Early life and career

Cushing was born in Kenley, Surrey, the second son of George Edward Cushing (1881-1956) and Nellie Maria (née King) Cushing (1882-1961). Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Dulwich, South London. After the end of the First World War, they returned close to Kenley; this time to neighbouring Purley, Surrey, where in 1926 his quantity surveyor father built Clearview, an Art Deco house on St James Road. It was here that Cushing remained until early adulthood.

Educated at Shoreham College, Cushing left his first job as a surveyor's assistant to take up a scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After working in repertory theatre in Worthing, Sussex, he left for Hollywood in 1939, debuting in The Man in the Iron Mask later that year, before returning to England in 1941 after appearing in several films. In one, A Chump at Oxford (1940), he appeared opposite Laurel and Hardy. During the Second World War he served with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA).

His first major film role was that of Osric in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948).

In the 1950s, he worked in television, notably as Winston Smith in the BBC's 1954 adaptation of the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), scripted by Nigel Kneale. Cushing was highly praised for his performance, although he considered his acting in the surviving version of the broadcast — it was performed live twice in one week, then a common practice, and only the second version exists in the archives — to be inferior to the first.

Among other TV appearances, Cushing starred as Fitzwilliam Darcy in the BBC's production of Pride and Prejudice (1952), as King Richard II in Richard of Bordeaux (1955), and as Raan, a Prospero-like character, in "Missing Link" (1975), an episode of Space: 1999. He also appeared in The Avengers and its successor series, The New Avengers. In 1956, he received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor.

Hammer Horror and Doctor Who

Cushing is well known for playing Baron Victor Frankenstein and Professor Van Helsing in a long series of horror films produced by Hammer Film Productions in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was often cast alongside Christopher Lee, who became his best friend. His first appearances in his two most famous roles were in Terence Fisher's films The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958). He later said that his career decisions entailed selecting roles where he knew that he would be accepted by the audience. "Who wants to see me as Hamlet? Very few. But millions want to see me as Frankenstein, so that's the one I do."

Cushing also played Sherlock Holmes many times, originally in Hammer's The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), the first Holmes adaptation to be filmed in colour. This was followed by a performance in 16 episodes of the BBC series Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (1968), of which only six episodes survive. Cushing reprised the role, now playing the detective in old age, in The Masks of Death (1984) for Channel 4.

In the mid-1960s, Cushing played Dr. Who in two films (Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.) based on the BBC science-fiction TV series Doctor Who, although the films are not considered part of the shows official canon by the BBC. He decided to play the part as a lovable and avuncular figure to counter the public's image of him as a horror actor.

In an interview published in ABC Film Review in November 1964, Cushing stated, "People look at me as if I were some sort of monster, but I can't think why. In my macabre pictures, I have either been a monster-maker or a monster-destroyer, but never a monster. Actually, I'm a gentle fellow. Never harmed a fly. I love animals, and when I'm in the country I'm a keen bird-watcher." In an interview published in 1966, he added, "I do get terribly tired with the neighbourhood kids telling me 'My mum says she wouldn't want to meet you in a dark alley'."

Personal life

In 1971, Cushing withdrew from the filming of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb following the death of his wife, actress Violet Helene Beck (8 February 1905 - 14 January 1971), to whom he had been married since 1943. The following year, he was quoted in the Radio Times as having said, "Since Helen passed on I can't find anything; the heart, quite simply, has gone out of everything. Time is interminable, the loneliness is almost unbearable and the only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that my dear Helen and I will be reunited again some day. To join Helen is my only ambition. You have my permission to publish that ... really, you know, dear boy, it's all just killing time. Please say that."

In his autobiography, Cushing implies that he attempted suicide, he had experienced a nervous breakdown in previous years, on the night of his wife's death by running up and down stairs in the vain hope that it would induce a heart attack. He later stated that this had simply been a hysterical response borne out of grief, and that he had not purposely attempted to end his life; a poem left by Helen had implored him not to die until he had lived his life to the full, and he had resolved that to commit suicide would have meant letting her down. Although not conventionally religious, Cushing maintained a belief both in God and an afterlife. Cushing's colleagues of that period commented on his deeply Christian faith and his conviction that his separation from his wife was only temporary.

The effects of his wife's death proved to be as much physical as mental. For his role in Dracula A.D. 1972, Cushing had originally been cast as the father of Stephanie Beacham's character, but had aged so visibly and lost so much weight that the script was hastily re-written to make him her grandfather: it was done again in the last Dracula film from Hammer, The Satanic Rites of Dracula. In a silent tribute to Helen, a shot of Van Helsing's desk includes a photograph of her. He repeated the role of the man who lost family in other horror films, including Asylum (1972), The Creeping Flesh (1973), and The Ghoul (1975). In 1986, Cushing appeared on the BBC TV show Jim'll Fix It, his wish being to have a strain of rose named after Helen; the "Helen Cushing Rose" was the result.

Later career

Star Wars

In 1976, Cushing was cast in Star Wars in the supporting part of Grand Moff Tarkin. Like all of the other actors portraying Galactic Imperial officers, he was presented with ill-fitting riding boots, which pinched his feet so much that he was given permission by director George Lucas to play the role wearing his slippers. As a result, the camera operators filmed him throughout the film only from the knees up, or else standing behind the table of the Death Star conference room set. This costuming discomfort aside, Cushing contrasted sharply with co-star Alec Guinness in that he enjoyed his experience on the film, appreciated the renewed interest in his work from young fans and only regretted that he could not appear in the sequels.

In late August 2015, it was reported that Cushing, who has been deceased for more than 20 years, would be digitally resurrected via CGI to appear in the role once again for Rogue One, the upcoming first movie from the Star Wars Anthology.

Morecambe and Wise

Following Star Wars, Cushing continued to appear sporadically in film and television, as his health permitted. In 1969, he had appeared in a comedy play by Ernie Wise on The Morecambe and Wise Show on BBC2. Throughout the BBC era of the show, he would regularly join Wise and his comic partner, Eric Morecambe, on stage; he would constantly seek payment for his first appearance, wearily asking "Have you got my five pounds yet?"

This running joke continued when the duo left the BBC and moved to Thames Television in 1978. Cushing appeared in their first special for Thames Television on 18 October, still asking to be paid, with the hosts repeatedly trying to get rid of him; at the end of the show, Morecambe placed some money in a wallet wired up to a bomb, in an attempt to blow Cushing up in exaggerated comedic style. In the duo's Christmas special, Cushing pretended to be the Prime Minister while Morecambe and Wise caroled outside 10 Downing Street; he made the comedians give him money and finally came out to declare "paid, at last!"

Wise was a guest for Cushing's appearance on This Is Your Life in 1990. He promptly presented Cushing with a five-pound note, only to extort it back from him. Cushing was delighted and exclaimed "All these years and I still haven't got my fiver!"

Later life and death

Cushing was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1982, but managed to survive for 12 years without surgery, although his health remained fragile. In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire; his friend Christopher Lee publicly opined that the honour was "too little, too late". Cushing retired to Whitstable, on the Kent coast, where he had bought a seafront home in 1959, and continued his hobby of birdwatching while writing two autobiographies. He also worked as a painter, specialising in watercolours, and wrote and illustrated a children's book of Lewis Carroll-style humour, The Bois Saga. He was the patron of the Vegetarian Society from 1987 until his death.

Cushing's final professional commitment was the co-narration of the TV documentary Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror, produced by American writer and director Ted Newsom. His contribution was recorded in Canterbury, near his home. The programme was broadcast only a few days before his death from cancer on 11 August 1994, aged 81. He was cremated and the location of his ashes is unknown.

In an interview included on the DVD release of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Lee said of his friend's death: "I don't want to sound gloomy, but at some point of your lives, every one of you will notice that you have in your life one person, one friend whom you love and care for very much. That person is so close to you that you are able to share some things only with him. For example, you can call that friend, and from the very first maniacal laugh or some other joke you will know who is at the other end of that line. We used to do that with him so often. And then when that person is gone, there will be nothing like that in your life ever again."

Filmography

Films

Title	Year	Role	Note
The Man in the Iron Mask	1939	Second Officer	Playing opposite Louis Hayward to facilitate the double exposure scenes, with a small role of his own
Laddie	1940	Robert Pryor
Vigil in the Night
A Chump at Oxford		Student
Women in War		Captain Evans
The Howards of Virginia		Leslie Stephens
They Dare Not Love	1941	Sub-Lieutenant Blackler
Hamlet	1948	Osric
Moulin Rouge	1952	Marcel de la Voisier
The Black Knight	1954	Sir Palamides
The End of the Affair	1955	Henry Miles
Magic Fire		Otto Wesendonk
Alexander the Great	1956	General Memnon
Time Without Pity	1957	Jeremy Clayton
The Curse of Frankenstein		Victor Frankenstein
The Abominable Snowman		Dr. Rollason
Violent Playground	1958	Priest
Dracula		Doctor Van Helsing
The Revenge of Frankenstein		Victor Frankenstein
The Hound of the Baskervilles	1959	Sherlock Holmes
John Paul Jones		Captain Richard Pearson
The Mummy		John Banning
The Flesh and the Fiends	1960	Dr. Robert Knox
Cone of Silence		Captain Clive Judd
The Brides of Dracula		Doctor Van Helsing
Suspect		Professor Sewell
Sword of Sherwood Forest		Sheriff of Nottingham
The Hellfire Club	1961	Merryweather
Fury at Smugglers' Bay		Squire Trevenyan
The Naked Edge		Mr. Evan Wrack
Cash on Demand		Harry Fordyce
Captain Clegg	1962	Parson Blyss	Alternate title: Night Creatures
The Devil's Agent
The Man Who Finally Died	1963	Dr. Peter von Brecht
The Evil of Frankenstein	1964	Victor Frankenstein
The Gorgon		Dr. Namaroff
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors	1965	'Dr. Terror' / Dr. W. R. Schreck
She		Maj, Holly
The Skull		Dr. Christopher Maitland
Dr. Who and the Daleks		Dr. Who
Island of Terror	1966	Dr. Brian Stanley
Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.		Dr. Who
Frankenstein Created Woman	1967	Victor Frankenstein
Night of the Big Heat		Dr. Vernon Stone
Torture Garden		Lancelot Canning	Segment 4: "The Man Who Collected Poe"
Some May Live		John Meredith
The Blood Beast Terror	1968	Detective Inspector Quennell
Corruption		Sir John Rowan
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed	1969	Victor Frankenstein
Scream and Scream Again	1970	Major Heinrich Benedek
Incense for the Damned		Dr. Walter Goodrich	Alternate title: Bloodsuckers
One More Time		Dr. Frankenstein
The Vampire Lovers		General von Spielsdorf
The House That Dripped Blood	1971	Philip Grayson	Segment 2: "Waxworks"
Twins of Evil		Gustav Weil
I, Monster		Frederick Utterson
Tales from the Crypt	1972	Arthur Edward Grimsdyke	Segment 3: "Poetic Justice"
Dracula A.D. 1972		Van Helsing
Dr. Phibes Rises Again		Captain
Asylum		Mr. Smith	Segment 2: "The Weird Tailor"
Fear in the Night		Michael Carmichael
Horror Express		Dr. Wells
Nothing But the Night	1973	Sir Mark Ashley
The Creeping Flesh		Emmanuel Hildren
And Now the Screaming Starts!		Dr. Pope
The Satanic Rites of Dracula		Van Helsing
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell	1974	Victor Frankenstein
From Beyond the Grave		Antique Shop Proprietor
Madhouse		Herbert Flay
The Beast Must Die		Dr. Christopher Lundgren
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires		Van Helsing
Tender Dracula		MacGregor
Legend of the Werewolf	1975	Professor Paul
The Ghoul		Dr. Lawrence	Medalla Sitges en Plata de Ley Award for Best Actor
Trial by Combat	1976	Sir Edward Gifford	Alternate title: Dirty Knights Work
Land of the Minotaur		Baron Corofax	Alternate title: The Devil's Men
At the Earth's Core		Dr. Abner Perry
Star Wars	1977	Grand Moff Tarkin	Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
Shock Waves		SS Commander	Alternate title: Almost Human
The Uncanny		Wilbur
Die Standarte (de)		Baron von Hackenberg	Alternate title: The Standard
Son of Hitler	1978	Heinrich Haussner
Arabian Adventure	1979	Wazir Al Wuzara
A Touch of the Sun		Commissioner Potts	Alternate title: No Secrets!
Misterio en la isla de los monstruos	1981	William T. Kolderup	Alternate title: Mystery on Monster Island
Black Jack		Sir Thomas Bedford	Alternate title: Asalto al casino
House of the Long Shadows	1983	Sebastian Grisbane	Caixa de Catalunya Award for Best Actor
Top Secret!	1984	Bookstore Proprietor
Sword of the Valiant		Seneschal - Gaspar
Biggles: Adventures in Time	1986	Air Commodore William Raymond

Television

Title	Year	Role	Note
Pride and Prejudice	1952	Mr. Darcy	TV mini-series
Epitaph for a Spy	1953	Josef Vadassey	TV mini-series
You are There		Rudolf Hess	Season 1, episode 20: "The Escape of Rudolf Hess"
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre	1951-1957	Charles Appleby Cyril Beverly Simpson Antoine Vanier Piotr Petrovsky Seppi Fredericks Prince Mikhail Alexandrovitch Ouratieff Beau Brummell Winston Smith Dr. John Rollason Prime Minister Mr. Manningham	Season 2, episode 48: "Eden End (I)" Season 3, episode 15: "Bird in Hand" Season 4, episode 5: "Number Three" Season 4, episode 25: "The Road" Season 4, episode 28: "Anastasia" Season 4, episode 34: "Portrait by Peko" Season 5, episode 4: "Tovarich" Season 5, episode 11: "Beau Brummell" Season 5, episode 50: "Nineteen Eighty-Four" Season 6, episode 5: "The Creature" Season 6, episode 10: "The Moment of Truth" Season 8, episode 2: "Gaslight"
Drama 61-67	1962	Frederick James Parsons	Season 2, episode 7: "Drama '62: Peace with Terror"
ITV Television Playhouse		Fred Parsons	Season 8, episode 3: "Peace with Terror"
The Spread of the Eagle	1963	Cassius	TV mini-series
Comedy Playhouse		Albert Fawkes	Season 3, episode 6 "The Plan"
Story Parade	1964	Elijah Baley	Episode: "The Caves of Steel"
Thirty-Minute Theatre	1965	Leonard	Season 1, episode 5: "Monica"
The Avengers	1967	Paul Beresford	Episode: "Return of the Cybernauts"
Sherlock Holmes	1968	Sherlock Holmes	All 16 episodes from season 2: "The Second Strain" "The Dancing Men" "A Study in Scarlet" "The Hound of the Baskervilles (Part 1)" "The Hound of the Baskervilles (Part 2)" "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" "The Greek Interpreter" "The Naval Treaty" "Thor Bridge" "The Musgrave Ritual" "Black Peter" "Wisteria Lodge" "Shoscombe Old Place" "The Solitary Cyclist" "The Sign of Four" "The Blue Carbuncle"
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries	1973	Count Gerard De Merret	Season 1, episode 4: "La Grande Breteche"
The Zoo Gang	1974	Judge Gautier	Season 1, episode 5: "The Counterfeit Trap"
Space: 1999	1976	Raan	Season 1, episode 7: "Missing Link"
Looks Familiar			1 episode - dated 2 February 1976
The New Avengers		Von Claus	Season 1, episode 1: "The Eagle's Nest"
Hammer House of Horror	1980	Martin Blueck	Season 1, episode 7: "The Silent Scream"
Tales of the Unexpected	1983	Von Baden	Season 6, episode 8: "The Vorpal Blade"

Television films

Title	Year	Role	Note
When We Are Married	1951	Gerald Forbes
If This Be Error	1952	Nick Grant
Asmodée		Blaise Lebel
The Silver Swan		Lord Henriques
Rookery Nook	1953	Clive Popkiss
The Noble Spaniard		Duke of Hermanos
A Social Success		Henry Robbins
The Face of Love	1954	Mardian Thersites
Richard of Bordeaux	1955	Richard II
The Browning Version		Andrew Crocker-Harris
Home at Seven	1957	David Preston
The Winslow Boy	1958	Sir Robert Morton
Uncle Harry		Uncle Harry
Beyond the Water's Edge	1972
The Great Houdini	1976	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A Tale of Two Cities	1980	Dr. Alexander Manette
Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues	1984	Professor Charles Copeland
The Masks of Death		Sherlock Holmes

Short films

Title	Year	Role	Note
The Hidden Master	1940	Robert Clive of India	Uncredited role
Dreams	1940	First Dreamer
It Might Be You	1946	The Doctor

[ Source: Wikipedia ]