RARE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL CUSHING PHOTOGRAPH PLUS ACTORS NIGEL GREEN AND ROBERT URQUHART REMEMBERED

A VERY RARE PHOTOGRAPH OF PETER CUSHING in 1948 FEB until OCT!! Now That is a LONG tour! Granted 'Richard III was also part of the tour, but knowing how Cushing found the repetitive nature of eight or nine performances a week, extremely difficult... I don't know how he did it. But here is where he learnt his trade, skills and attitude, that would prepare him for tv work in the 1950's and days that could be long and draining on the set of film work . . come November 1952 and one of his first roles on LIVE BBC tv in 'If This Be Error' .. HE certainly, would not be making errors

TODAY we are marking the birthday of that fine English character actor NIGEL GREEN . . . Green left us at only 47 years of age, with a very impressive career already at that point. In our banner can be seen on the far right, in a little get together on the set of the cast of Amicus films THE SKULL (1965) with Peter, Patrick Wymark far left, Patrick Magee sat down on the right. Green had a small role of Inspector Wilson, in the film.

ABOVE: PCAS FULL REVIEW AND LOBBY STILLS GALLERY OF 'THE SKULL'  Just CLICK HERE!

ABOVE: FULL REVIEW FEATURE OF TWILIGHT TIME REMASTERED BLU RAY RELEASE AND GALLERY! 'Sword of Sherwood Forest' tarring Peter Cushing, Richard Green, Nigel Green and Oliver Reed : JUST CLICK HERE! 

BECAUSE OF HIS STRAPPING build and commanding height, (6 feet, 1 inch) & regimental demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action, in films such as Jason and the Argonauts, Zulu, Tobruk and The Ipcress File. His large physique also led to his being cast as Little John in Hammer films THE SWORD OF SHERWOOD FOREST (1960), with Peter Cushing.Green also appeared in a number of horror films including Corridors of Blood (1958), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), as the father of Jane Asher's character, The Skull (1965) also with Cushing, Let's Kill Uncle (1966) and Hammer's COUNTESS DRACULA with Ingrid Pitt(1971)
 

REMEMBERING Robert Urquhart. 'Quiet, well-read and a lover of classical music, Robert Urquhart was an actor who grew frustrated with his career as he grew older. It was, he bemoaned, an honourable profession but so much of the material he was offered did not deserve any respect...' Robert Urquhart Obituary. 'The Independent' newspaper, 24th March 1995. In the early 1950's Urquhart was building himself quite a reputation for his theatre work. A reputation that would eventually bring him to the attention of studio casting agents and land him supporting roles on the big screen. But it was in the medium of film, that Urquhart was not such a happy chap...

THAT ONE FILM WAS 'The Curse of Frankenstein' with Peter Cushing in 1957 for Hammer film. He detested it. It is said he left the premier screening, refused to make appearances to promote it and only in the last years of his revived career on television, could he find the stomach to even mention it, if it was brought up in interviews. By 1980, Urquhart had cooled off a little..and appeared in another Hammer production, the Hammer House of Horror' television series, in an episode entitled, - Children of the Full Moon. However, we remember him today for his sterling performance in The Curse of Frankenstein'!

REMEMBERING JON PERTWEE : A RARE COLOUR TRANSPARANCEY PLUS STUNNING RESIN CRYPT MODEL KIT PICS!

REQUESTED from Phil Randell
ANOTHER dip into the colour images from rare contract sheets of Christopher Lee and Veronica Carlson in 'Dracula Has Risen From The Grave', the last for while, this is a request, so here we go.... an interesting shot from the studio's publicity photographer, with the intention of trimming the pic later, to remove those lighting cables on the floor out of the shot. I think, this was between poses too, both seem to be listening to the photographer. . .

TODAY WE REMEMBER Jon Pertwee who we sadly lost on this day in May 1996. Pertwee became best known for spending 18 years (1959–1977) playing Chief petty officer Pertwee in the popular series The Navy Lark on BBC Radio. But achieved world wide recognition from playing the Third Doctor in Dr Who whom he played from 1970 to 1974.

AFTER DOCTOR WHO He had continued success in TV playing the title character in the television series Worzel Gummidge from 1979 to 1981 (reprising the role from 1987 to 1989). Judging by the response, to this post at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE it is wonderful to see, Pertwee's admirers and following is just as strong as ever. He is still very much, appreciated and remembered!  

DOES THIS 'THE MUMMY' kit figure grab you? I get sent quite a lot of photographs of figures and model kits, but this one is very good , I think. Resin Crypt's "Deadly Intruder" sculpted by Robert Price and.artist Nick DeAngelo has done an very good job painting and building the piece.

YOU SEE IT PRESENTED here, before the paint and after. The kit consists of 16 pieces and is 1/6th scale, which features include both figures of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing along with a highly detailed elaborate base including, globe, rifle and nameplate . . 

THIS IS ALL reproduced from the stunning action scene, that takes part in the Hammer film of 1959, The Mummy, directed by Terence Fisher...and make up by the amazing Roy Ashton! Over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE, we have asked for YOUR opinion on the figure, and the feed-back has been MOST postive!

CATCH UP with our FEATURE and GALLERY on Hammer films 'THE MUMMY' starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Yvonne Furneaux : JUST CLICK HERE!

WHEN SIRE OF ACTING DYNASTY APPEARED WITH FANTASY ICON REMEMBERED

MICHAEL REDGRAVE was of the generation of English actors that gave the world the legendary John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, #Britain three fabled "Theatrical Knights" back in the days when a knighthood for thespian was far more rare than it is today. . . Sir Michael Redgrave. A superb actor, Redgrave himself was a charter member of the post-Great War English acting pantheon and was the sire of an acting dynasty. According to his daughter, Vanessa, and son Corin, Sir Michael's favourite film roles were in The Browning Version (1951), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) The Dam Busters (1955) The Lady Vanishes (1938) #1984 (1956) Dead of Night (1945) and The Magic Box (1951) and many more gems . .

PETER CUSHING  appeared in a 1955 stage production of The Browning Version as Andrew Crocker-Harris in London, recorded and transmitted by BBC TV. He co started with #PeterCushing in Time Without Pity, Cushing's role as barrister, Jeremy Clayton is neat role. Cushing plays it with an impatient sharpness , that makes you feel all the more sorry for Redgrave's 'David Graham'. Just a support role, but in that added to Cushing's already sizeable characters he had played in theatre, radio and massiviely on television. Redgrave's opinion about working in film, when he had made such a career of the theatre, was pretty much like Peter Cushing also felt . .'I didn't think I'd be any good in films... I couldn't imagine myself on the screen. Besides, there were such exciting things to do in the theatre, so much to learn!'. Michael Redgrave passed away on this day in 1985 only one day after his 77th birthday.

If you are not familiar with Time Without Pity, a little later we have posted and shared a clip over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE, which features a scene with both Redgrave and Peter from the film. IF you have seen the film, love to know, what do you think of it?

FRANCIS MATTHEWS REMEMBERED : FRANKENSTEINS LITTLE HELPER!

TODAY WE REMEMBER Francis Matthews a very talented actor, known for playing Paul Temple in the BBC series of the same name, as well as voicing Captain Scarlet… But he is best known here for his roles in 3 Hammer films Dracula Prince Of Darkness (1966) Rasputin The Mad Monk (1966) both co-starring Christopher Lee and The Revenge Of Frankenstein (1958) with Peter Cushing, with whom he remained close friends ..

TWO OF THE GREAT ROLES that Francis Matthews played for Hammer Films in DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS  and  THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN

BACK IN 2001, Francis Matthews, joined Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelly and Suzan Farmer for a RE-UNITE of the cast of Dracula Prince of Darkness, for a narration on the DVD release.

FRANCIS MATTHEWS was the voice of a HERO to many growing up in the 1960's as puppet INDESTRUCTIBLE CAPTAIN SCARLETT!

REMEMBERING KATE O'MARA BORN TODAY 1939

TODAY MARKS the late Kate O'Mara's birthday.... Her earliest television appearances, includes guest roles in 'Danger Man', 'Adam Adamant Lives!', 'The Saint', 'Z-Cars' and 'The Avengers'. Look carefully and you'll spot her in the crowd of ale swiggers in Cushing's / Hammer films CAPTAIN CLEGG. She also worked with Cushing in the film, CORRUPTION and in 1970, she appeared in two Hammer films films THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and 'The Horror of Frankenstein'. In the former, she had an erotically charged scene with Ingrid Pitt, in which O'Mara was meant to be seduced; the two women were left laughing on set, however, as Pitt's fangs kept falling into O'Mara's cleavage. O'Mara's work in 'The Vampire Lovers' impressed Hammer enough for them to offer her a contract, which she turned down, fearful of being typecast!

ABOVE a smashing photograph of actress KATE O'MARA, standing outside the WATFORD ODEON CINEMA back in October 1970, posing with poster of Hammer films, 'THE VAMPIRE LOVERS'.

IN BETWEEN APPEARANCES in the BBC 'Doctor Who', she played Caress Morell in the American primetime soap opera 'Dynasty'. After returning to the UK, she was cast as another scheming villain, Laura Wilde, in the BBC soap 'Howards' Way' (1989–90). Kate O'Mara passed on 30th March 2014 aged 74.

HELP CELEBRATE the memory of KATE O'MARA with everyone else at the FACEBOOK PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY FAN PAGE. YOU can join the page just by clicking LIKE and never missing a post and join in the fun!

PATRICK WYMARK REMEMBERED ON HIS BIRTHDAY!

TODAY WE REMEMBER British character actor PATRICK WYMARK. An experienced actor of stage, TV, film and Radio, whose life was cut short suddenly due to an heart attack at age 44…. Some of his best known film roles are Where Eagles Dare (1968) , Repulsion (1965), The Blood On Satan’s Claw (1970) and Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun (1969) and Cromwell (1970)… He co-starred with Peter Cushing in Amicus’s The Skull (1965)

THE WYMARK family: Patrick Wymark and family in 1965, the year of #THESKULL release .. his wife Olwen, with their children (L-R) Dominic, Tristram and Rowan, at their home.

CUSHING AND WYMARK ready to make their bids at auction in Amicus films, THE SKULL.

FIND OUT MORE about WYMARK and CUSHING in THE SKULL in our SEVEN part feature series on CUSHING'S AMICUS FILMS. Just CLICK HERE! 

YOU'LL FIND EVEN MORE rare photographs and comments from lovers of Peter Cushing's work at our Peter Cushing Appreciation Society FACEBOOK FAN PAGE, which is JUST A CLICK away! Come join over 33 thousand other fans and followers. JUST CLICK HERE and then CLICK LIKE THERE!

REMEMBERING BETTE DAVIS : CUSHING AND DAVIS BRIEF BUT INTERESTING!

MAYBE MOST OF YOU are seeing the above banner and thinking, why is BETTE DAVIS and her birthday, included on a website about PETER CUSHING? Well, it's not really common knowledge that CUSHING was once cast along with DAVIS in a Hollywood film! Granted, the film sadly wasn't the best of movies, but it happened. JOHN PAUL JONES ironically was released when CUSHING'S film career was probably at it's highest in 1959. Some of Hammer films most popular box office films were also released during that time...and CUSHING starred in all of them! This film has such an interesting cast, that it too should have also been a smash. It's biggest problem, is the script, though some would also add some of that cast to the deadly mix too.

DESPITE JOHN PAUL JONES having a few problems during it's production, these didn't seem to bother PETER or his usual happy and fun attitude around these times. He WAS a great deal of fun and a practical joker back then . . . as STACK is discovering here, for himself!

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BUT TODAY, we CELEBRATE the birthday of one of the players, that as always, gave a good performance. Granted, that performance is SHORT, just like CUSHING'S . . . but BETTE could play this one is her sleep. Sadly, our man didn't get any screen time with the birthday girl, but then again, neither he nor she got that much with ANYONE! TODAY we have also included FOUR GIFS from BETTE'S very successful film career, one where she too worked for a production company CUSHING knew very well too! See if you can identify  the TITLES of these movies and her character name! PLUS the names of the roles that she and CUSHING played in JOHN PAUL JONES! IF YOU CAN, email your suggestion to me here at PCAS and I will include your name in a BIG BANNER that I will be sharing and posting here at the website, THIS WEEKEND, when I will be revealing the answers! Good Luck. We are petercushingpcas@gmail.com 

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