PARK LIFE: WHILE WALKING IN THE PARK ONE DAY . . .

Candid Cushing: PARK LIFE: I think if you were taking a leisurely walk in your local park, and you happened to see this figure strolling along, even from a distance...you could see this no ordinary gentleman. Hat at a cheeky angle, umbrella swinging in time with his gait, there is no one else this COULD be. Peter Cushing takes a stroll in the park, circa 1986.

A colour shot, taken the same day, minus the hat! These photographs were part of a photo-session for the Mail on Sunday newspaper. The shot above, I believe was also used for one of the many reprints of Peter's autobiography in paper back in the USA.

The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society UK, was founded back in 1956, and is the original Fan Club. It's now on the net at it's own facebook fan page, has tumblr, twitter, instagram accounts and it's home website the petercushingappreciationsociety.com, now with over 21,000 followers world wide. Now you can access vintage hi res publicity photographs, promotional material, features, interviews both in text and on video with the actors, directors and friends who knew the man, the artist and friend, Peter Cushing.

It's a great way keep up to date with on the news of remastered blu rays, dvds and streaming of films from Cushing's extensive career on both the big screen, tv and radio. Hear and see vintage Cushing interviews from our extensive library, many being seen and heard for the first time. Access our huge library of reviews and rare galleries of stills, lobby cards, many collectors items available as transparencies and contact sheets from Cushing's Hammer Horrors, his famous portrayals of Baron Frankenstein, The Vampire Hunter : Van Helsing, Christopher Lee's Count Dracula nemesis , the famous Baker Street detective, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Who on the big screen...and lets not forget forget his 22 films with the Prince of Terror, Christopher Lee. They both had a talent to terrify, and left audiences screaming for more over three decades.

There's also our BIG competitions and BIG prizes, blu ray box sets and prizes that money can't buy from the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Memorabilia Collection. Autographed rare stills and one off original Cushing movie props. It's all here, it's all accessible and free at the click of your mouse, the world of Peter Cushing and ONLY at the Peter Cushing Appreciation Society UK. We are now available world wide and to everyone, anywhere, old fans and new...updated daily, EVERY day. So, come celebrate the life and career of Peter Cushing OBE...join us, keeping the memory alive....

HAZEL COURT REMEMBERED ON HER BIRTHDAY : AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY DETAILS

Today we remember the lovely Hazel Court who was born on this day, during her career she worked with several horror legends, Vincent Price in The Masque Of The Red Death (1964) , Boris Karloff and Vincent Price again in The Raven (1963) , Christopher Lee in Hammer's The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) and of course with Peter Cushing in The Curse Of Frankenstein (1957) … What are some of your favourite performances of Hazel's?

 

 

ORDER YOUR COPY DIRECT FROM TOMAHAWK: HERE 

Her book 'Hazel Court- Horror Queen: An Autobiography' is a good read, not too deep or detailed, but with some very nice images through out. It took a while for this one to come round, health and time... also one image, that really put that cat among the pigeons..caused a certain amount of bad feeling, that made Court not so happy to explore the exposure of conventions and book promoting. In the Hammer films, The Man Who Could Cheat Death..a film that Cushing was originally slated to appear in... a shot of Court was filmed, topless...for inclusion in the famous, 'continental print'.. I am not sure of the history, if that shot ever was included in those prints, I am pretty sure it wasn't. There is a story that the footage was destroyed at the editing room, BUT a few frames were given to Court, as a memento.

 QUICK LINK: HAZEL COURT : WOMEN IN GOTHIC 
AND OTHER ACTRESSES IN OUR SERIES

Years later, some how one of these frames turns up in a certain fanzine... fill in the name here yourselves.... printed without consent from Court. She was furious. It wasn't the first time that this periodical had compromised individuals....in an interview with this magazine, a key player in the Star Wars saga had 'off the record' referred to another key players, 'silly facial hair', which as these things tend to, got back to that individual. They were not happy. Also the using of Roy Skeggs Hammer Films Ltd headed note paper as the header and title of a reworked version of the magazine, went down badly... but such is the world of fanzines, when you are trying to stand out from the crowd, give scoops and compete with others, in what was back then a crowded market, of good to very good fanzines, all competing and trying to make a name. But, eventually Court did come back to the frame, sadly...I think I am right in saying that the book was released posthumously, Court sadly leaving us in 2008, just months before the book was finally released...

IT'S OUR 60TH ANNIVERSARY PCAS 1956 -2016!

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THE LONG ROAD BACK TO WANTING TO CELEBRATE : PETER CUSHING

A DAY TO CELEBRATE THE GENTLEMAN OF FANTASY CINEMA : HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER CUSHING

PETER CUSHING: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND PAST FORGETTING : US MIDNIGHT MARQUEE RELEASES

Many celebrities approach writing their memoirs with a sense of trepidation, assuming they actually do any of the actual writing themselves.  Some use them as an opportunity boast and crow.  Some seize the chance to set the record straight, at least from their own (sometimes slightly jaundiced) point of view.  The end results can be varied in interest: sometimes they can be a very dull affair, even if they don’t end up using the form as an opportunity to throw muck and level accusations.  Anybody who has ever read the notorious memoirs of Klaus Kinski – alternatively known as All I Need is Love or Kinski Uncut, depending on the printing – will understand this only too well: sometimes the form is best approached and appreciated as performance art.  When Peter Cushing elected to write of his life in the mid-1980s, he did so on the bittersweet understanding that his time on life might be short – and that his opportunity continue acting might well also have become a thing of the past.

With this in mind, it’s amazing to find just how vibrant and upbeat “An Autobiography” really is – it is laced with pathos and tragedy, of course, with much emphasis on the devastating loss of his beloved wife Helen in January of 1971.  Helen was clearly the “rock” which gave his life meaning and he details their relationship in loving detail.  He also proves to be only too willing to address, however obliquely, his own shortcomings.  Helen was a sickly woman from the time they met and he undertook work in horror films simply as a means of providing steady income to pay for her various treatments.  He states that he “strayed” on multiple occasions and hints that this tormented him for many years.  Even more alarmingly, he paints a vivid and distressing portrait of his life spiraling out of control when she passed away – he attempted suicide that same night, but his firm religious convictions prevented him from following through.  One gets the sense in all of this that Cushing was a complicated man, given to indulging his whims when he felt like it, but also so intensely in love with his wife that it turned into an obsessive form of co-dependency.  Theirs was a loving but peculiar relationship, part husband and wife, part mother and son.  Cushing also details his health woes, which began in earnest in 1982 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  The prognosis was not good and doctors informed him that he would likely be dead within a year … news which Cushing took in stride because, quite frankly, he had tired of life without Helen.  Needless to say, he beat the odds – and he would live for another 12 years.

Indeed, Cushing would spend so much of “An Autobiography” detailing his relationship with Helen, as well as his childhood, that he neglected to give a great deal of attention to his film work.  It made for a very intriguing and heart-felt personal account, but many fans felt a bit cheated by the lack of Hammer Horror talk and were open in saying so.  Always one to listen to his fans, Cushing responded with a second volume of memoirs, titled “Past Forgetting.”

“Past Forgetting” also works in plenty of personal information, but it seeks to quiet the fan base by discussing his many and varied film roles in greater detail.  Cushing doesn’t dish much in the way of gossip, being far too much of a gentleman, but he pays loving tribute to some of his best friends in the business – including fellow horror icons Christopher Lee and Vincent Price – and discusses the mostly harmonious relationship he had with the producers at Hammer and Amicus.  Cushing elects to gloss over a rather ugly (albeit temporary) falling out with James Carreras over his dropping out of The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) at short notice but he was clearly appreciative of the steady work they supplied him down through the years and was never one – unlike Christopher Lee – to publicly slam the material they provided for him.

The combination of these two volumes paints a far more multi-faceted portrait of the great man than any of the available books on him.  Cushing does not shy away from admitting his failings.  He has his moments of vanity.  He could be difficult when he felt he was in the right.  All of this simply serves to paint him as an honest-to-God human being, albeit one with tremendous empathy, compassion, professionalism and good manners.  Cushing’s prose is clipped and precise, much like his diction, but the books never comes off as stodgy or ill-humored.  As a man, Cushing wore his heart on his sleeve – and these volumes make this aspect of his personality all too clear.

The two volumes were originally issued separately, of course, but have since been condensed into one handy volume by Midnight Marquee Press in America.  The volume is professionally laid out and offers up a nice selection of images, including documents and artwork penned by Cushing himself.  The book is topped off by a nice tribute to Cushing from his long-time secretary and assistant, Joyce Broughton.  The Midnight Marquee edition can be obtained directly from: http://www.midmar.com/bioscushing.html

Troy Howarth

NEWS: BFI CELEBRATES PETER CUSHING CENTENARY WITH A MONSTER FROM HELL!

When Dr Simon Helder is committed to an asylum after being caught experimenting on stolen cadavers, he finds himself in the company of fellow re-animator Baron Frankenstein, who is physician there. The two join forces to continue their research but Helder gradually realises that a fine line separates the inmates from those apparently in charge. This was Terence Fisher’s last film and the final instalment in Hammer’s exploration of the Frankenstein story. 

Here, Peter Cushing’s Baron reaches his most degenerate, his gaunt yet distinguished appearance giving little inkling of the menace just beneath the surface. To mark the centenary of Cushing’s birth, we are showing Hammer’s new high-definition restoration of his final portrayal of the character that brought him international fame: Baron Frankenstein. We are delighted to welcome Madeline Smith, the film’s co-star, and Joyce Broughton, Cushing’s secretary for 35 years, to introduce the screening. They will be promoting the centenary edition of Peter Cushing: The Complete Memoirs, for which Joyce has written the foreword. Event: May 29, 2013 6:30 PM Tickets on sale:09-04-2013 11:30 AM 

The BFI is creating a monster this year. GOTHIC is a celebration of the dark heart of film, with a major season at BFI Southbank and across the UK from October to January 2014. To find out more, visit bfi.org.uk/gothic

 

THE BOY WITH THE FLOWING LOCKS! PETER CUSHING AT SIGNING OF HIS FIRST AUTOBIOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPH.

Peter making a personal appearance at a book signing of his first autobiography: Peter Cushing : An Autobiography. Here he poses with the photograph of himself aged three, with long hair and wearing a dress. All is revealed in the the book, which is being reissued next year to coincide with his centenary. Both volumes will be available as one book, Peter Cushing The Complete Memoirs.