CHARLES AND DIANA : A ROYAL LOVE STORY : CHRISTOPHER LEE AS THE DUKE!?

#CHRISTOPHERLEESaturday! . . It's our weekly dip into rare images and quotes from Peter Cushing's long time friend and often dueling partner on the BIG SCREEN, acting legend, Christopher Lee. I guess Lee had a very good point here? His appearance in the dreadful then, dreadful AND dated now tv movie of 'Charles and Diana : A REAL Love Story' was all part of a lean time for Lee. There were several projects and films he committed to, while waiting, unknown to him, for the arrival of his participation in two juggernaut movie franchise, that would favourably reboot his career once again! Over at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE, we have asked the question, 'What would you say is maybe the strangest role Christopher Lee played for either film or television??' There are some very interesting answers...

THERE'S NO DOUBT about it. Those words  Do  look very odd on the screen! The film was released for a short time in the US on  home cinema, but it wasn't long before that vanished . . !

FROM WEREWOLVES AND GIBLETS TO SOFT TOY AND PIGLET!

PETER CUSHING takes a break on set from playing Dr Christopher Lungren in Amicus films 'The Beast Must Die' (1974) An alternate version of the film was released under the 'interesting' title of, 'Black Werewolf'. For some weird reason this cut, edits and omits the wonderful "werewolf break" near the climax! now where is the fun in that????

HERE IS THE PCAS feature and gallery on Peter Cushing and Amicus films, 'THE BEAST MUST DIE' LOTS of interesting and rare pics! Have fun! 

FROM WEREWOLVES, TO PIGS! . On the LEFT is a soft toy and comfort to Peter Cushing from a very early age. He loved it all his life and throughout his entire life, it was always near his bed. On the RIGHT, Peter Cushing on the beach, in his woolen swim suit aged seven. He loved swimming all his life...and as an adult, would take daily early morning dips in the sea, which was virtually outside his front door at Seasalter, Whitstable.

AT THE FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE, many have asked WHERE IS PIGLET NOW? When Peter died, all of his personal things, his vast collections of books, model theatre's, war game figures, stamps, postcards...so many things, became part of the estate that became the property of Joyce and Bernard Broughton... the people who looked after Peter in the last ten years of his life...and the people who gave permission for the CGI Rogue One Tarkin, to become a reality. Joyce had been Peter's personal secretary, assistant and friend, since 1957. Most of Peter's belongings and collections were auctioned, not only for fans to own a special piece of something, but also to meet the demand of a huge 'death tax' demand. However, somethings Joyce kept or passed onto the display at the Whitstable Museum... and that is where 'Piglet' now lives! In a glass case, along with other personal Cushing items

THIS WEEK : A HAUNTING AND A WEREWOLF: LAST WEEK: THE HELEN HAYES WIG AND TOUGHY ANSWERS

HERE IS THIS WEEKS TUESDAY TOUGHY! SUSSEX, PETER CUSHING A HAUNTING A WEREWOLF AND A CASTLE? WHAT IS THE CONNECTION? Here is a clue: All FIVE things point to a past Peter Cushing project.  FIND the title of that past project, and you have nailed it!

ANSWERS to last week's TUESDAY TOUGHY: 1: The film Christopher Lee was helping to promote was 'Funny Man' 2: Peter Cushing is playing Count Gerard De Merret in the TV adaption of Balzac's 'La Grande Breteche', in Orson Welles Great Mysteries in 1973. 3: The country that linked these questions was FRANCE

THE APPEARANCES OF THE WIG! You have to have a keen idea, know the costumes or good memory of press photographs from the films, but here are the THREE appearances of the hair piece that Peter Cushing called, 'The Helen Hayes Wig'. I don't think the cinema going public and those who watched Orson Welles Great Mysteries took too much notice at the time, when the wig appeared, but ceratinly since voices and opinions can be heard on the net, the vote on the wig, is quite negative. It's interest to note that, even though Cushing made a joke about the wig, the choice of using the hair piece was actually Peter's!!

RAISING HAIR PROBLEMS! MORE on DRACULA'S HAIR and MANY OTHERS in our FEATURE at the website : HERE!

MANY OF YOU chose Amicus films, 'And Now, the Screaming Starts' or 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell', where Peter wore that same wig! The costume, is the giveaway. Well done to everyone who had a go!  Most got Funny Man, but the wig threw most of you . . 

HOW LONG HAD RAAN BEEN RUNNING? TAKE THE CHALLENGE BUT DO YOU HAVE THE ANSWER?

ABOVE THIS WEEKS TUESDAY TOUGHY! Not too difficult for anyone who loves that show and remembers the episode or who has read our features, at the website! This post is ALSO being shared on our FACEBOOK PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY FAN PAGE so feel free to chat and contribute to others comments and answers to this weeks and LAST WEEK'S Toughy Question . .

BELOW LAST WEEKS TOUGHY QUESTION AND THE ANSWER!

BELOW THE ANSWER TO LAST WEEKS TUESDAY TOUGHY!

YOU CAN JOIN IN WITH ALL THE COMMENTS AND OPINIONS THAT ACCOMPANY THIS POST AND ALL OUR OTHERS, AT OUR Facebook Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Fan Page! ALL OUR POSTS ARE POSTED AT BOTH SITES AT THE SAME TIME! SO EVERYONE HAS A CHANCE TO ENJOY AND JOIN IN!

WHAT WAS THE PET NAME PC GAVE TO HIS TOUPEE?

#THROWBACKTHURSDAY Here is a rare colour photograph, I though I would share with you today, something I thought you would like to see😀 I love this photograph of Peter, just resting and a rare sight seeing him wearing that kind of hat! I would think by this time, he saw little point in wearing his toupee, that he would usually have on stand by, for any public appearance. Cushing actually had a PET name for the hair piece he wore in the 1980's 😀 . . .Can you tell us, what that NAME was? Post YOUR suggestion in the comment box below!

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#MONSTERMONDAY: THE BLOODY COUNT IN THE CHATEAU WITH GIFS!

#MONSTERMONDAY: Requested By Tel Morrison, UK. David Peel as Baron Meinster... he comes in for a lot of stick, but I think he did very well. Peel really is acting his 'socks-off' here! A very gentle man, older that his casting, was met by his appearance on screen, with cries of 'But...he's NOT Dracula' and 'It Says DRACULA on the poster outside!!' Soul destroying, I would think. He wore lifts because his height was deemed not tall enough for the role (Tell me about it!) and a page boy blonde wig.... to give that look of innocence. All the more frightening, when he changes into the raging vampire beast, that the BARON really was.... I think he did a great job....

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#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY : PIZZA SAUSAGE MEAT AND PIECES EFFRONTES FEMININE!

#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: BEHIND YOOOOU!! Next time you happen to be tucking into your Barbacoa Romana nice and cripsy crust at Whitstable's Pizza Express, take a look at the wall behind you...!

 

#FRANKENSTEINFRIDAY: WHEN MICHAEL GWYNN (above) in Hammer films, 'The Revenge of Frankenstein' (1958) played the disfigured Karl, most of the character's frightening characteristics, the twisting and contorting features, the crooked legs and stance, by contorting his own body. Even though in the original make up tests carried out by Phil Leakey, then plan was for him to have a disfigured nose, a rough wig and .....a right cheek, of what looked like raw sausage meat! After Christopher Lee's appearance in 'The Curse of Frankenstein' which, in Lee's own words, 'looked like a car crash'...with everything bar the kitchen sink thrown in, Gwynn's no nonsense scare scowl was a refreshing and convincing change.

 

AND ON THE SUBJECT of The Revenge of Frankenstein make up, on the left, Peter Cushing in a make up continuity reference photograph, revealing the bruises, cuts and breakages from the Baron's mega duffing from the hospital patients...now, there's gratitude for you! While on the right, even though Eunice Grayson doesn't perhaps receive the same acknowledgement and exposure, as other Hammer Frankenstein actresses, in this rare early publicity. . .  she's not too shy of exposing, some of her 'pieces effrontes feminines'! That surely would have got Frankenstein in a flap!

Marcus Brooks

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#ONSETSATURDAY ANNOTATED SCRIPT AND THAT WIG!

#‎onasetsaturday‬ : HERE'S A PAGE from Peter Cushing personal script for Amicus films, 'And Now The Screaming Starts' lots of notations from Peter in his own hand. Much here about his attention to detail concerning the costume, the boots and... that wig. Despite in later years, he support the opinion that the wig made him 'look like Helen Hayes'...it was at Peter's own request that the wig should be used and that he should wear it..'

PETER CUSHING'S own frame of reference to the wig he wore in 'And Now, The Screaming Starts', 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' and as Count Gerard De Merret in LA GRANDE BRETECHE, an episode of Anglia Television's popular series 'Orson Welles Great Mysteries' in 1973.

IN HIS NOTES above he has made reminder to make up and hair that, the 'back of wig should be round neck line' and '..full at sides, not flat on top'. The notes cover everything from the appearance of the boots or plimsolls, the colour of the trousers, his watch chain and gun... all researched, spot on and accurate for the period of the film... which uncharacteristically Cushing gives himself a little leeway with 1790...ISH!

Interestingly... a flick through our scrapbooks shows that Peter's association with this style of wig started way before 1973... it's first appearance turns up in this a very rare vintage Radio Times clipping from the BBC's BEAU BRUMMELL play, broadcast on 14th and 18th March 1954 with Peter as George Bryan Brummell...

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THE BEST OF PETER CUSHING WITH ERIC AND ERNIE STARTING AT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

A quick look at the PETER CUSHING APPRECIATION SOCIETY YOUTUBE CHANNEL will reveal a bit of an overhaul. All clips now have relevant custom thumbnails and descriptions, making clips easier to find. Interviews, trailers, vinatge clips, documentaries and promos, lots to see. We've also gathered clips into themes and play-lists. We are currently compling a selection of clips and segments of Peter Cushing many appearnces on the MORECAMBE AND WISE SHOWS. I've assembled a small  selection of GIFS taken form the clips on offer for your viewing so far. The quest of Peter Cushing's desparate struggle to get his £5 appearance fee, from his first guest appearance on the show, was one of the duo's longest running jokes from 1971 until it's very satisfying climax in Eric and Ernie's Christmas Show of 1980. When the comic pair jumped allegiance from the contract with the BBC to the independent TV station, ITV they took their material AND the running joke with them!

Over the next few weeks we'll be adding more clips and gifs. Plus there's an extensive feature on the ins and outs of Peter Cushing's time with one of the best loved comedy partnerships in British Light Entertainment coming up here soon....

ALL CLIPS TO BE FOUND AT OUR PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW!