PORTRAIT OF SUCCESS IN 1953 : BARRY WARREN : HENRY OSCAR AND #ERICPORTMAN REMEMBERED

A BEAUTIFUL portrait, shared at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page of #PeterCushing from 1953, just one year away from his groundbreaking performance as Winston Smith in the #BBC live broadcast of '1984', a performance that would dramatically and ultimately change his life and career. 

 

THAT IS NOT TO SAY, by 1953 Cushing was twiddling his thumbs or out of work. By this point he was winding down a whole lengthy CV of theatre productions and now stepping into the public's living rooms with almost weekly appearances in BBC live plays, radio drama and interviews. 

 

HIS CINEMA PERFORMANCES would certainly change direction after the 1957, first #Hammer film 'The Curse of Frankenstein' released in May of 1957. How interesting, even in this portrait at that time, Cushing still manges to look like the actor, he wanted to project to his public. No cliche chin on hand pose, shirt and tie with suit.. No even in 1953, he IS an actor, and 100% presents, an artist! 😊

 

This portrait can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery, London

 

 

SOME GREAT AND VERY INTERESTING comments, prompted by the above still and following question at the Facebook PCASUK Fan Page. QUESTION: Did Peter Cushing EVER again, look smarter in costume and performance than in #Hammerfilms 'Frankenstein Created Woman' (1967)? Easily my second fav Cushing Frankenstein movie... after 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' for sure! What is your second fav and why? Please feel free to go along and add your thoughts and opinions at the page . .  

 

BARRY WARREN is one of two actors, who worked with Peter are remembered over the PCASUK Facebook Fan Page, over the past few days. 'TODAY we remembering the BIRTHDAY of UK actor BARRY WARREN, born today in 1933. Trained at RADA, graduating in 1955, Warren was a handsome very competent supporting actor in several theatre productions, and spent the majority of his career on UK tv screens. 'The Wednesday Play' 'Play of the Month', two characters in the Brit TV classic 'The Avengers in 1966 and and 68.  

 

AROUND 1975, he vanished completely and continued his life... in a completely different role and gender. WE know him best probably for his work with Hammer Films and the excellent role he played with Peter Cushing in 'Frankenstein Created Woman as Karl in 67.

 

WARREN ALSO worked with Christopher Lee as Manuel in 'The Devil Ship Pirate's' in 64 and probably his best role for #HammerFILMS as creepy Carl Ravna in 'The Kiss of the Vampire' in 1963. Today we remember Warren and the edge he brought to those 'bad cads' in 'Created Woman' the haunted Ravna in '#KissoftheVampire' and lets not forget his softer side even against the ranks of Lee's Captain Robeles authority! all very sound roles and performances in three classic Hammer films! Happy Birthday and thank you, Barry . . .

 

REMEMBERING Actor Eric Portman, who was born today 13th July 1901 in West #Halifax, Yorkshire, UK. He was so convincing and extremely good at playing 'in the cinema audiences perception' mean and calculating German spies, that many believed he actually was German, or at least #Austrian.

 

ABOVE: Eric Portman with Peter Cushing in The Man Who Finally Died (1962)  

 

ABOVE:  Press Still for one of Peter's, until now, rarely seen films 'The Man Who Finally Died' (1963) starring Stanley Baker,Mai Zetterling, Eric Portman and Nigel Green.

 

ERIC HAD A VERY DISTINGUISHED CAREER on stage and in many much admired and respected British films. Among his many film credits are “49th Parallel”, 'One of Our Aircraft Is Missing' , “Daybreak” and “Millions Like Us”. Eric only appeared in one film from #Hollywood, “The Prince and the Pauper” in 1937.

 

ABOVE: 'The Man Who Finally Died' was based on the book of the same name written by John Burke

 

ABOVE: Peter Cushing also worked on the 49th Parallel which starred Eric Portman 

 

PORTMAN APPEARED in an absolute gem of a 1963 Peter Cushing film, entitled 'The Man Who Finally Died'. For what sounds something like, associated with one of PC's many fantasy genre films, this one is nothing of the sort. A tight, dramatic and often very suspenseful thriller, starring Stanley Baker, Georgina Ward, Nigel Green, Niall MacGinnis and Mai Zetterling, and directed by Quentin (#CashOnDemand) . . .it's a film that in recent years emerged on dvd and if it's £5 or £25, you'll find much worth every penny. It keeps you guessing and all cast are on their toes, with Porter, Baker and Cushing working together so well. Eric Porter sadly died in Cornwall in 1969. 

I FIND IT CURIOUS  and quite sad that today, so little is known about Eric Portman’s work as he appeared in many major British films of the Gaumont era, and many with some of our best directors. Happy Birthday Eric Portman, never dull, always entertaining

 

HERE IS AN ACTOR with a name, that probably most of us would have forgotten, but certainly we know his face. Today marks the birthday of the late HENRY OSCAR or Henry Wale as some would have known him, back in the day.
 

OSCAR changed his name and began acting in 1911, having studied under Elsie Fogerty at the #CentralSchoolofSpeechandDrama.

 

 

ABOVE: Henry Oscar, with Peter Cushing, Miles Malleson, Yvonne Monlaur and Mona Washbourne in Hammer's Brides Of Dracula (1960)

 

ON FILM he played professional characters, dentist for #Hitchcock, school teachers, doctors, bank mangers, all usually stiff, authoritative and at times pompous, this was probably why Terence Fisher cast him as Herr Lang, head of the charming 'School for Young Ladies' in Hammer films 'The Brides of Dracula' in 1960. Again, pompous, his ego is deflated when Peter Cushing flashes his 'Dr Van Helsing' 'calling card'! It's a lovely scene. Oscar was to work with Cushing again on November 4th 1968, in episode 9 'Thor Bridge' of Cushing's BBC 'Sherlock Holmes' television series, as Bates.

 

ABOVE: Henry Oscar in ITV drama 'Rough Justice' in 1962 .

 

SADLY, THIS EPISODE was wiped in the great BBC 'spring clean', so we have no idea or images just how that looked. But my guess is, just like in 'Brides' both Cushing and Oscar, would have squeezed and presented quite a show!  

 

OSCAR ALSO APPEARED in a wide range of films, Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The Four Feathers (1939), Hatter's Castle (1942), Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), Beau Brummell (1954), The Little Hut (1957), #OscarWilde (1960), #LawrenceofArabia (1962), The Long Ships (1963) and Murder Ahoy! (1964).

 

 

TODAY, Henry Oscar isn't forgotten. Please join us in remembering and celebrating a Very Happy Birthday to Henry Oscar today!

 

YOU ARE MOST WELCOME TO JOIN US and over 34,000 others Peter Cushing followers at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! With posts every day, rare images and photographs, features and prize competitions.. all celebrating the LIFE and CAREER of Peter Cushing  OBE  

PETER CUSHING : BEFORE FRANKENSTEIN'S CREATURE THERE WAS ANOTHER CREATURE!

FROM 1950 UNTIL 1957, PETER CUSHING'S work with BBC Television was very prolific.  Some twenty five or more television plays and radio dramasappearance in the legendary BBC television production of '1984', he set foot in another BBC play by Nigel Kneale that was also directed by 1984 director, Rudolph Cartier. The Kneale / Cartier relationship is probably best known for also originating the three Quatermass serials of the 1950s with the BBC, but there was another. Two years before Cushing appeared in a television play created by the same team, and should be seen as Cushing FIRST step into the realm of supernatural and frightening creatures, BEFORE the famous Hammer films, 'The Curse of Frankenstein' where Cushing would play the titled Baron in 1957. This lesser-known production was 'The Creature' from early 1955. It's primary reason for slipping out of the 'list' for most filmographies and horror genre books and neglect, is probably because the no recording exists of the play or broadcast, except for a handful of black and white photographs and a page of the BBC listings magazine, The Radio Times.! It was wiped, dumped and hit the skip along with thousands of other recordings during the BBC 'erase and/or dump' choice. So, unlike the BBC 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' which only survives by just one recording from it's second live broadcast and most of the episodes of the 'Quatermass' serials, it is no longer available to view.

THE FIRST THING TO REMEMBER IS, the early period of Cushing's career with the BBC, not ALL his work or shows was actually recorded. Many were broadcast live and very much like a theatre production of the time, it was a live only seen at that time live on television, with only it's viewers and crew at the studio watching... Peter Cushing's 1952 'Pride and Prejudice' and the 1954 'Beau Brummell' are good examples of this . .

OF THOSE THAT WERE RECORDED, they were part of a process that hung on the fate of many of those BBC television broadcasts.They were recorded with the prospect of MAYBE being added to some of the BBC output that could be sold, or rebroadcast overseas. A live recording may also have addition scenes like model work, location scenes that were recorded, edited to be cued and played live during the actual live broadcast. 

 

The Radio Times Write Up for the episode from April 28th 1964

"NEW YORK some 200 years from now: a city of 14-million people living in one vast domed hall, looking on the open countryside as dangerous territory.  Beyond is Spacetown, where the scientists from other worlds who have subjugated Earth study the human species in the hope of saving it from self-extinction.  When one of their scientists is found murdered, the 'Spacers' issue an ultimatum.  Unless the killer is found within forty-eight hours, New York may be destroyed.  The city's Deputy Commissioner of Police, Elijah Baley, has the task of solving the case, with the aid of a detective from Space Town, named R. Daneel Olivaw.  The 'R' stands for Robot. Dramatised by Terry Nation from the novel by Isaac Asimov, The Caves of Steel is science fiction at its most intriguing.  Directed by Peter Sasdy, the play stars Peter Cushing as Elijah Baley.  Several times winner of television 'best actor' awards, he is thoroughly at home in the realm of fantasy, having starred in such films as The Flesh and the Fiend, The Mummy, and The Evil of Frankenstein. Commissioner Enderby is played by Kenneth J. Warren, who appeared recently in the comedy thriller Justin Thyme; while John Carson, whom many viewers will have seen earlier this year in Murder in the Cathedral, has the part of R. Daneel Olivaw." 

 

IT IS IRONIC THAT at the time when the story of 'what had happened to much of the BBC out put over a 30 year period, broke to the public' it was input pre-recorded shots and scenes as maybe 30 second or more sequences that had survived.. without the whole production to now support it!

 

PETER CUSHING'S 'The Caves of Steel', is a very good example of this, 'THERE ARE ONLY BITS' nightmare. Unfortunately BBC film prints of 'The Caves of Steel' have long since been junked during the the first "purge" in the 1970's, and no copy of the whole play exists in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library. But at least four extracts have fortunately survived however, having been utilised in later editions of Horizon, Tomorrows World and a BBC Visual Effects Department promotional show reel from the early seventies. In seeing the clips, it makes the whole experience, frustrating and sad.

 

ALONG WITH MANY TITLES from Peter Cushing's substantial play and drama television work for the BBC during the 1950's and 60's, Nigel Kneal's 'THE CREATURE' is one that really makes you question the criteria, of the people who choose which titles got the skip treatment. Opinions are divided, as to if this broadcast was actually recorded, but as it was directed by Rudolph Cartier, of the BBC Cushing '1984' fame, and had numerous BBC credits including both series of the 'Quatermass' drama's to his credit. The episode also featured pre-recorded clips of land and snow scapes, and named cast member STANLEY BAKER, who even though was eight years away from his big screen hit, 'ZULU', like Cushing  was a tv drama regular and had seven BBC Sunday-Night Theatre episode credits.

 

THIS EPISODE ALSO ATTRACTED the attention of Hammer films too, who could see the box office potential, in the script and three of cast, who held the structure of the company's box office hit, 'The Abominable Snowman' made just over a year later! The BBC unfortunately, didn't think it had the merit to either maybe record OR if they did, the shelf space was more valuable... 

 

TODAY, EVERY FEW MONTHS, the cry goes out when someone makes the claim to have found a long thought lost recording of a 1950's or 60's comedy or drama or Doctor Who clip in a mouldy box, inside a long shut down annex of what was once a UK army or navy base in Europe, India or Canada! Thankfully, also tapes are turning up or rather, being surrendered, from 'collections' of chaps who were once keen BBC technicians, camera operators or editors, who thankfully back in the day, saw what was happening to their treasured efforts, thanks to the directives of suited pen-pushers and penny pinching executives and whipped the gems away, rather than wipe! 

 

IT REMINDS US MAYBE, of the almost psychic theories and writing of once BBC writer, Douglas Adams, and his frightening visions of future red tape and bureaucracy gone crackers in his 'Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy'. What Adams didn't tell us was, that most of it had already happened, in the BBC office... next to him!

 

#MarcusBrooks

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YOU ARE MOST WELCOME TO JOIN US and over 33,000 others Peter Cushing followers at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE! With posts every day, rare images and photographs, features ad prize competitions.. all celebrating the LIFE and CAREER of Peter Cushing OBE

TELEVISIONS FIRST MR DARCY : BRIAN COX AND ROBERT POWELL : SIR JOHN MILLS AND CUSHING LAST SHERLOCK ADVENTURE

WAY BEFORE Colin Firth or Matthew Macfadyen got gals and ladies hearts a fluttering with their portrayal of Mr Darcy in Jane Austin's 'Pride and Prejudice' on film, #PeterCushing was gracing homes and living rooms of UK families, on their newly purchased cathode-ray tubed TV set, with every intention of going over the heads of hubby and grandad's ... making his wanted targets faint and call for the smelling salts with two #BBC drama productions!

IN 1952 CUSHING was well on his way to making BBC drama on tv and radio his domain. The chillers of his BBC Orwell's '#1984' and Nigel Kneale's 'The Creature' would have to wait a few weeks... right now he wasn't interested in STAKING hearts, his was really making them throb and pound with affection, passion and much interest! Cushing was television's FIRST Mr Darcy and he followed it just two years later with his portrayal of Beau Brummell... what a heat throb!

 

 

 

OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS we have marked and celebrated.. oh and forgotten to post, TWO great actors BIRTHDAYS! First, actor BRIAN COX, who as most of us know here, starred with Peter Cushing in the Hammer House of Horror TV series episode, SILENT SCREAM in 1980. We said, 'An extremely reputable actor with an outstanding CV and who has never stopped working since he started in the mid 1960's. Some amazing characters in movies and recently the role of Churchill in a very entertaining drama..... Manhunter is a firm favorite with many, with Cox playing Dr. Hannibal Lecktor in 1986 . . . maybe a firm fav with you?' Many of you did! This was a very popular post and several of you mentioned a recent interview were Cox shared his thoughts of working with Peter in 'Silent Scream' and had only very god things to say! So, it was Happy Birthday Brian Cox..

THEN ON JUNE SECOND, I did the unthinkable... thankfully just this once. I with my aged memory, forgot to share a banner i had made just a few days before, for marking actor Robert Powell's birthday! 😖 So with apologies here it is below and was posted with the following text along with a shared memory of my own.. I was surprised I could remember this, even if i couldn't remember what i had prepared just a few days ago! 😐 

“I never cease to say and I repeat it to the world since 1977. I am not Jesus Christ, I am just an actor and British comedian” - Robert Powell.

.. A BELATED #HAPPYBIRTHDAY! to actor #RobertPowell who was born on the 1st June 1944! I missed it! Powell is best known for the title roles in 'Mahler' (1974) and 'Jesus of Nazareth' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent in Richard Hannay in 'The Thirty Nine Steps' and its subsequent spin-off television series. For us, we recall his performance in one of the very ace AMICUS films of the 70's 'Asylum' his 'innocent' Dr. Martin! He had some superb scenes with both actors Geoffrey Bayldon and #HerbertLom.
 

 

'A few years ago at a press Q and A for a film Powell was appearing in and the press meet he was also attending, I over heard a stuffy reporter behind me say to his friend, 'I don't know why he always says that about telling people he was only PLAYING Jesus, it's like he thinks he as the only one who has! You never heard Graham Chapman say that!' Where I had to turn around and tell him..'That's because Powell played Jesus Christ... Chapman played Brian!!' ...... - Marcus

 

 

 

'ASYLUM' is one of the many portmanteau films that Amicus did so well. #PeterCushing played the 'suspect' Mr Smith in the 'The Weird Tailor' story along with Barry Morse, written by #RobertBloch and directed by Roy Ward Baker. Without giving any spoilers, Powell had the perfect face and demeanour for the role, where you just couldn't help but want to shout, 'BEHIND YOU!' Listen out for many voice overs from Powell on UK tv advertisements and documentaries, he has a gift for it! Please join us wishing a 'belated' Happy Birthday to #RobertPowell, our birthday wishes / card is not in the post, but right here 😊

BACK IN 1980, plans had announced for Peter Cushing to appear as Sherlock Holmes in a project that would see Holmes being encouraged out of retirement by Watson, for one last case. This project would eventually emerge in 1984 as Tyburn films 'The Masks of Death', a film for UK's TV Channel Four directed by Roy ward Baker. Roy described the film as 'a film made by Holmes enthusiast, for Holmes enthusiasts!' Cushing played an elderly but still spry Sherlock with John Mills as Dr Watson and Anne Baxter as Irene Alder. The production started rolling on July 21st 1984, a full four years after Cushing had signed on the line and after Cushing had been diagnosed and fought off prostate cancer

CUSHING PLAYED SHERLOCK with quite some punch and moxie! He would be around for another ten years.. and some of his best private and public days were yet to come 😊 There was plans for another Cushing Holmes film 'The Abbot's Cry' and another film based on the career of an actor much like Cushing... but PC decided it was time to hang up the deerstalker and all the other hats and give his last bow. In this post at the How do you think he would have worked out in that second and last Sherlock 'The Abbot's Cry' based on his performance in 'Masks of Death'? He was to have appeared in an episode of Jeremy Brett's Granada Holmes series 'The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes: The Last Vampyre' too! Even though he didn't think he could do Abbots Cry, would you have liked to have see him try?

YOU MAY REMEMBER I did a gallery of the amazing artwork of #DarylJoyce back in 2017 HERE and at the FACEBOOK PCASUK FAN PAGE? Well there's more! Here is a selection of some of his latest amazing Hammer film #PeterCushing #Frankenstein work! 

SOME YOU MAY have seen previously, but they have now been fashioned to carry tittles and casts, just like a cinema or press poster! I think 'Created Woman' and 'Destroyed' are my favs. Do you have a fav? Oh many thanks to good friend, Johnny Thunders Martin for suggesting this post and providing the details 😉😀 - Marcus