Tuesday, 7 June 2016

CHRISTOPHER LEE : ONE YEAR ON . . .


SO HERE WE ARE . .  It's been a whole year since the day we woke, to the terrible sad news that, the last remaining figure head of a 'Golden Age', had left us. The towering talent that was, Christopher Lee had gone.


FOR WEEKS afterwards, tributes, television specials and features filled the media, and for many it was sudden realisation, like looking from the top of a mountain, and seeing this vast spread, a different coloured landscape... THE huge and prolific career, of Christopher Lee!




OVER THE DAYS, fans revisited films, youtube clips, watched reruns of his movies on tv, posted stories on facebook of meeting him, autographs collected were shared, other actors, friends and people within the industry shared their stories too. WE posted photographs and banners, interviews and long lost tv appearances, but it was still hard weeks later, come Christmas..and no video festive message!


I HAVE A GROUP OF FREINDS who aren't 'into' the genre and some of the films, we celebrate here, but they too found themselves, 'digging out' and watching not just the Lee classics, but his lesser known tv work too, in an attempt to find out for themselves, 'what WAS the allure of this actor?'....some were pleasantly surprised!




AND THAT IS WHERE we are today. I would loved to hear, if you have 'gone digging' too? Have you over the last year revisited some Christopher Lee favourites..OR have you strayed further a field and discovered something you knew nothing about too, a film he appeared in you hadn't seen before and enjoyed??? I'd LOVE to know. He may not be physically with us now, but there will always be a thread, a post, a banner, a clip...always time to celebrate, the one and only... never to be replaced, Christopher Lee...right here!


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VAN HELSING TERROR TALES : CLASSIC ART: BEST OF THE BUNCH


THE VAN HELSING TERROR TALES were a regular feature in comic strip form that appeared in the popular UK magazine 'The House Of Hammer' during the mid 1970's. Here we have gathered four of the best drawings of the host character mostly drawn by artist Brian Lewis… Which drawing gets your vote?



MORE Van Helsing ARTWORK: Basil Gogo's cover 
art for Famous Monsters

THE TRIALS OF VAN HELSING: PART ONE : HERE

#MONSTERMONDAY: CHILL OUT! HE'S NOT A MONSTER REALLY! THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN


#‎MONSTERMONDAY‬: THIS WEEK, we are presenting a character from a Cushing film, that doesn't really deserve the hype of the movie poster or the reputation that this 'misunderstood' creature has gained. All I can say is, watch the movie! See for yourself, frightening to look at, yes... but the 'Snowman' is a wise creature...surely more wiser than the name we have given him...snow 'MAN'.




IN HAMMER FILMS 1959, 'The Abominable Snowman' Peter Cushing plays Dr John Rollason. He reprised Rollason having played the good doctor in the BBC drama of the same story, written by Nigel Kneale, entitled 'The Creature' in 1955. At this point in his career, Peter Cushing was best known as a television actor, having starred in the BBC productions of Pride and Prejudice (1952) and Beau Brummell (1954) ....as well as the Kneale production of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', directed by Rudolph Cartier.


Here's a rare snap of Peter in the BBC drama 'The Creature' from 1955, with Brit actor Stanley Baker in the Tom Friend role, that would be played by Forrest Tucker in the Hammer version. . .


'SNOWMAN' was his second picture for Hammer films productions, the first had been 'The Curse of Frankenstein' directed by Terence Fisher and co starring Christopher Lee in 1957, it was the film that set the mold and would bring him international fame.



RECALLING how the cast and crew on 'Snowman' were entertained by Cushing's improvisation with props, director Val Guest said, “We used to call him 'Props Cushing', because he was forever coming out with props. When he was examining the Yeti tooth, he was pulling these things out totally unrehearsed and we found it very difficult keeping quiet” If you have yet to 'CATCH' The Abominable Snowman, you're in for a treat!


FEATURE AND FULL GALLERY HERE AT THE WEBSITE: CLICK HERE
 

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Sunday, 5 June 2016

GIFS GALLERY: WE'VE HIT ANOTHER MILESTONE OVER AT FACEBOOK


THIS IS AMAZING! A HUGE thank you to everyone who visits and supports this Facebook Fan Page and who has joined us in the last SEVEN DAYS, since we announced reaching TWENTY TWO thousand followers!


THE PETER CUSHING Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page now has Over 23 THOUSAND Friends and Followers! This, I hope you realise, has only been archived with your fantastic support, your likes, shares. The total was hit BEFORE my chat with Nick Digilio on WGN RADIO in the USA, yesterday. You may have spotted the change in the total, like I did on Wednesday. I thought there was a bug or a glitch in the facebook system...so we waited, to see if it changed. But no, it racked up 22 thousand last Wednesday, and THIS Wednesday this NEW total was reached. It's still climbing!


I GUESS THIS PROVES what we have always known... it isn't really a question of Peter Cushing's assured place in cinema history, this proof of his relevance... TODAY! You prove that, and not just here.... I'll leave you with this though... A tool I use to assist with managing the website and this page, is an 'ALERT' option on my google mail. So, if any news, feature or mention of Peter Cushing is made on the net, I get a notification in my mail, to let me know. Let me just say, SIX out SEVEN days, there are ALWAYS fifty to sixty notifications...in the morning! That is filled up again with NEW notifications after lunch! AS Peter said about Helen when she passed, 'She hasn't GONE anywhere, she is HERE!' I have to agree, Peter Cushing is very much alive and kicking...and not just here either!




COME AND BE  PART of the Society! The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society
Facebook Fan Page on FACEBOOK: JUST CLICK : HERE

Saturday, 4 June 2016

BANGING THE DRUM IN CHICAGO PETER CUSHING WGN RADIO WITH NICK DIGILIO



YESTERDAY I was thrilled to be invited on to WGN Radio for another interview with NICK DIGILIO about our society and you! It was a blast. Nick really does LOVE Peter Cushing. He would easily be a contender for our UBER FAN feature!


AS ALWAYS it was a pleasure and I invite you to click the link below and hear all what YOU'VE been up to and how Nick floors me with an unexpected question...that I couldn't answer! Doh! Many thanks to Dan the producer, Nick, BOB who called in with a question... and everyone who made it possible for us all to indulge ourselves and wallow in Peter Cushing for half an hour!


JOIN NICK DIGILIO'S FACEBOOK PAGE RIGHT HERE: CLICK 

WGN Radio is rated number one in Chicago and a good portion of the Midwest. Thanks to their 50,000 watt signal they reach 38 states in all, plus Canada. The show is also streamed audio on-line, meaning listeners over the rest of the U.S. and world can listen in too!

NOW WITH OVER 23 THOUSANDS FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS JOIN 
US AT OUR FACEBOOK FAN PAGE : RIGHT HERE 

Thursday, 2 June 2016

GIF GALLERY NUMBER SIX : GORGON, SPACE 1999 AND A DANCING CUSHING


MOST DAYS visitors to our Peter Cushing Appreciation Society Facebook Fan Page are treated to a GIF or two. They can be source from any idea of Peter Cushing's career or life. It's a quick animated snap shot of a key point in a dramatic scene or even Peter mugging faces during a tv interview, and then, there's the best thing about GIFS...it repeats it! Over and Over and Over, in a never ending loop. Poor Peter was featured in a recent posted clip from THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN being lifted off the ground and then throttled by Christopher Lee as The Monster, with his feet dangling! Now, he is doom to spend the rest of eternity, on our post, going up and down, throttled, up and down throttled... it's no way to treat a Super Star...!


Going Out In A Blaze Of Glory: Peter Cushing and Freddie Jones Hammer films, 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' (1969)

PLEASE enjoy this latest selection of animated gifs, from posts at our FACE BOOK FAN PAGE. Please feel free to download em, keep em or repost em, share em or use them on your blog, forum or internet community page. You are HELPING to promote Peter Cushing's appreciation society and KEEPING the MEMORY ALIVE!


TURNED TO STONE: Peter Cushing and Prudence Hyman in Hammer films, The Gorgon (1964)


Peter Cushing as the mysterious RAAN in the 1976 episode 'The Missing Link' fromthe tv series 'Space 1999' 


Peter Cushing as Major Holly, strutts his stuff and cranks up the moves
at the kazbar in Hammer Films, 'She' (1965)


What the 1967'Night of the Big Heat' lacks in budget and 'monster reveal' it makes up for in spades with atmosphere and drama. Here Cushing as Dr Stone comes face to face, with '...whatever it is out there'! 


Dave Prowse as The Monster in Hammer films, 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974) was hardly the best behaved creation, and not what you would call, a model pupil. Here Peter Cushing in his last appearance as Baron Frankenstein, tries to teach his creation, a lesson. Very soon, The Monster teaches THEM ALL a lesson they will never forget...

A GREAT FEATURE ARRIVING HERE : TUESDAY 7TH JUNE 2016 

FOR LANEY DOWER : CUSHING, LEE AND CHRISTINA ON HAMMER FILM SHE SET


FOR LANEY DOWER! '..some pictures of Peter and Christopher Lee on set, please?' ... Here you go, Laney : Peter, Christopher Lee and daughter, Christina on set during the making of Hammer films, 'SHE in 1964. With Lee doing his party trick with a sword! was there no end to this man's talents? Feel free to request images, I DO get stuck for ideas occasionally. - Marcus




FULL REVIEW AND GREAT STILLS GALLERY HERE

Tuesday, 31 May 2016

GIFS FROM FEAR IN THE NIGHT : GEESON AND CUSHING


#toocooltuesday Hammer films, Fear in the Night is probably the best of the bunch in which Peter Cushing'as role in screen-time is really little more than a guest spot with Cushing working a mere four day's filming for a £1,000 in 1971.





Cushing is worth every penny, Judy Geeson is great, Ralph Bates is terrifying...and Joan Collins does what she does best...you can fill in the gap here! It's a tight little thriller that has all of it's tiny budget of £114,000 up on the screen...

FULL REVIEW AND GREAT PHOTO GALLERY HERE

#TOOCOOLTUESDAY : PETER CUSHING / ALICE KRIGE : A TALE OF TWO CITIES

#‎TOOCOOLTUESDAY‬: ONCE IN A WHILE, I post something, that I REALLY hope everyone will see or watch..and this clip is one of those post. If Peter Cushing as poor ol Arthur Grimsdyke in Tales from the Crypt, made you weep...this is sure to touch you.


ABOVE is a short scene from the 1980 film, A Tale of Two Cities, an all star cast, with Peter and Alice Krige playing the father and daughter, Manette... if this doesn't set your bottom lip a quiver, you had better check you still have a pulse. It's cool. Too cool! Let me know what you think....


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