Peter Cushing – The Good Man Behind Evil Characters

Horror film enthusiasts love, respect and fear Peter Cushing as the fanatical scientist Baron von Frankenstein and Dracula’s perennial nemesis, the determined and steely Van Helsing. Now he has become Grand Moff Tarkin, the Governor of the Imperial Outland regions, whose insatiable political ambitions to become Emperor have driven him to ruthless means to quell an intergalactic rebellion.

Although Peter Cushing has had a remarkable career portraying deadly characters in horror movies, he is a decidedly unsinister person off-screen. As greatly loved for his gentleness by his co-workers as he is loved for his evil ways by horror movie cultists.

Carrie Fisher says, “I like Peter Cushing so much that it is almost impossible for me to feel the hatred I need to act against him.”

Cushing is delighted, but not overwhelmed by the enthusiasm his name brings to members of the vast horror film audience. “I have no deep personal interest in the horror genre, but I do enjoy making films.”

When asked about his technique for personifying evil, Cushing explains, “I don’t think Peter Cushing is all that much like Dr. Frankenstein. But the challenge to the actor is enormous in these strange, weird parts, and I like that. The depth of such roles rests in combination of one’s own imagination and the ways in which one looks on a particular character.

“I don’t mind being a horror film star. That would be like socking a gift horse in the face. And no one wants to see me do HAMLET, but millions want to see me as Dr. Frankenstein. Audiences are the most important thing to an actor. I have been awfully lucky in the amount of work I’ve been able to do. However, I don’t think people should be called comedy actors or horror actors. They’re just actors.”

As an actor away from horror films, Peter Cushing’s credentials are quite substantial. On British television he starred in GASLIGHT, THE BROWNING VERSION, and THE WINSLOW BOY – “Every one a winner and every part superb, “ Cushing notes, “which is a great help to an actor because once you’ve got a good part in a good play, you have to be very bad to fail.”

It was Cushing’s success on television that led him to starring in the popular series of horror films produced by Hammer Productions. “I heard they were considering a remake of FRANKENSTEIN. I remember like the earlier version with Karloff playing the monster and Colin Clive as Frankenstein, so I rang up my agent, who informed Hammer I was keen to work with them. I had no idea what I was beginning, though I soon found out that everything I did afterwards was described as a horror film, even the SHERLOCK HOLMES film I did.

“I think what I do is more fantasy than anything else. People enjoy being scared that way. It allows them to purge themselves of worries. They don’t have to worry about Dracula in their private lives, but they do have to worry about muggers and thugs on the streets after they come out of the theatres.

“The horror movies give so much pleasure. And that’s what filmmaking is all about, isn’t it? That’s why I wanted to do STAR WARS. It’s a fantasy. People can experience emotions watching STAR WARS that they can’t experience in their ordinary lives,” Cushing said.

“Certainly I want to do other things than Horror films and play villains. I enjoyed playing in Laurence Olivier’s production of HAMLET. But I hope there are Dracula and Frankenstein films I can play in a wheelchair when I get old. Give up playing Van Helsing in DRACULA? Over my dead body.”>