REMEMBERING ACTOR #DOUGLASWILMER

TODAY AT THE Facebook PCASUK Fan Page we are remembering an actor who for many, was their first stop off of a TV #SHERLOCKHOLMES actor, #DOUGLASWILMER. Wilmer was for a time, quite a close work companion, working for the #BBC in their flagship television drama of Sherlock Holmes. They later work alongside on the big screen in the #HAMMERFILMS ' The Vampire Lovers' in 1970.

 

 

WILMER WAS mainly associated by the public for his role as Sherlock Holmes, which he first played in the BBC's 1964 production of 'The Speckled Band'. Together with co-star Nigel Stock, playing Doctor Watson, it was a knockout tv series, that Peter Cushing went on to star in after Wilmer left. In 1973 Wilmer played author Jacques Futrelle's Holmesian detective Professor Van Dusen in The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes for ITV. In 1975 he once again appeared as Holmes (albeit in a supporting role) in #GeneWilder's The Adventure of #SherlockHolmes' Smarter Brother, with Thorley Walters as Dr. Watson. Wilmer also played Sir Denis Nayland Smith in two Harry Alan Towers' Fu Manchu films The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966) and The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967).   

ABOVE: Peter Cushing and Douglas Wilmer in 'The Vampire Lovers' ... I see here, Wilmer is wearing a very similar full head hair piece. . . very much like Cushing wears in 'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' 'And now, the Screaming Starts' and his character, Count Gerard De Merret in the Orson Welles Great Mysteries episode, 'La Grande Breteche' . . I wonder Wilmer suggested it? By the late 1960s, Peter's natural hair had thinned and receded. Like actor John Wayne, baldness never bothered him, but his horror films often required him to wear a toupee. And in these three projects, he sported this flamboyant 'Marcel Marceau' piece. 

 

WILMER APPEARED in Hammer films, 'The Vampire Lovers', as Baron Hartog... with #PeterCushing in 1970. With roles in Revenge of the Pink Panther, 'The Golden Voyage of Sinbad', 'Cleopatra' in 1963 and 'Jason and the Argonauts'.. it will be for Sherlock Holmes he is probably be best remembered. In 2009 Wilmer published his autobiography entitled 'Stage Whispers'.

IN 2012 Wilmer made a cameo appearance in the "The Reichenbach Falls" episode of Sherlock as an irate old man in 'The Diogenes Club'.

 

Sadly, Douglas Wilmer left us peacefully on March 31, 2016 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England....

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    

'I DID MY RESEARCH!' #MARKHAMILL TALKS CUSHING AND #CHRISTOPHERLEE

I'VE POSTED SEVERAL CLIPS , over the years of #MarkHamill talking about his respect for and his meeting #PeterCushing during the making of #StarWars, some from way back in 1977. Today, I have shared and posted a new  short clip over at the Facebook PCASuk Fan Page from 2016 and a really interesting and fun talk Mark gave for the The Oxford Union Society in the UK, were he mentions both Peter AND #ChristopherLee! It takes a while to thaw out the academics, and Hamill certainly make his huge store of anecdotes, very entertaining and  Interesting. His Christopher Lee impression, is I think, SPOT ON!....😆 😉 - Marcus

 

 

 

ABOVE: Clips we shared back in 2019: Hamill was a quite the Peter Cushing fan . So, much so when first cast in Star Wars back in 1976, he was extremely excited about appearing in a film, that featured Cushing as a Grand Guy in a black hat baddy! Sadly, they didn't get to appear on screen together.. but he made sure, he got the opportunity to meet up with one of his major big screen idols... Here are two short clips with Hamill talking about the day, he met Peter Cushing at Elstree studios . . 

 

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  

EXCLUSIVE! WATCH #DONALDFEARNEY'S 'TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN' DOCUMENTARY TEASER TO THIS YEAR'S '#PETERCUSHING: THE MAN WHO CREATED FRANKENSTEIN' BLU RAY DOC!

THIS YEAR, 2022 sees Donald Fearney's much anticipated blu ray release of 'Peter Cushing : The Man Who Created Frankenstein' documentary. The documentary will be release early 2022, and presented as a blu ray disc included in a large sized coffee table size book of rare press stills and archive key book photographs from Peter Cushing's SIX Hammer films! 'Peter Cushing: The Man Who Created Frankenstein' is narrated by Edward de Souza. I have seen the finished edit and it's another excellent and superb documentary, even outshining his other very popular 'Amicus : The Vault of Horror', an extensive documentary on the history of Amicus films. (This 2 hour 20 min extensively detailed production also came along, but for just a lucky few, with  a very limited numbered packaged blu ray with a large hardback matt finish keybook photographs extra!) 😊 Along with producing several notable 'History of and Making of Documentaries' on many Hammer films blu ray releases, including 'Brides of Dracula' 'Night Creatures / Captain Clegg' and 'The Evil of Frankenstein', Donald Fearney also produced 'The Legend of Hammer's Vampires' documentary in 2008. 

 

ON THE STRIKE OF MIDNIGHT, NEW YEARS EVE, I posted and shared The 'Tales of Frankenstein' a short documentary on the FACEBOOK PCASuk FAN PAGE, which wrapped production late 2021, and had not yet been seen anywhere until then. YOU CAN WATCH IT at the FACEBOOK PCASuk FAN PAGE HERE! Produced by Donald Fearney, it was made with the intention to have been included as an extra feature on the blu ray package release of Donald's 'Peter Cushing: Man Who Created Frankenstein' blu ray', but a change of plan, to include something else (!) made it possible for Donald to very generously, let PCASuk exclusively share it on our Official Facebook Fan Page! ! It's 11 mins in duration, and tells the story behind the planned US television series, 'Tales of Frankenstein' written by Hammer films script writer Jimmy Sangster, fresh from his success with Peter Cushing's and Hammer films 'The Curse of Frankenstein'.. it starred Anton Diffring as Victor Frankenstein, very much in a 'Cushinques style', but the series was doomed by producers and bickering... alas only the pilot episode was produced!

 

DONALD FEARNEY'S  'TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN' documentary, tells the tale, warts and all, with rare stills, internal documents, letters and memos and footage. It's a fascinating tale and a perfect teaser supplement to #DonaldFearney's impressive 'Peter Cushing: The Man Who Created Frankenstein' documentary blu ray release and key stills hardback book which comes with the blu ray package! VERY MANY thanks to Donald for generously making this happen😊 

 

BELOW: IMAGES OF COVER AND SOME PAGES FROM THE RARE 'AMICUS VAULT OF HORROR' HARDBACK BOOK

 

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