never know what scene they
are going to do some days. They might suddenly change their minds, like
yesterday when we were a day and a half ahead of schedule. Well, had I
not known the scene, I couldn't have done that. But you see, when I get
home after a da's shooting there's not really time. I just check
through, and look at all my notes. By the time you get home it's seven
or eight o'clock and by the time you've had a meal and written a couple
of letters it's time to get to bed for half past five in the morning. So
that's why it's important to me at any rate, to do a great deal of work
before shooting starts".
WORKING WITH DIRECTOR FREDDIE FRANCIS:
PETER CUSHING : "EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT, though I must say, I have been exceptionally lucky, with
all the directors I have worked for. Freddie has his way of doing
things. What I admire apart from his tremendous knowledge of the
buisness is Freddie's wonderful insight and instinct for how to treat
every indivdual on the studio floor. He knows those ones to lark with,
those not to lark with, he giot great kindness and yet absolutely the
correct kind of authority. The behaviour of everyone, obviously in
almost every industry, does stem from the top and go right the way down
through. If you get someone who's not very nice at the top it does tend
to inflitrate through the unit".
THE ROLE OF PAUL CATAFANQUE
PETER CUSHING : "HE IS A PATHOLOGIST,except that they weren't called pathologists in those
days, they were called judicial surgeons. But there's quite a lot of
humour this time, which is nice and makes a lovely balance to the mayhem
that goes on. But with any role you play your personality must come
across. From that you try to make something of the character, the author
has written into the part. This script was written by John Elder, he
was one of the directors at Hammer films. He wrote many of their early
ones and for eighteen years these Hammer films have been popular and the
mass of people who go to them, it's rather like those people who buy
their favourite chocolates; they know when they open the box, they'll
find the coconut cream and the truffles and that sort of thing, and they
know when they see this kind of film, they'll get what they are kooking
for. And so, they're catered for, by the scriptwriters".
THE SCRIPT MUST BE COMPLETE AND FINISHED
PETER CUSHING :"WHEN
I RECEIVE THE SCRIPTit is never a treament or second draft, it's the
final script, nearly always and it is something I have to insist upon,
because I know me, I know my limitations. I must have the script. It's
no good saying will you do it and you'll have the script the day you
arrive, I couln't accept because I know I couldn't do it. That's the
only reason, I am not being troublesome, it's just because I can't
workthe way I do unless I have it well ahead, to study and learn and
make what alterations I want to suggest. As soon as the script arrives, I
go right through it and if needed I make my suggestions which are then
sent through to the director and producer, they amalgamate them, when
they all get together. By the time I arrive to shoot, all the talking's
finished!!"
FOR DAVID RINTOUL 'The Legend of the Werewolf' was something quite different, it was his first film role. Although by this point he had played many theatrical roles, working in film was very much learning while working . . .
DAVID RINTOUL : "FILM IS TOTALLYdifferent! The first couple of weeks I was just trying to sus it all out! I was a bit lost, I think. I'm beginning to get more confident now. The technique is quite different. Hopefully with time you get the technical side of it, so it becomes an instinctive thing and all your concentraition goes on the acting. What I've found so far, is especially at the beginning of the film, was that, I had to concentrate on the tech things and tended to forget about the acting! But it's a question of experience, I guess. The first couple of days I seemed to have a problem hitting my marks, where to stop when walking, not to lean. I missed my walking marks because I was trying to do it without looking down!"
"YOU SEE WHEN a director says, could you move a little bit to the left, often he's talking about an inch or so. Whereas in the theatre when they say move a bit more to the left they mean FOUR FOOT! Even doing telly there's not the same precision of moves, as there is in film. Here lighting is so important. With telly, you do look for the lamps and that sort of thing, but it's not so central".
"WORKING WITH ALLthe werewolf make up, is alright. I have found it helps me. Different actors work differently. I like working off , without the costume or make up, so there's that boost for me when I go into make up. For example, in the theatre I don't like trying on bits of costume, until a day or two before we open the show, though some directors want you to rehearse in costume quite early. I always leave itthe end, because it gives you that extra boost, that extra charge."
"THE ROLE OFEtoile is pretty much an instintive type of part. Some parts you have to think about a lot, and others you say, yes, that' what the role is about. I talked with director Freddie a bit about the script, but it isn't all sacred and you can change it as you go along. I am lucky I haven't had to really change very much, because . . . he doesn't say that much! I've made it a bit more colloquial. It came across, in the reading, as not stilted, but a bit formal. So I changed little things, like 'you will' to 'you'll'. But you have to be mindfull that Freddie doesn't want it too colloquial, because it has to have a nineteenth century feel. It's a delicate balance bewteen the two. Etoile is described as a country lad. I'm not doing a country accent or anything like that, just making it a bit less formal...."
"WHEN CASTING STARTEDfor this film, I was busy auditioning for a theatrical play, I had already done two or three auditions for it, and was just about to go to the last one, when my agent rang and and said, go out to Pinewood studios tomorrow! So I did, nit really knowing much about it at all. I saw Freddie the director, talked for five minutes or so, met Kevin Francis the producer, talked to him for a couple of minutes and then went back to my flat in London not really knowing or having much idea of how I got on. The phone rang a couple of hours later and the agent said, you've got the part, That was that! We started about four weeks later. Though I was here at the studio, about a week before we started shooting, just to try out the Werewolf make up, and that turned out fine. A couple of minor adjustments when we began shooting, and that was that. As I remember there was just one make up test where they actually filmed it."
COMING SOON : PART TWO : JACK SHAMPAN ON SET DESIGN : THE BUDGET AND DIRECTOR FREDDIE FRANCIS INTERVIEW ON LEGEND!
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VERY SAD NEWS released today, about the passing of wonderful actress and
lady... Eunice Gayson. I am sure many of you will be aware of her
connection to Hammer films and her playing of Margaret in Cushing's
second Frankenstein film, The Revenge of Frankenstein in 1958. She not
only was the FIRST official Bond girl, starring as Sylvia Trench in Dr
No and From Russia With Love. Eunice also had quite the stage and
theatre and TV career appearing in ITV's The Avengers and she played
Frau Schrader (The Baroness) in the London production of The Sound Of
Music at the Palace Theatre, actually singing two songs which were cut
from the movie version of the story.
NEWS OF HER SAD passing has hit newspapers, TV
and radio around the world. As her official Twitter account states this
morning... she was an amazing lady who left a lasting impression on
everyone she met. She will be very much missed . . . Eunice Gayson 17th
March 1928 - June 8th 2018.
OUR FULL FEATURE AND GALLERY on EUNICE GAYSON's career and role in The Revenge of Frankenstein, large rare photo gallery can be found RIGHT HERE!
WE UPDATE EVERY DAY at our well support Peter Cushing Appreciation Society FACEBOOK FAN PAGE! With over 33,000 followers, and archives of rare images and gifs, you would be most welcome! PLEASE come join us! JUST CLICK HERE AND CLICK LIKE THERE!
TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL BEST FRIENDS DAY! Although, maybe the characters
that Cushing, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price and John Carradine played
in The House Of Long Shadows, were not the best of buddies.....OR were
they?.... you can certainly say, off set .. three of them, were almost
BLOOD brothers...! Which is quite conveniently marked and shown, on the
latest clips from Lee and Cushing's THE LAST MEETING series, we have
just added to our 're-vamped' PCAS YouTube Channel! Here is one of them,
which I am sure you'll enjoy! (ELEVEN PARTS HERE!) Happy Best Friends Day!
BROTHER'S (LIONEL) (Price) and Sebastian (Cushing) with Father (Lord Elijah
Grisbane) and Corrigan (Lee) pose for a killer pic! The House of The
Long Shadows (1983) All good buddies really...aren't they??
PLEASE COME VISIT OUR REVAMPED PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL! SUBSCRIBE AND DON'T MISS A THING! JUST CLICKCLICK HERE!
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SIR CHRISTOPHER LEE remembered today. Three years on . . . It's still a little strange how there still isn't an official CHRISTOPHER LEE fan site or even facebook page on the net. Before his passing, there was an official site, that had slowed down, to then a week after Lee's death, was closed to any updates and carried a banner of, being remodeled soon to reopepost. We are still waiting. In the meantime, I try to share something related, if only by a Cushing. Plus we do have a Christopher Lee theme EVERY Saturday here! Posts about Christopher Lee here and at our PCAS Facebook Fan Page are always well received and supported. There are always lots of comments and text from followers and members, who still miss his presence and regularly watch the wealth of work, that we can always enjoy . . . in memory of one of the greatest!
WATCH the candid conversations with PETER CUSHING and CHRISTOPHER LEE during their very lasst meeting! MORE clips being add to this PLAY LIST TODAY, on the anniversary of CHRISTOPHER LEE'S passing . . . CLICK HERE FOR THE PLAYLIST AT THE PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL
COME JOIN US AT OUR PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE WITH OVER 33 THOUSAND OTHER CUSHING FANS! UPDATED DAILY! KEEPING THE MEMORY ALIVE!JUST CLICK HERE
