'HAVE ALWAYS TRIED TO SURPRISE THE PUBLIC WITH SOMETHING THEY DON'T EXPECT!'

#WATCHWITHCUSHING! SURPRISE! It has been often said that, typecasting hung around Christopher Lee for quite some time, maybe until later in his career when, he believed there was a little more flexibility. Personally, I always thought the majority of his roles, were often quite different, the genre may have been somewhere in a shared ball park, but I wouldn't say his role as the evil Edward Blake in 'I Monster' was the same as say, Francisco Scaramanga in 'The Man with the Golden Gun' or even the role of 'The Monster' in 'The Curse of Frankenstein' was in any close to Kharis in 'The Mummy' . . In this interview, he makes his point in discussing how he always tried to surprise his audience.. which I think, he in most cases certainly did. Over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE HERE I have asked everyone if there is a role they can remember, where Christopher Lee played this card very well.. and surprised you?? And there are some surprising answers 😏😊

A ROLE THAT ALWAYS seemed quite different to me was Christopher Lee's role in his own production of the film, 'NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT' with Peter Cushing. His playing of Colonel Bingham almost seems like an extension of his character in the 1970, 'SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN'? you can still catch one of these films in our PCASUK #WATCHPARTY post at the  FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! RIGHT HERE!

WHEN SOMEONE DROPPED IN ON CHRISTOPHER LEE AND REMEMBERING ACTOR MICHAEL RIPPER

YOU KNOW THE LINE OF DIALOGUE? 'I’VE SEEN THE LIKES TONIGHT that mortal eyes shouldn’t look at!’… say THAT line of dialogue and any Hammer film fan worth his or her salt, quick as a flash will reply, ‘Michael Ripper, as the poacher in 'The Mummy!’.. And it is Michael Ripper who we remember today on the day his birth, 27th January 1913. Ripper appeared in many productions for Hammer, seven with Peter Cushing, nine with Christopher Lee.  . . .

AND TALKING OF CHRISTOPHER LEE, Michael Ripper, it turns out, found out about Christopher Lee appearing at a book signing in London back in the 1990's  and dropped in to see his old friend! Giving everyone the wonderful opportunity to see these two icons, together again, relaxed, chatting about old times. These photographs were generously shared with us by James Murray, who was working 'on the door' that day! Thanks again, James 😌😉  

INN KEEPERS, coachmen, police officers, Ripper an accomplished stage and film actor it could be argued is as much part of the Hammer family as Cushing, Lee, Fisher and Francis. Christopher Lee once announced to a packed convention in Baltimore, with Ripper standing at his side.. 'This man IS Hammer!’ And for many of us, he always will be . . . 

SUPRISE CORRECTIONS FOR FANS AFTER MANY YEARS ON!

IF YOU EVER posted your much prized copy of Peter Cushing's second autobiography, 'PAST FORGETTING' to him at his home in Whitstable in 1988 for him to sign, you may have been one of the lucky ones, to also get a little extra! The printing run of the book unfortunately had a few printers typo errors, on pages 92, 10 and 14 . . which when Peter was signing your copy, he also took the time and trouble to correct those errors, with his most unmistakeable fountain pen and handwriting. Here is an example of those pages with his corrections. Quite a few of our followers at the the PCASUK Facebook Fan Page have posted on the thread of this post today, also telling us they too have found corrections on their signed copy . . bit only found it either today or quite recently! It's just as well he isn't around to see some of MY regular typos hereat the website and on the PCAS Facebook Page . . they would keep him very busy! Many thanks to my good friend, Linda King for sharing the pages of her copy!

YOU'LL FIND TODAY'S POST AND AN ARCHIVE OF MOST OF OUR PCASUK WEBSITE POSTS FROM THE LAST EIGHT YEARS AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! IF YOU ENJOY OUR POSTS AND WANT TO COMMENT OR DISCUSS THE WORK AND LIFE OF PETER CUSHING, COME AND JOIN OVER THIRTY THREE THOUSAND OTHERS, AND TAKE PART IN THE OLDEST PETER CUSHING FAN CLUB, NOW ON FACEBOOK BOOK! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CLICK HERE  AND THEN CLICK LIKE THERE! YOU'LL BE MOST WELCOME!

THE COMPLETE THIS IS YOUR LIFE : PETER CUSHING! FEMME FATALE FRIDAY!

#CUSHINGFEMMEFATALES FRIDAY! Here is PETER CUSHING on THIS IS YOUR LIFE from 1990. And VERY happy and humble he LOOKS too! It's interesting how many women there are and the women, connected to Cushing who actually appear on the show. Even though some of Cushing's closest actress friends were then living away from the UK, where the show was recorded, they are absent from the recording . . Long time friend and college INGRID PITT is missing and siting drinking coffee, just outside London! A show like this, that ploughs into the public and private life of the subject on display, can be a sensitive and quite political exercise. Although, Cushing reacts as though it's all a BIG surprise, he did know the show was happening. He wasn't over the moon about appearing, so the handling of guests, was the responsibility of a trusted and close 'associate'. We can presume, those choices were behind the participating guests...and why Christopher Lee is NOT in the studio. 

THIS CUSHING FEMME FATALE FEATURE is PART ONE of a TWO PART feature, a little peep at the actresses he also knew Peter in their private lives too! MORE to come in Part TWO next FRIDAY! ENJOY!!

THIS upload has been added to the NEW PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL library and taken from the old PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL, where it was shared five years ago . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e96Mf...

REMEMBERED IAN SCOONES: EFFECTS WIZARD AND CUSHING OBE

TO MANY IAN SCOONES is a name that would be associated with film and television special effects, working with the LES BOWIE Special Effects team and at the BBC. TV shows like the Hammer House of Horror show, Dr Who. Films like 1984, Thunderbirds working for Hammer films Bray studios, many films in which Peter Cushing appeared like, Frankenstein Created Woman, She, Night Creatures. Ian graduated from the Medway College of Art in 1960 and finding himself without employment, made some inquiries to Peter Cushing, who he had been a fan of, since he was a child. Cushing, in turn after meeting Ian, was instrumental in helping him gain employment with Les Bowie . . and the rest as they say, is history.

IT WAS SOMETHING THAT IAN NEVER FORGOT, that had Peter not helped him on his way, he may never have got a foot in the door, let alone employment, in such a competitive area. It was Ian's idea to sponsor the application, for Peter to be award an OBE, an 'Order of the British Empire' Medal, awarded by the Queen and government of the day, for services to the entertainment industry . . . Here for the first time on this page, is the actual letter that Ian received from the Prime Minister's office, telling him, that Peter Cushing was to be award the OBE . . . quite an achievement! Peter Cushing was extremely surprised and very humbled to receive the news of his award and Ian Scoones made all that possible! From 1994, Ian lived in retirement, first in Spain, then in Bulgaria, where he died on January 20th 2010, aged of 69. We remember Ian today, with thanks. . . 

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 STORY OF THE CUSHING NOTES AND BUREAU

#‎cushingcollectable‬ : WEDNESDAY: You may remember these posts from two Wednesday's ago? And after posting them, I promised to share the story of how I came to own those handwritten autobiography notes of Peter Cushing's...Well....the top post is Peter Cushing's Bureau, purchased just a few years ago. I was lucky to purchase it from a lady, who lived a short distance from Peter Cushing's home at Sea View in Whitstable.

HER HUSBAND HAD BEEN a great fan of Peter's work and he purchased the bureau at the Cushing Collection Auction in Canterbury after Peter Cushing died. Sadly, he too passed a year or so before I purchased the bureau, and his wife was slowly down scaling down her home and relocating.

WHEN THE TIME CAME to go along to her home to collect the bureau, it was quite an emotional parting for her, it was her husband's pride and joy. But when she found out 'where' the bureau's new home was going to be and about PCAS, she was over-joyed! During our meeting at her home, we had some tea and cake and chatted, and found out geographically, we had much in common too!

AFTER AN HOUR OR SO, the time came to carry the bureau out and carefully pack it up for it's journey to my home. I thanked her and told her how extremely pleased I was to be it's new owner, that it would be very well looked after and also pressed into use too!

IT WAS AT THIS POINT, she asked ' Oh, would you also like to take away these too?' She held out a plastic slip folder. Through the ageing and yellowing plastic, I could see inside, a wad of paper, and on the one corner, held by two large paper clips I could just make out lines of handwriting, in blue fountain pen ink! At the same time, I immediately recognised that distinctive style.. it was Peter Cushing's handwriting.

WHILE CAREFULLY SLIDING the paper out from the folder, I looked at her..she was smiling! I said, 'It's Peter's handwriting!!' She beamed back at me, 'Yes!', she said, she was as excited as I was! 'My husband said it was, but I have no idea what it all means. Is it an unfinished letter, he seems to be writing...is it his story and are all those titles his films too?' I barely heard what she had said, I was quickly scanning the pages. It was pretty obvious, these were notes about the contents of Peter's autobiography, in his own hand. 'It's Peter's notes.!', I said 'It's his autobiography. How wonderful! They are very rare indeed, you must be sure to take great care of them.' I said, 'Oh no..' she smiled, 'I want YOU to have them!'

QUICKLY, I DID THE SUMS in my head of their value and blurted, ' Well, that's extremely kind of you, but, I could not buy these today, I have...' but before I could finish, she laughed saying, 'Oh nooo. I WANT you to HAVE them. They should be with you!' I started to explain their value, a nice little break away with the proceeds maybe? But, she wouldn't listen, 'No. I am quite happy with the sale of the bureau...'

IT WAS THEN SHE said something that made my jaw drop so hard, the bump of it hitting the hall carpet could probably be heard down at Sea View.... ' My husband, didn't pay for them anyway..' I was puzzled, 'So, how did you come by them?' I asked. 'Oh, they were just inside THE BUREAU......!' 'What?' I said. 'They were in the pull down desk, in that folder!' she explained. 

I THEN REMEMEBERED what many collectors had told me about the Canterbury auction. There had been so many lots, Peter had so much packed into his home and studio, when it came to dividing things into lots, often someone winning a bid on a book that belonged to Peter, got home and opened it to find an autographed note paper inside. People who purchase items of his clothing found scarves, silk handkerchiefs, cuff-links and pens tucked into them! It was something special, some extra item, however small, a thank you for your purchase..as there was mountains of items to sell. The bureau had been in the auction catalogue, as one of the very few pieces of Peter Cushing's furniture for sale... an expensive antique and a good price was expected, and archived!

AND SO, that is the astonishing story, of how I came by those notes...and the generosity of two women, the lovely lady who owned the bureau and Peter's long time friend, Joyce Brougton, who put the lots together for that auction! Bless you, ladies!

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