FACEBOOK LINKEDIN INSTAGRAM TINDER . . .PC!

HMMM  . . prompted by #DollyParton, it seems everyone is doing these at the moment. So here's our version of maybe how Peter Cushing's would have looked 😃😊😉 - Marcus

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAME DIANA RIGG TODAY!

''WOMAN OF MY AGE ARE STILL ATTRACTIVE. Men of my age are not' ... so said, this amazing icon of entertainment last year. And you know, Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE...does have point! Many actors from her era have either left us, or look like an unmade bed! We all know the Cushing Connection here, Mrs Peel in the Brit 1960's TV series, The Avengers, where PC played the very dashing Paul Beresford, a smooth operator, pushing all the buttons as romantic interest for Rigg's all action Mrs Peel and a finger on the button of death that commanded his deadly Cybernaut!

DIANA RIGG'S CAREER also features the splendid 'Theatre of Blood' with Vincent Price. She also worked with Christopher Lee in the Avengers tv series.in 'Never, Never Say Die' in 1967. Currently starring in the international hit tv series, Game of Thrones, Rigg is in no hurry to retire, and I think like Mrs Peel, she'll be 'socking it to us' for a while yet Happy Birthday Diana Rigg, born today in 1938.

ABOVE AN INTERESTING look on the chemistry of Cushing's BEREFORD and Rigg's MRS PEEL, in the 'Return of the Cybernauts' episode, HERE with GALLERY: RIGHT HERE!

ABOVE OUR FULL PCASUK REVIEW with GALLERY on the 'RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS' episode starring Peter Cushing when it FIRST appeared on DVD! CLICK HERE!

VINCENT PRICE AND CHRISTOPHER LEE BORN TODAY : BIRTHDAYS CELEBRATED!

TODAY we remember TWO gentlemen who were, as we all know, close friends to Peter Cushing. By a strange quirk of fate, they SHARED their birthday's today, on the 27th May. 😃 Christopher Lee and Vincent Price... Sadly, neither are no longer with us... Lee's passing was in June 2015. A sad loss even at his age...we just didn't want him to go. He was, Peter Cushing's closest friend . . celebrated and remembered here, almost as much as Peter. He had a career that stretched across almost every genre in the industry. His accomplishments were many, his skill as an actor even as he grew frail, never left him... and neither did we. Today, we mark his birthday and celebrate a remarkable career and life! Happy Birthday Christopher Lee!

A wonderful publicity photograph of both Peter Cushing and Vincent Price while recording the BBC radio serial 'ALIENS OF THE MIND' in 1977. Do you REMEMBER this radio series being broadcast?

SO, PETER YESTERDAY, Christopher Lee AND.... VINCENT PRICE today! Nothing I can say here that hasn't already been said about the versatile Vinnie... certainly a 'Man of the Arts', whose distinctive voice and excellent performances in fantasy films, made him a firm favourite for over 40 years! His career spanned other genres, including film noir, drama, mystery, thriller, and comedy. He appeared on stage, television, radio, and in over one hundred films.... a good friend of both Peter and Christopher, though only appeared on screen with them BOTH just the once, in 'The House of the Long Shadows' in 1983. He is still greatly missed, much and much celebrated, Vincent... a man and actor who could never be replaced... HAPPY BIRTHDAY Vincent Price!

PART ONE of an exclusive and rare gallery of on set and publicity photographs from the VINCENT PRICE and PETER CUSHING film, 'MADHOUSE' HERE!

 

 

THE BROTHER'S GRISBAINE Christopher Lee, Vincent Price and Peter Cushing, along with 'Father Figure' John Carradine in 'The House of the 

Long Shadows' (1984)

 

MARKING AND CELEBRATING THE ANNIVERSAY OF PETER CUSHING'S BIRTHDAY TODAY!

TODAY IS A VERY SPECIAL DAY... Peter Wilton Cushing was born today, May 26th 1913.... Please join us in celebrating, leaving your comments and sharing our posts, to mark this very special day and help us to . . . keep the memory alive! 

ABOVE Look out for the NEW clip of 'Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee: The Last Meeting' here at the website, the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page and the PCASUK YouTube Channel. . . 

ABOVE: OUR Peter Cushing Birthday Celebration Competition, will be shared here and at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page TODAY!

HERE AT THE WEBSITE and over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE we will be sharing some pretty special posts today, a BRAND NEW TEN minute clip of the last time Peter Cushing and and Christopher Lee met 1994, which I think you will love, and a competition to win five pairs of Hammer and Amicus films documentary dvd's... it's going to be a busy day, with more than our ONE standard daily post here at the website . . . all will continue into tomorrow and then into the shared birthday's of Christopher Lee and Vincent Price too . . so, let's begin, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER CUSHING!

BY THE WAY, TODAY is INTERNATIONAL DRACULA DAY! Missing Christopher Lee's BIRTHDAY tomorrow, by HOURS! I wonder, what he would have thought of THAT? 😉😃

THE PERSONAL SCRAPBOOKS OF CHRISTOPHER LEE

THREE DAYS AGO it was announced that, Lady Lee, Sir Christopher Lee’s widow, had donated her husband's photographic archive, to the BFI National Archive. The collection, is presented in THREE scrapbooks. Lee would have been 97 years young on 27th May 2019'. The scrapbooks are made up of photographic prints compiled by Sir Christopher Lee himself.

ON DONATING THESE ALBUMS, Lady Gitte Lee in a press statement has said, “It was a great joy and an honour for my husband when he was awarded the BFI Fellowship in recognition for his lifelong contribution to the industry. I am therefore delighted that the BFI are helping to preserve the heritage of his legacy, by bringing Christopher’s photographic archive into the BFI National Archive. I am immensely proud of my husband’s achievements. One of Britain’s best-loved actors, he was a man who entertained audiences worldwide for more than 60 years. It gives me great pleasure that his photos will be seen and appreciated for generations to come.”

WELL, AS WE HOPED, the scrapbooks just about covers Lee's entire film career. It's a photographic archive which includes many previously unseen on-set photographs and contact sheets, plus photographic portraits from many of his roles including Hammer films 'Dracula / Horror of Dracula'  (1958) and its sequels, also The Wicker Man (1973) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Some interesting choices are included, such as one of Lee's earliest film roles in the Ealing Studios classic, Scott of the Antarctic (1948), and ends, as one would expect, in the 2000s. It's an interesting Lee archive which manages to present a unique personal account of a prolific career, and also features  annotated musings, revealing his crisp, dry humour.

SO, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE? Well, it's three scrapbooks put together it seems in the early 1970s and annotated by Lee himself, all spanning the years from 1948-1972. ALBUM ONE covers Lee’s first decade and a half, as a jobbing actor. Here we see some of his earliest roles including the World War II drama They Were Not Divided (1950) and Captain Horatio Hornblower (1950) in which Lee played supporting parts, his annotation to They Were Not Divided quips “back to camera, as usual”. It's interesting to see, over a ten year period how he spent the time in his choices and casting opportunities, to enable him to hone his craft in supporting roles, before his breakthrough performance, as The Creature in Hammer Studios’ The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). It's no secret that, Lee at one time held the 'Guinness World Record' for the most on-screen sword fights! This album records an early and memorable example, with  Lee’s infamous sword fight with Errol Flynn in The Dark Avenger (1955). It was at this time, Flynn accidentally cut through Lee’s little finger! A story Lee loved to share! The album also includes a striking pair of portraits of Lee, where he is almost unrecognisable, during his screen test for John Huston’s Moby Dick (1956), a part that was ultimately played by another actor.

ALBUM TWO spans through the 1960s, and includes much of the horror and fantasy genre classics, such as his sequel to the successful 1958 Dracula film, Dracula Price of Darkness in 1965 and The Devil Rides Out (1967). It's also interesting to see Lee alongside other fellow horror legends, including Peter Cushing in Amicus films, The Skull in 1965, Vincent Price The Oblong Box, 1959 and Boris Karloff in The Curse of the Crimson Altar produced in 1968. Good to see Lee chatting and working on set, with Hammer director Terence Fisher during the making of The Gorgon in 1965. Included too are his appearances in two separate series of popular UK TV programme, The Avengers in 1967 and 1969 ALBUM THREE covers a much shorter period, from his role in Julius Caesar in 1970 to the low budget cult film Death Line, with Donald Pleasence in 1972. This scrapbook also has space to showcase some of the special make-up and make up artists like Wally Schneiderman and Pearl Tipaldi who were deployed in films such as The Scars of Dracula (1970) and includes many make up prep images with make up artist Harry Frampton from Amicus films, I, Monster (1971), a role that which Lee often described as ‘one of the best things I’ve ever done’. There are also a number of behind-the-scenes stills from Billy Wilder’s late masterpiece, and one of Lee’s favourite films, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1971).

LEE FELT TYPECAST for much of the period of time covered by these albums, but they nevertheless show his great versatility as an actor across a variety of characters, films and genres. So, it's interesting that alongside the iconic images showcased, he has chosen to include some quite surprising, often funny and interesting choices. Many of the photographs have never been published, so they are all the more special for being selected, arranged and annotated by Lee himself.

NATHALIE MORRIS, Senior Curator – Special Collections, BFI said, “We’re delighted to have been entrusted with this marvellous group of photographs which were collected and kept by Christopher Lee, one of the all-time cinema greats. These images wonderfully demonstrate Lee’s versatility and charisma as an actor, taking us on a journey from his early small parts through to his starring roles and then beyond, as directors sought him out for high profile supporting roles and cameos. The albums are fascinating for being assembled by Lee himself, especially as they also include his occasional, wryly-observed, comments. The BFI National Archive is incredibly grateful to Lady Lee for this generous donation.”

CHRISTOPHER LEE'S SCRAPBOOK collection will join other significant personal archive collections including those of Alfred Hitchcock, Alan Parker, David Lean, Ken Loach and Dirk Bogarde at the BFI National Archive John Paul Getty Jnr Conservation Centre in Berkhamsted, stored in optimal archival conditions. Once catalogued, the collection will be available to view by appointment, with selected material made accessible digitally through the BFI Reuben Library.

LONG LOST 70'S HORROR FILM FOUND AND DUE FOR RELEASE THIS SUMMER!

BREAKING NEWS........ Amazing NEWS! The long thought LOST 1970's film 'The Naked Eye' starring both #PeterCushing and #VincentPrice, is due for release this summer. The Naked Eye, which was found last year, in the private collection of film producer the late, Linton Buttzoctsky, was never released owing to various production problems while shooting the film. One particular set of problems, almost brought the film to a stand still, when on location filming a banquet and dance sequence. Items of props and costumes connected to both Cushing and Price roles were lost. During a banquet scene, where Price's role of master chef Egbert Nosh, revealed his main dish, with a large roasted chicken, the unveiled cooked bird on the plateau was obviously an ostrich! It was later revealed, the actual featured chicken dish, had been mistakenly eaten by an extra. While filming a grand dance sequence, Cushing's dance shoes could not be found or even a pair that actually fitted him. As a compromise, his dance routine with actress, #IngridPitt was almost all shot in close up. Despite this, Cushing could be seen to be waltzing in wellington boots in some long shots of the ballroom. The news of the release is expected to prompt much interest among fans and film critics alike. We'll keep you posted 😉 -Marcus Brooks

#lostfilmfound #petercushing #vincentprice #aprilfool #horrorfilm #lostandfound

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MADNESS! HP LOVECRAFT : WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN AND VINCENT AND PETER ON THE SET OF A MADNESS THAT CERTAINLY WAS!

HERE IS SOMETHING THAT COULD HAVE BEEN. But sadly wasn't. After Hammer films went under and was then restarted and rebooted by the late ROY SKEGGS, the opportunity was there for some to take a first look at the many films and projects that the studio had one time considered for production. Many of these also had Peter Cushing in mind, in the casting along with Christopher Lee. The majority sank even before the ink was dry on the note paper or on Tom Chantrell's poster! The above poster, is a but a 'wouldn't it have been great if..' piece if artwork, we often see here at PCAS. Many are emailed or offered up for posting. Sometimes the idea is better than the artwork, but often, as in this case, the artist has a great skill and has also, come up with a concept, were we back in 1966, Sir James Carrerars would have been all too happy to have added it to his pile of posters and concepts for his backers and to have asked, 'How would like to have a slice of our NEXT production?' 

OFTEN IT IS difficult to connect the artwork be it for funding OR even the theatrical release poster tothe film was devised for. Can YOU connect the artwork with the THREE films these were created for?

AS WE ARE NOW all aware these days, that was exactly how the Carreras formula Carrerars and how often Hammer  budgets were built. Usually, nothing of a script, just three lines typed on a piece of paper, a VERY interesting poster and Sir James doing the sell. Which of course, he was very skilled and sucessful at doing. One can only guess how Cushing would have played his role, how Lee if the money was right would have nailed it, I am sure Pleasence would have been very happy to join in, a lover of Lovecraft and like Lee had already worked with Cushing in quite a few other productions. The opinion at the FACEBOOK PCAS FAN PAGE has been interesting. Some believing we were doing an EARLY April Fool post! Some holding out hope that, this could have been promising, even though films of Lovecraft's work, in the past, had been disppointing, with low budgets and little if any real connection to the orignal plot of the book, it was said to have been based on. Still, the drama and concept creation devised in this poster by WKDart, does give us all, the opportunity to dream on and think . . . 

YOU SEE A VERSION of this behind the scenes photograph very often around the net, but here is a slightly different shot of Peter and Vincent Price during the making of MADHOUSE, being interviewed for BBC programme Film 73 . .

NOT INCLUDING the silk around Peter's neck, can you spot the subtle difference in Peter's appearance, to how he looks in the film? Come tell us at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE!