FEMME FATLES FRIDAYS! TALENT BRAINS DETERMINATION: THE GIRLS WITH GRIT : GALLERIES AND STORIES

 

THE CONTINUING PCAS WEEKLY SERIES: Our NEXT FOUR FAB FEATURES FOR #CUSHINGSFEMMEFATALESFRIDAY! FOUR EXTENSIVE GALLERIES with RARE IMAGES and CLIPS. FOUR ACTRESSES. FOUR CAREERS. The connection is Peter Cushing and their LIVES and CAREERS far from conventional. #CUSHINGSFEMMEFATALEFRIDAYS! ONLY TO BE FOUND HERE OVER THE NEXT FOUR FRIDAYS!

CLYTIE JESSOP: MEAT, ART AND FILM: A LIFE IN THREE ACTS . . .

VALERIE GAUNT: THE ACTRESS AT START OF HAMMER FILMS GLAMOUR  WHO SHOCKED AUDIENCES AND THEN VANISHED!

YVONNE MONLAUR: THE LITTLE OF CINEMA PART TWO

CATCH UP WITH OUR RECENT #CUSHINGFEMMEFATALE 
GALLERIES AND FEATURES! 

THE ONE AND ONLY : INGRID PITT

DALEKS AND VAMPIRE GIRLS: JENNIE LINDEN



THE GIRL THEY CALL EVIE! YVONNE ROMAIN 

THE LITTLE BIRD! PART ONE OF YVONNE MONLAUR :  HERE!

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  

CALLUM MCKELVIE: GOES RUMMAGING ON PLANET AARU FOR CUSHING WHO GOODIES!

SO FIRST THING FIRST- I’ve been away a little while, but now I’m back! So as before every Sunday I’ll be stealing the lime light to ramble a little about a differing aspect of Cushing and his work. It seemed best to return with a bang and following on from my two-part review of the ‘Dr. Who’ movies, we’re presenting another two-part piece on the films, though this time it’ll be more along the lines of a ‘behind the scenes feature’. Primarily there’s two reasons for this. A) I am of course a massive Doctor Who fan. B) There’s a lot of neat images and footage we have yet to share.

ONE OF THE MAIN REASON FOR this article was to showcase some footage available on the BBC DVD of the Jon Pertwee story Death to the Daleks. (see above) Recently discovered at the time of that stories release, the footage is a rare behind the scenes look at the making of the 1965 film. The BBC’s presentation of the footage is admirable as they’ve gone to the trouble of interviewing some of the original crew along with Hammer Historian Marcus Hearne, for what is an admittedly small amount of film. 

THE FOOTAGE has some interesting Cushing moments, showcasing him exploiting the slapstick comic potential of his character as he jumps around wildly in a doorway when their escaping the Dalek trap. The real delight however is a tiny moment in which Cushing and fellow star Roy Castle are seen partaking in a small song and dance number of what we can presume is some kind of Broadway theme. Unfortunately as the footage has no sound we’ll never know what this sounded like! Though I’m sure someone with excellent lip-reading skills could tell us the name of the song.

ONE OF THE MORE INTERESTING facts in terms of the films promotion centres around its sets. Designed by Scott Slimon (who worked on many contemporary horror pictures including Scream and Scream Again and The Skull amongst others) they are easily one of the most striking aspects of the production. Indeed so striking were they deemed by Milton Subotsky that not only did sections of them appear alongside the Daleks at the Cannes Film festival in the 1965, but they then went on a country-wide tour across the UK promoting the film. 

SEVERAL OF THE DALEKS from the film would be loaned out the BBC and appear as ‘Dalek guards’ in The Chase, which due to the shows tight turn-around would actually be broadcast before the film’s release. Their noticeable by the fact they are missing their large bases.

OF COURSE THE FILM was released during the height of so-called ‘Dalekmania’ within Britain, when the titular killer pepper-pots from the planet Skaro were taking over the toy stores. Indeed it’s often easy to forget that during this period it wasn’t really the ‘Doctor’ that was the draw of ‘Doctor Who’. The year the film was released the Daleks appeared in a massive 19 television episodes and that’s excluding cameo appearances, indeed one of the episodes didn’t even feature the Doctor (Mission to the Unknown). 

BY THE TIME the film hit cinema screens then a slew of Dalek related merchandise was available for the avid collector. Some was explicitly related to the Cushing film (The ‘Paint and Draw the Film of Dr. Who and the Daleks’ book) whereas a majority was simply ‘Dalek’ merchandise (Dalek soap, Inflatable Daleks). Most famous….or perhaps that should be infamous was the ‘Dalek Playsuit’. A red plastic dome would fit upon the head of the wearer, with a plastic sucker and gun arm, whilst there body would be draped in a plastic sheet, designed to look like a Dalek.

MORE EXPLICITLY movie related merchandise including a Dell comic adaptation, that like all Dell comic adaptations of the time told the story of the film with some rather unimpressive artwork. Meanwhile child star Roberta Tovey released the album ‘Who’s Who’ with a B-side featuring Jack Dorsey’s Dance of the Daleks. Listen to it at your peril…

PLEASE JOIN ME HERE AGAIN, next week! Where I’ll be discussing tid-bits concerning the second Dalek movie…DALEK INVASION EARTH 2150 AD!.

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  . . 

VERY MUCH VALERIE : FEMME FATALES : FEATURE

#FEMMEFATALEFRIDAY! You think you've read all there is about an actor or actress, then one day you find another interesting tid-bit, and a little more . . that's the case with the late VALERIE GAUNT who sadly pass late last year. I'll be posting our usual Friday, over the weekend this week. But here is a taster of the banner, to look out for . . . a interesting lady, who vanished from our screens all too quickly, retiring in the early 1960's. So, later then

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     

GIFS WEDNESDAY REMEMBER MILLAND AND THE DOCTOR PAYS A VISIT TOMORROW!

IT'S ENOUGH TO PUT you off chest freezers for life! What a wicked way to go though? Here is MICHAEL TODD, matinee idol of the 40's and 50's. appearing in AMICUS FILM 'ASYLUM' (1972) As ever, Milton Subotsky, pulled together a fine cast, with then likes of Peter Cushing, Barry Morse, Sylvia Syms, Charlotte Rampling, Patrick Magee, Herbert Lom, James Villiers, Geoffrey Bayldon and Britt Ekland. All fine actors with long careers and experience behind them . . part of the secret that made the Hammer films and Amicus movies so entertaining were the actors, who knew their trade, not only gave value in the billing, to get bottoms on seats, but were very good at their jobs! Amicus may have low budgets, and were often seen as a bit low brow . . .but how often did a mainstream entertainment film carry a cast like this one??

POOR OL ROBERT HELLER, his plan appeared to be going like clock-work in Hammer films 'FEAR IN THE NIGHT' (1972), the last thing he expected under that sheep was MOLLY! Me too. I have mentioned this before, but I must be one of the few, certainly in my group of friends, who watches a movie, I mean WATCHES the movie. I get so pulled in by the story, I am not distracted by trying to work out, what happens next. So, this film was very enjoyable for me! When we met and interviewed RALPH BATES and JUDY GEESON back in the early 1980's, the memory of making this film and working with Peter, was still very fresh in the minds. They LOVED it. But, I don't think Joany, did though.....! Pity.  

PROBABLY THE ONE FILM we get request for GIFS from, than any other from Peter Cushing's long career! This chase taken from Hammer films, 'DRACULA' (Horror of Dracula) is one of Hammer's most iconic scenes, it never git better. Fisher repeated a chase through the castle (below) in Hammer's next Van Helsing film, good as it was, it didn't reach the drama that this one created. Peter Cushing was a very athletic man and actor . . .he swam in the sea ever morning, at his beach-side home in Whistable!! Christopher Lee, not so much. In fact, I have spent some time while posting these gifs, thinking of I have ever seen Christopher RUN in any other films? I can't think of any. Cushing was graceful, Lee despite highly skilled at mime which he studied was, by his own admission quite a clumsy man! But, with the help of some technical twiddling, dubbing OUT Dracula footsteps, during this chase, he whips along like a hunted gazelle! 

PETER CUSHING AS VAN HELSING chases Baron Meinster, though the chateau in Hammer films, 'THE BRIDES OF DRACULA' (1960). Again, like the 1958 DRACULA, this scene was shot at Hammer's home studio at Bray. A small studio, with not very big stages at this time. But, if you look carefully, you can spot many props and furniture, that Van Helsing would have past, during his early chase scene with DRACULA in 1958!

WE CAN'T LET TODAY go by with remembering this chap! The much loved and  very talented actor Ray Milland, whose screen career lasted from the 30's all the way into the 80's… and covered multiple genres with his most notable films being The Lost Weekend (1945) (for which he won an Oscar) , Dial M For Murder (1954) and the horror classic's The Premature Burial (1962) X The Man with the X-ray eyes (1963) both for Roger Corman. He starred with Peter Cushing in The Uncanny (1977) and The Masks Of Death (1985) ….. Do you have a favorite Milland film?

LARGE PHOTOGRAPH SCAN: Here's a wonderful behind the scenes shot from Dalek Invasion Earth 2150 AD, one of many . . . . plus a few unseen pics from the film... I'll be sharing here tomorrow, for #Throwbackthursday. In the film, this scene really does look like an exterior location. Lighting camera men really knew there jobs back then, and the crews worked hard to archive great results like this one. LOOK carefully and you can spot one, way up in the lighting gantry, just over RAY BROOKS, who is standing on the set demolished building . . MORE TOMORROW! SEE BELOW!

THE FIRST of a TWO PART GALLERY featuring behind the scene rare images and photographs from BOTH Peter Cushing DOCTOR WHO DALEK movies from the 60s! PART ONE ARRIVES HERE TOMRROW #THROWBACKTHURSDAY!

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  

THE ONE AND ONLY : #CUSHINGSFEMMEFATALESFRIDAY!

BEST KNOWN  as Hammer Films' most seductive female vampire of the early 1970s, the Polish-born Pitt possessed dark, alluring features and a sexy figure that made her just right for Gothic horror! Ingrid Pitt (born Ingoushka Petrov) survived World War II and became a well-known actress on the East Berlin stage, however, she did not appear on screen until well into her twenties. She appeared in several minor roles in Spanish films in the mid 1960s, mostly uncredited, before landing the supporting role of undercover agent "Heidi", assisting Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton defeat the Third Reich in Where Eagles Dare (1968).

HER EXOTIC looks and eastern European accent came to the notice of Hammer executives who cast Pitt as vampiress "Mircalla" in the sensual horror thriller The Vampire Lovers (1970). The film was a box office success with its blend of horror and sexual overtones, and Pitt was a beautiful, yet ferocious bloodsucker. Next up, Pitt was cast by Amicus Productions as another gorgeous vampire in the episode entitled "The Cloak" in the superb The House That Dripped Blood (1971). This time, Ingrid played an actress appearing in horror films alongside screen vampire Jon Pertwee, but then later reveals herself to be a real vampire keen on recruiting fresh blood.

INGRID DONNED the fangs for her third vampire film in a row, Countess Dracula (1971) which was loosely based around the legend of the 16th century bloodthirsty Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Whilst not as successful, as the two prior outings, Ingrid Pitt had firmly established herself as one of the key ladies of British horror of the 1970s. She then appeared in the underrated The Wicker Man (1973) as an uncooperative civil servant annoying Edward Woodward in his search for a missing child. Further work followed in The Final Option (1982), as "Elvira" in the adaptation of the John le Carré Cold War thriller Smiley's People (1982), Wild Geese II (1985) and The Asylum (2000).

INGRID made regular appearances at horror conventions and fan gatherings, had penned several books on her horror career, and she relished talking to fans about her on screen vampiric exploits. Ingrid's fan club is known as the "Pitt of Horror"! A much loved and genuine cult figure of modern horror cinema, she died on November 23, 2010, just two days after her 73rd birthday.

PLEASE visit the INGRID PITT FAN CLUB WEBSITE . . .and help keep her memory alive. Just simply CLICK HERE!

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  . .