AND FROM SHERLOCK HOLMES TOO! RARE BBC SHERLOCK VINTAGE AUTOGRAPHS!

#PETERCUSHING #AUTOGRAPHS : The 'going rate' for Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee autographs has always been quite heathy, for those who trade in such memorabilia. After BOTH Cushing's and Lee's passing, as one would expect, the value of their signed notes and 'best wishes' certainly went UP in value. For the past 20 years a signed photograph of Cushing has remained steady, with prices from £150 to £250. Many would include, after the passing of his wife, Helen in 1971 to include the sentiment of 'May God's Blessing Be With You Always, In All Sincerity,  Peter Cushing' That's NOT Force but God's Blessing' 😉 IF the signature also included a dedication of, for example 'To Fred' or 'To Aunty Mary', it would carry a value of  LESS than a autograph WITHOUT a dedication! All autographs, without the 'May God's Blessing' inscription, pre-1971 always carry more value, even if the autograph is JUST his signature, on a piece of paper or a photograph!

THE AUTOGRAPH that most are seeking these days of course is Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin from 'Star Wars' ... most desirable, with a dedication. These have sold for between £2,500 and £3,000.. again, in all these 'market-places' something is only worth, what I guess what they WILL actually pay for it.. unless either person sadly gets duped..and there are many, like THIS example of a .... FAKE!

ABOVE ANOTHER SHADY FAKE!... If you have a Peter Cushing autograph, enjoy it, look after it and keep it safe 😉A Tale of Caution : A few years ago, a very dedicated Hammer film and Cushing fan got in touch wanting some advice, on what I thought MAYBE the value of his EIGHT signed photographs of Peter Cushing... 'Well, I am no expert but I can take a look' says I 😊 So, I asked him how did he come across them, 'I bought them years ago from collectors!' he said. 'Are they in good condition' I asked. 'Oh yes...!' said he, 'I will take a photograph of them all now, laid out on the table, for you too see them' he replied. After twenty minutes, an email arrived of a grand display of all eight colour 10x8 photographs, laid out and all catching the light, from the living room window, upon their... plastic lamented SEALED covering!!! Eight colour photographs : Signed amazing! Sealed in plastic, every one of them : worthless.... 😮☹️😖 😢- Marcus

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THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY TODAYS WATCH WITH CUSHING!

BEFORE we begin a BIG shout out to . . Romina Bond, Kornelis Kalsbeek, Scott Brookman, John Bramwell, Marcia Loisel, Jeffery Kubitz, Jim Morrow, Michelle Lynn Brooks and Lyn Barnes .. . who I hope are going to very much enjoy another Peter Cushing #SherlockHolmes episode this evening.. and I hope you do too! 😃The Boscombe Valley Mystery is one of my favourites from the 1968 BBC television series and it's today's FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE Cushing seems to have much more fun making this episode and their is some amusing bits of business with him and Nigel Stock's #DrWatson too. Director Viktors Ritelis seems to have the right touch for Cushing's style as he directed this and two other episodes of the series, 'The Musgrave Ritual' and 'The Solitary Cyclist'.

SADLY, BOTH EPISODES were victims of the 'BBC great '#junking, wipe and reuse' exercise of the 60's, 70's and 80's. Although the practice was once very common, wiping is now practised much less frequently and since the establishing of an 'archival policy' for television began in 1978, BBC archivists and others have over the years used various contacts in the UK and abroad to try to track down missing programmes. It is hoped maybe one day, the missing #PeterCushing Sherlock Holmes episodes will be found . .and we can enjoy them all! Meanwhile, I trust you are all safe and well and your holiday weekend, finds you and yours in good spirits 😀Please stay in, stay well and safe 😀 - Marcus

PLEASE COME AND JOIN US RIGHT HERE!

SHERLOCK HOLMES TAKES ON THE MASKS OF DEATH! #WATCHWITHCUSHING #WATCHPARTY!

DON'T THINK FOR A MINUTE THAT YOU CAN'T take another post of a Cushing Sherlock Holmes adventure? Snap out of it.😉😀 This one... is different 😉 #SirIanMckellen was 75, when he made that amazing Mr Holmes feature back in 2015. #PeterCushing was 71 when he appeared in what would almost be his 'swan song' for the big screen, and he pours just about everything he has in it 😊'Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death' (1984) is a pretty clever film, with a very cool cast to help make it work. 

THE THREE FACES OF Peter Cushing's Sherlock Holmes 

'The Hound of the Baskervilles' (Hammer films 1959)

Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC Television series of 1968

Cushing's Holmes in semi retirement in 'Sherlock Holmes and the 

Masks of Death (1984)

THERE ARE MANY very nice touches in this film and despite Peter's obvious age and his belief he was too old to play it, it works, helped by Cushing's good friend, John Mills who fills the role of Dr Watson confidently and with a few well timed 'matured-creaks and groans'. Roy Ward Baker directs also Ray Milland, Anne Baxter and #AntonDiffring are all lovely to watch and help put the cherry on what could have been quite a stale and mouldy cake! 

I VERY MUCH LIKE the story in this film. At times it's bleak, quite dark and uses one of the 'world's darkest of times' to under pin the evil and threats' in this #Sherlock and #Watson drama, written by Hammer's Anthony Hinds and N.J Crisp. It is a shame Cushing thought himself not fit enough or capable to nail another Holmes film, which was planned for production after this one. But, he did wait while Tyburn were trying to source funding.  

CUSHING MADE '#Biggles' (1986) while waiting, which would be his last cinema role. I think he more than managed to do his last Sherlock justice and finally bow out from one of his most accomplished and always most confidently performed roles in his long and varied career. I hope you enjoy this too 😊Marcus

CATCH UP on ALL the PCASUK '#WATCHWITHCUSHING! 'watch parties' at the FACEBOOK UK PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY FACEBOOK PAGE HERE!

PCASUK CHRISTMAS COMPETITION NUMBER FOUR NOW LIVE WITH BUMPER PRIZE!

PCASUK CHRISTMAS COMPETITION 4#! IS NOW LIVE at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FACEBOOK PAGE HERE! You can ONLY enter the COMPETITION THERE! A reminder . .  these competitions are open to everyone... whoever, wherever you are! 

THIS PRIZE comprises of SEVEN DVD's... 1) Sherlock Holmes! A box set of FOUR episodes on dvd of #PeterCushing's BBC series from 1968. Included is 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', though by many to be the best tv adaption of the #Doyle story. Each episode comes in it's own case with sleeve. These are believed to be the only remaining episodes from the Cushing 16 episode series, as it was standard practice at the time for the #BBC to wipe tapes and reuse them. Win this competition, and they are yours!

2) 'The Amicus Vault of Horrors'! (region 0) Directed and produced by Donald Fearney, this 146 minute documentary has to be the most comprehensive doc on the history of Amicus films. Narrated by Roy Hudd and featuring interviews with Milton Subotsky, John Carson, #DavidWarner #LindaHayden and many others, you'll find masses of rare footage, rare stills and publicity material, with a script by John Hamilton and editing by Jim Groom, this fear feast leaves no Amicus stone, unturned! 

3) 'The Legend of Hammer Vampires' (region 0) Narrated by Edward (Kiss of the Vampire' & 'Phantom of the Opera' De Souza, directed and produced by Donald Fearney, this 96 minutes of exclusive interviews with many of the key personalities, along with unseen footage and rare stills, that cover the entire history of Hammer's Vampire films and the Dracula franchise. All sales stocks of this documentary are now gone . .. WIN your copy HERE!

WE HAVE TWO batches of this PRIZE for you to WIN. All you have to do is answer the COMPETITION FOUR QUESTION below, send your ANSWER to us, as usual VIA the #PCAS #Facebook MESSAGE BUTTON ONLY! If your answer is correct, it will be dropped into the hat and fingers crossed, pulled out as a WINNER on January 2nd 2020! Good Luck!

COMPETITION QUESTION: Peter Cushing first played the character of Van Helsing, in Hammer films first 'DRACULA' film in 1958... also known as 'The Horror of Dracula'. This was also Christopher Lee's first performance for Hammer as Dracula... for many the climax of the film, is the dramatic slaying of the Count, with Cushing's Van Helsing crossing TWO CANDLE STICKS, forcing Dracula into the light of the rising sun! Cushing is on record to have actually suggested the 'candle stick' idea on the set, during the filming . ..
but he has also given credit to ANOTHER feature film, where he believes he FIRST saw the 'crossed candle sticks' idea used.

YOUR TASK: NAME THAT FILM 😃😉

A) Laurel and Hardy meet Dracula? B) The A to Z of Vampire Killing? C) Home Hobbies: Making Candles? D) Berkley Square? E) Candle Square? F) Candle Shoe?

CHOOSE your answer and send it to us as your entry ONLY using the PCAS Facebook Message Button ONLY!

Have Fun and Good Luck 😉
Marcus

MARKING THE BIRTHDAYS OF A SIR AND A LORD WITH PC CONNECTIONS!

TODAY 22ND OF MAY, has brought us the opportunity to celebrate the BIRTHDAY of one of PETER CUSHING's favourite writers and one of his close friends. of his early days in theatre and film . . .

TODAY WE REMEMBER Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who was born on this day a writer best known for his detective fiction featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. Originally a physician, in 1887 he published A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels about Holmes and Dr. Watson. In addition, Doyle wrote over fifty short stories featuring the famous detective. 

OUR PCASUK feature on the BBC TWO PART episode of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' with gallery is BARKING AND RIGHT HERE! 

THE SHERLOCK HOLMES stories are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. Peter Cushing played Sherlock Holmes in Hammer's THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, then in the BBC TV SERIES and finally in Tyburn's THE MASKS OF DEATH As a cherry on the cake, Cushing also got to play Conan Doyle in a TNT 1976 film, 'The Great Houdini' . . thank you to Mark Iveson for Facebook PCASUK Fan Page that reminder 😉
 

FEATURE AND GALLERY on Peter Cushing in the BBC episode, THE SIGN OF FOUR RIGHT HERE!

A RARE JAPANESE phone card, depicting Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson from the BBC Television series . .

TODAY WE REMEMBER an acting legend! Laurence Olivier who was born on this day in 1907. Olivier dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles. Among Olivier's best known films are Wuthering Heights (1939), Rebecca (1940), and a trilogy of Shakespeare films as actor-director: Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955). OLIVIER'S LATER FILMS included The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man (1976), and The Boys from Brazil (1978). For his on-screen work he received four Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. 

THE NATIONAL THEATRE'S  largest auditorium is named in his honour, and he is commemorated in the Laurence Olivier Awards, given annually by the Society of London Theatre. PETER CUSHING co-starred and was directed by Olivier in Hamlet (1948) with Cushing playing Osric. Another notable thing about the film although they shared no scenes together it was the first film to star both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, who had an uncredited role as a spear carrier with no spoken lines.

JOHN CARPENTER ON HAMMER CURSE AND REMEMBERING SIR JOHN MILLS AS DR JOHN WATSON

#TBT #THROWBACKTHURSDAY! Here's a clip we edited for Callum McKelvie's first Weekend Double feature, on Hammer films, The Curse of Frankenstein and Revenge of Frankenstein, with 'Halloween' director, John Carpenter sharing his thoughts on one of his all time favorite Hammer films... 🙂 It's great when established directors give credit to work that influenced them . . .Tim Burton and Martin Scorsese have all stepped up and doffed their caps...

TODAY WE MARK THE BIRTH of one, Lewis Ernest Watts Mills... or as we knew and loved him... Sir John Mills. He was without doubt, one of our most popular and beloved English actors and born today February 22nd 1908. In a career that stretched over eight decades, Mills appeared in over 120 films, debuting in 1932 in 'Midshipmaid Gob' right up until 2009 in 'The Snow Prince'. Many of his roles like Pip in 'Great Expectations' in 1946, Shorty Blake 'In Which We Serve' in 42, Captain Scott in 'Scott of the Antarctic' in 48 and the alcohol troubled Captain Anson in 'Ice Cold in Alex' in 58 would make him an internationally renowned star.

MILL APPEARED IN TWO FILMS with Peter Cushing, the first in 1976 entitled 'Trial by Combat' aka 'A Dirty Knight's Work' as Sir Edward Gifford. It was no more than a guest appearance, slotted in when another project on Cushing's slate fell through. The second though, was a much grander enterprise with Tyburn films and marked Cushing's return to the character of Sherlock Holmes...and Mills as Watson! They made a terrific team as a much older duo, so impressive was the chemistry that another Cushing /Mills / Sherlock film from Tyburn was planned entitled 'The Abbot's Cry', but was scuppered owing to Cushing's fragile health.

LIKE CUSHING, Mills was in his private life a sensitive romantic, in January 2001 at the age of 92, he and wife Mary, age 89, renewed their marriage vows at St. Mary's Church, next to their home, Hills House, in Denham, England. When they had wed 60 years earlier, he was denied a church service because he was serving in the Army during World War II. Happy Birthday, Sir John!

REMEMBER! IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA

WATCH CHRISTOPHER LEE AS SHERLOCK HOLMES : PLUS CLIPS AND GIFS!

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY: Christopher Lee throughout his career has had many connections with the world of Sherlock Holmes, today we are going to be featuring at some of them here and at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.

SHERLOCK HOLMES And The Deadly Necklace (1962) is when Lee first played the famous detective with Hammer regular Thorley Walters as Dr. Watson & directed by Terence Fisher. Filming took place in July and August 1962 in Ireland, London and the CCC-Studios in Berlin, with Lee donning a false nose.  

DEADLY NECKLACE was originally filmed in English, but the English language audio track used in the film was recorded in post-production, as was common with many European productions at the time and so another American actor dubbed Lee. The film had all the ingredients to be great, with Fisher at helm, Lee donning some great make-up, but unfortunately it was a misfire for many people, the biggest problem with the film not using Lee's voice & weak story, with both Lee and Fisher being disappointed in the final outcome.

#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY: OUR SECOND LOOK at Christopher Lee's Sherlock connections, is from The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes (1970) directed by Hollywood legend Billy Wilder who Lee often referred to as the greatest director he ever worked with.

A WHOLE FEATURE AND GALLERY OF COLOUR STILLS ON 'PRIVATE LIFE'  CAN BE FOUND AT OUR BLACKBOXCLUB WEBSITE :  HERE!

HERE LEE PLAYS Mycroft Holmes the even smarter, mysterious older brother of Sherlock, Lee had the unusual distinction of being the only actor to play both brothers on screen. Lee considered this film a very important one in his career, as he believed this film to be the reason he stopped being typecast: "I've never been typecast since.”

IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  . .