Peter Cushing

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Peter Cushing (May 26, 1913–August 11, 1994) was a British actor, perhaps best known today for his role as Grand Moff Tarkin in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Cushing is also remembered for his work in the Hammer Horror films – particularly his recurring roles as Dr Frankenstein in Hammer's Frankenstein films, and as Professor van Helsing in Hammer's Dracula films (opposite Christopher Lee as Dracula).

His first major role, and probably the most significant on television in his entire career, was starring as Winston Smith in BBC Television's 1954 adaptation of George Orwell's famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Cushing drew much praise for his performance in this production, although he always felt that his performance in the existing version of the play – it was performed twice in one week and only the second version survives in the archives – was inferior to the first.

In the mid-1960s, he played the eccentric human scientist Dr. Who in two movies (Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 AD) based on the television series Doctor Who.

He was one of many stars to guest on The Morecambe and Wise Show – the standing joke in his case being the idea that he was never paid for his appearance.

Cushing played Sherlock Holmes numerous times, starting with Hammer's The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), the first colour Holmes film. He followed this up with a performance in 16 episodes of the BBC series Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (1968), of which unfortunately only 6 episodes survive. Finally, towards the end of his life, Cushing played the detective in old age, in The Masks of Death for Channel 4.

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