As far back as Peter Cushing can remember, he always wanted to get into the theater and although his father was a Quantity Surveyor, Peter Cushing came from a family which had many connections with the theater. His grandfather had been with Sir Henry Irving and had accompanied him on his tours of Canada and the United States. His aunt had acted with Gertie Millerand his step-uncle, Wilton Herriot, was a well-known actor in his day, and had been one of the principals in "Charley's Aunt". All this was before he was born, however, and when he wanted to go on the stage, he had to do so through his own efforts.

Cushing was brought up in Kenley, a small Surrey village, and was educated at Shoreham Grammar School and the Purley County Secondary School, where he most enjoyed painting lessons, rugger, and amateur theatricals. His first professional encounter with the stage was when he was eleven years old. He and his brother ran a puppet show for the family and friends. An uncle had advised him not to charge an admission for fear of losing his audience, so Peter allowed his customers to watch for nothing. At the end of the show, however, his cagey brother stood at the door with an upturned hat and charged three pence per head to leave the room. Cushing found his first job with the Purley Urban District Council and a title of Surveyor's Assistant, which he says was little more then a glorified office boy.

At twenty-one, he answered an ad in "The Stage" for a position with the Worthing Repertory Company, but his application was not even answered. Neither were the next fifteen letters which he sent to the manager over the succeeding months. One morning, however, he did receive, at last, a reply and an invitation to go see the manager, Bill Fraser. Cushing immediately quit his job and left for Worthing with high hopes. When he met Mr. Fraser, he was merely told to stop being such a nuisance with all his letter writing.
"But I can't go back now. I've given up my job," explained the would-be actor tearfully. This must have stirred the manager's sympathy, for Peter went on stage that very night as a debtor in Priestley's play "Cornelius."

Cushing worked at the Worthing for several months as the Assistant Stage Manager which he regales as the best possible training he could have had for a dramatic career. He was only paid la shilling a week, (about $210) but he did not live too badly. He was allowed to eat all the food which well-known grocery companies gave to the theater for "eating scenes" in return for a credit in the program. For this reason he grew especially fond of Coward and Lonsdale plays, for in nearly all of them, there was "a pork pie at least".
He then moved to Southampton where he played small parts and later worked with various companies all over England gradually working his way up to playing juvenile leads.

Like many an actor before him Cushing had a strong desire to go to "the Coast", so after nearly four years in English repertory, he left for America with 60 pounds ($140) he had managed to save up until then. On January 18, 1939, Cushing left England for New York on the S.S. Champlain, with a one-way ticket paid for by his father. He spent his first week trying to make contacts in New York, and then went straight to Hollywood, where he got the attention of Edward Small Productions and found work after only two weeks.

This was in James Whale's film, "The Man in the Iron Mask", in which Louis Hayward played both parts of the good and the bad brother. A split screen technique was used to enable both brothers to appear at the same time, and Cushing was employed as the "dummy" during the making of such scenes. Cushing did not, there for, appear in the finished product, but the experience was very valuable to him. He was able to study at first hand the performances of several leading film stars and see himself on the screen in the rushes for the first time, which, he says, nearly made him faint. But the best part was that he received $75 a week, and four months steady employment, which amounted to what looked like a small fortune to him at the time. In the end, he also got a bit part on the film-a part for which he had very little difficulty in learning his lines, or rather line, for all he had to do was to gallop up on a horse and call: "The Captain wishes to see you, Sir!"

His next job was in George Stephen's film, "Vigil in the Night", as second leading man with Carole Lombard. Cushing says he was chosen be cause of his ability as a dialectician. No sooner was this film finished than war was declared between England and Germany. The British film colony in Hollywood, which included David Niven and Richard Green, went for their army medicals. Peter Cushing was graded 4c, our equivalent is 4f, all and was declared unfit for military service.

Cushing stayed in America for several more years, eventually getting more respectable roles in other movies, including one with Laurel and Hardy. As 1941 rolled around, and with Cushing getting severely homesick, he turned down a promise of stardom from MGM. However, as World War II was raging, he was unable to find transport home, and instead headed for Canada, working a variety of odd jobs along the way north. Finding a day job in a Montreal movie theater, and a night job at the local YMCA, Cushing did little entertainment work during his stay in Canada. His only film job was to paint a set of Nazi and Imperial Japanese flags for "The Forty-Ninth Parallel", but another employee at the YMCA misinterpreted this and he was arrested as a spy. Eventually clearing his name, he replaced a deserter on a ship headed for England and was on his way back home.

Eventually, he secured a place on a ship leaving Halifax for Liverpool. He took the place of a deserter on the S.S. Tilapa, which had been a banana boat before the war. He later learned that the 30 ship convoy with which she sailed was the first to use the peace time Atlantic route because the commodore decided it was "too obvious for the Germans" to mine. The gamble was successful, and the convoy reached England unharmed in March,1942, after only ten days at sea.

Unfortunately, Helen Beck Cushing died in 1971 from emphysema. Her devoted husband seriously entertained the idea of suicide and began to withdraw from social life and acting, until he found a letter she had left him assuring that they would be re-united in some other incarnation. With that, he went back to work, appearing in numerous mid-to-late 70's films, including the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in "Star Wars". The quality and quantity of roles began to decline however, and Cushing worked only on sporadic occasions during the 1980's. Although he will be forever identified with horror, a quick look at his screen credits will show that although he made numerous horror films, an even larger chunk of his work was in Shakespeare, drama and comedy(!). He loved his horror roles, but ironically, did not enjoy horror films very much at all.

During his declining years, Cushing was not an idle man, heavens no. In the years before his death he wrote "Peter Cushing - An Autobiography" and "The Bois Saga", an alphonetic history of his homeland, which was forty years in the making. He also indulged in his hobbies of painting, bird watching and answering fan mail. A skilled craftsman, he also worked on many personal projects. The "gentle man of horror", as he was dubbed, died after a long bout with prostate cancer on August 11, 1994, in Cantebury, Kent, England. He had had the disease since the early 1980's, and had made an almost complete recovery when it struck back with a vengeance. His last project was "Flesh and Blood - The Hammer Heritage of Horror", a documentary he had completed with Christopher Lee just a few weeks before his death.

Filmography /TV guest appearances
1. Flesh and Blood (1997) (voice) .... Narrator/Himself
2. More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS (1993) (V) .... Dr. Who
3. Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986) .... Colonel William Raymond ...aka Biggles (1986)
4. Top Secret! (1984) .... Bookstore proprietor
5. Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues (1984) (TV) .... Professor Charles Copeland
6. Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death (1984) (TV) .... Sherlock Holmes..aka Masks of Death (1984) (TV) ... aka Masks of Death, The (1984) (TV)
7. House of the Long Shadows (1983) .... Sebastian Grisbane ... aka House of Long Shadows (1983)
8. Sword of the Valiant (1982) .... Seneschal ... aka Sword of the Valiant:The Legend of Gawain and the Green Knight (1982)
9. Monster Island (1981) .... William T. Kolderup ... aka Jules Verne's Mystery on Monster Island (1981) (USA: TV title) ... aka Misterio enla isla de los monstruos (1981) ... aka Mystery on Monster Island (1981)
10. Tale of Two Cities, A (1980) (TV) .... Dr. Manette
11. Black Jack (1980) .... Sir Thomas Bedford ... aka Asalto al casino(1980)
12. Arabian Adventure (1979) .... Wazir Al Wuzara
13. Touch of the Sun, A (1979) .... Commissioner Potts ... aka No Secrets(1979)
14. Hitler's Son (1978) .... Heinrich Hussner
15. Standarte, Die (1977) .... Major von Hackenberg ... aka Battle Flag(1977) ... aka Ultima bandera, La (1977) (Spain)
16. Uncanny, The (1977) .... Wilbur Gray
17. Star Wars (1977) .... Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin ... aka Star Wars:Episode IV: A New Hope (1980) (USA: new title)
18. Shock Waves (1977) .... SS Commandant ... aka Almost Human (1977) ...aka Death Corps (1977)
19. Great Houdini, The (1976) (TV) .... Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ... akaGreat Houdinis, The (1976) (TV)
20. At the Earth's Core (1976) .... Dr. Abner Perry
21. Dirty Knight's Work (1976) .... Sir Edward Gifford ... aka Choice of Arms, A (1976) ... aka Choice of Weapons (1976) ... aka Trial by Combat(1976)
22. Land of the Minotaur (1976) .... Baron Corofax ... aka Devil's Men,The (1976)
23. Ghoul, The (1975) .... Doctor Lawrence ... aka Thing in the Attic,The (1975)
24. Legend of the Werewolf (1975) .... Paul Cataflanque ... aka Plague of the Werewolves (1975)
25. Tender Dracula (1975) .... MacGregor ... aka Grande trouille, La (1975)(France)
26. Beast Must Die, The (1974) .... Dr. Christopher Lundgren ... aka Black Werewolf (1974) (video title)
27. Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974) .... Baron Frankenstein
28. Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, The (1974) .... Prof. Van Helsing...aka 7 Brothers Versus Dracula (1974) ... aka 7 Brothers and a Sister Meet Dracula (1974) ... aka Dracula and the Seven Golden Vampires (1974)... aka Seven Brothers Meet Dracula, The (1979) (USA)
29. Madhouse (1974) .... Herbert Flay ... aka Death day (1974) ... aka Madhouse of Dr. Fear, The (1974) ... aka Revenge of Dr. Death, The (1974)
30. Satanic Rites of Dracula, The (1974) .... Professor Larimer Van Helsing...aka Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride (1974) ... aka Dracula Is Aliveand Well and Living in London (1974) ... aka Dracula Is Dead... and Well and Living in London (1974) ... aka Rites of Dracula (1974)
31. Shatter (1974) .... Paul Rattwood ... aka Call Him Mr. Shatter (1976)(USA) 3
2. And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973) .... Dr. Pope ... aka Bride of Fengriffen (1973) ... aka Fengriffen (1973) ... aka I Have No Mouth ButI Must Scream (1973)
33. Creeping Flesh, The (1973) .... Emmanuel Hildern
34. From Beyond the Grave (1973) .... Antique Shop Proprietor ... aka Creatures(1973) ... aka Creatures from Beyond the Grave (1973) ... aka Tales from Beyond the Grave (1973) ... aka Tales from the Beyond (1973) ... aka Undead,The (1973)
35. Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) .... Lawrence Van Helsing/ Professor Larimer Van Helsing ... aka Dracula Today (1972)
36. Fear in the Night (1972) .... Michael Carmichael ... aka Dynasty ofFear (1972) ... aka Honeymoon of Fear (1972)
37. Incense for the Damned (1972) .... Dr. Walter Goodrich ... aka Bloodsuckers(1972) ... aka Doctors Wear Scarlet (1972)
38. Asylum (1972) .... Smith ... aka House of Crazies (1972)
39. Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) .... Ship's Captain
40. Horror Express (1972) .... Dr. Wells ... aka Panic in the Trans-Siberian Train (1972) ... aka Panic on the Trans-Siberian Express (1972) ... aka Pánico en el Transiberiano (1972) (Spain: dubbed version)
41. Nothing But the Night (1972) .... Sir Mark Ashley ... aka Devil's Undead,The (1972) ... aka Resurrection Syndicate, The (1976) (USA: reissue title)
42. Tales from the Crypt (1972) .... Arthur Edward Grimsdyke (Poetic Justice)
43. Twins of Evil (1971) .... Gustav Weil ... aka Gemini Twins, The (1971)...aka Twins of Dracula (1971)
44. I, Monster (1971) .... Frederick Utterson
45. Vampire Lovers, The (1970) .... General von Spielsdorf
46. House That Dripped Blood, The (1970) (segment "Waxworks").... Philip Grayson
47. One More Time (1970) (uncredited) .... Dr. Frankenstein
48. Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed! (1969) .... Baron Victor Frankenstein
49. Scream and Scream Again (1969) .... Major Benedek ... aka Screamer(1969)
50. Mummy's Shroud, The (1967) (voice) .... Narrator
51. Blood Beast Terror, The (1967) .... Inspector Quennell ... aka Blood Beast from Hell (1967) ... aka Deathshead Vampire, The (1967) ... aka Vampire-BeastCraves Blood (1969) (USA)
52. Corruption (1967) .... Sir John Rowan
53. Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) .... Baron Victor Frankenstein ...aka Frankenstein Made Woman (1967)
54. Night of the Big Heat (1967) .... Dr. Vernon Stone ... aka Island of the Burning Damned (1971) (USA) ... aka Island of the Burning Doomed (1971)(USA: TV title)
55. Some May Live (1967) (TV) .... John Meredith ... aka In Saigon, Some May Live (1967) (TV)
56. Torture Garden (1967) .... Lancelot Canning
57. "Sherlock Holmes" (1964) TV Series .... Sherlock Holmes(1967)
58. Daleks': Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) .... Dr. Who ... aka Dr. Who: Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) (USA: video title) ... aka Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966)
59. Island of Terror (1966) .... Dr. Brian Stanley ... aka Creepers, The(1966) ... aka Night of the Silicates (1966) ... aka Night the CreaturesCame, The (1966) ... aka Night the Silicates Came, The (1966)
60. Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) .... Dr. Sandor Schreck ... aka Blood Suckers, The (1965)
61. Monica (1965) (TV) ... aka Thirty-Minute Theatre: Monica (1965) (TV)(UK: series title)
62. Skull, The (1965) .... Dr. Christopher Maitland
63. She (1965) .... Maj. Horace Holly
64. Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) .... Dr. Who
65. Gorgon, The (1964) .... Dr. Namaroff
66. Caves of Steel, The (1964) (TV) .... Elijah Baley ... aka Story Parade:The Caves of Steel (1964) (TV) (UK: series title)
67. Evil of Frankenstein, The (1964) .... Baron Frankenstein
68. "Spread of the Eagle, The" (1963) (mini) TV Series .... Cassius...aka "Antony and Cleopatra" (1963) (mini) ... aka "Coriolanus"(1963) (mini) ... aka "Julius Caesar" (1963) (mini)
69. Captain Clegg (1962) .... Rev. Dr. Blyss (Capt. Clegg) ... aka Night Creatures (1962) (USA)
70. Man Who Finally Died, The (1962) .... Dr. von Brecht
71. Naked Edge, The (1961) .... Mr. Wrack
72. Devil's Agent, The (1961) (scenes deleted) ... aka Namen des Teufels,Im (1961) (West Germany)
73. Cash on Demand (1961) .... Fordyce
74. Cone of Silence (1961) .... Capt. Clive Judd ... aka Trouble in theSky (1961) (USA)
75. Fury at Smugglers Bay (1961) .... Squire Trevenyan
76. Brides of Dracula, The (1960) .... Dr. Van Helsing
77. Hellfire Club, The (1960) .... Merryweather
78. Suspect (1960) .... Professor Sewell ... aka Risk, The (1960) (USA)
79. Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960) .... Sheriff of Nottingham
80. Mummy, The (1959) .... John Banning
81. John Paul Jones (1959) .... Captain Pearson
82. Hound of the Baskervilles, The (1959) .... Sherlock Holmes
83. Flesh and the Fiends, The (1959) .... Dr. Robert Knox ... aka FiendishGhouls, The (1959) ... aka Mania (1961) (USA) ... aka Psycho Killers (1959)
84. Revenge of Frankenstein, The (1958) .... Dr. Victor Stein aka Frankenstein
85. Violent Playground (1958) .... The Priest
86. Dracula (1958) .... Doctor Van Helsing ... aka The Horror of Dracula" (1958)(USA)
87. Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas, The (1957) .... Dr. John Rollason...aka Snow Creature, The (1957)
88. The Curse of Frankenstein, (1957) .... Baron Victor Frankenstein
89. Alexander the Great (1956) .... Memnon ... aka Alejandro Magno (1956)(Spain: dubbed version)
90. Magic Fire (1956) .... Otto Wesendonk ... aka Frauen um Richard Wagner(1956)
91. Time Without Pity (1956) .... Jeremy Clayton
92. End of the Affair, The (1955) .... Henry Miles
93. Creature, The (1955) (TV) .... Dr. John Rollason
94. 1984 (1954) (TV) .... Winston Smith
95. Black Knight, The (1954) .... Sir Palamides
96. Number Three (1953) (TV) .... Simpson
97. Moulin Rouge (1952) .... Marcel de la Voisier
98. Hamlet (1948) .... Osric
99. Return From Nowhere (1944) (uncredited) .... Awakening Man
100. Woman in the House, The (1942) (uncredited) .... Bit ... aka Fear(1942)
101. They Dare Not Love (1941) .... Sub-Lieutenant Blacker
102. Dreams (1940)
103. Hidden Master, The (1940) .... Robert Clive of India
104. Vigil in the Night (1940) .... Joe Shand
105. Chump at Oxford, A (1940) .... Jones
106. Howards of Virginia, The (1940) .... Leslie Stevens ... aka Tree of Liberty, The (1940)
107. Laddie (1940) .... Robert Pryor
108. Women in War (1940) .... Captain Evans

Father: George Edward Cushing b: 1 Jul 1881 in London, England d: 1 Nov 1956 in Rustington, Surrey, England
Mother: Nellie Maria King b: 6 Mar 1882 d: 22 Mar 1961 in Redhill, Surrey, England

Marriage 1: Violet Helene (Helen) Beck b: 8 February 1905 in Saint Petersburg, Russia; d: 14 January 1971 in Canterbury, Kent, England; daughter of Ernest Beck b: 5 May 1875 in St. Petersburg, Russia d: 14 Nov 1950 in London, England and Helene Alexandra Fatima Enckell, who as the daughter of General Carl Enckell of Sweden and the Polish Baroness Bronikowska
Married: 10 April 1943 in Royal Borough of Kensington Register Office, London, England
Note: "When Tsarist Russia crumbled under the Bolsheviks, the family - mother, father, three daughters and two sons - fled to England, taking only such possessions as they could carry between them, and leaving behind a large fortune, which they never recovered."
Helen was fond of classical music and literature, and fluent in English, French, Russian and German. She began work in Andre Charlot's revues, and became one of C.B. Cochran's 'Young Ladies'. She was also selected as tutor to Mme Yvette la Brousse who was soon to become the Begum Aga Khan. She was previously married, but her husband deserted her.