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Peter Cushing

Highest Rated: 100% Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)

Lowest Rated: 17% The Uncanny (1977)

Birthday: May 26, 1913

Birthplace: Surrey, England, UK

A prolific presence in films and on television for nearly five decades, British actor Peter Cushing, OBE, became an international icon as the star of countless horror films, including "Curse of Frankenstein" (1956), "Horror of Dracula" (1958), "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1959), "The Mummy" (1959), "The Vampire Lovers" (1970) and "Horror Express" (1973). Frequently cast opposite his longtime friend, Sir Christopher Lee, Cushing gave definitive portrayals of monster maker Victor Frankenstein and vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing for England's Hammer Films throughout the 1960s and 1970s while appearing in numerous other horror films for international companies. The worldwide success of Hammer minted Cushing as a horror star, not unlike Boris Karloff or Vincent Price, though in real life, he was a gentlemanly figure who adored his wife and spent his off-screen hours bird watching. After nearly two decades onscreen, he enjoyed a genuine blockbuster in "Star Wars" (1977), which cast him as the reptilian Grand Moff Tarkin. The use of CGI and a stand-in actor to recreate this character for scenes in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" (2016) raised philosophical questions about the use of deceased actors in posthumous films. Illness curtailed his career in the early 1980s, and he would enjoy one final collaboration with Lee as co-narrators of a documentary on Hammer Films before his death in 1994. A fan favorite for his magnetic and always-believable screen presence, his roles for Hammer became the stuff of horror movie legend.

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Highest-Rated Movies

100% 62% Dr. Terror's House of Horrors
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96% 80% Hamlet
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95% 73% The Hound of the Baskervilles
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93% 96% Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope Watchlist
92% 57% The House That Dripped Blood
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92% 64% The Mummy
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90% 69% Tales from the Crypt
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89% 81% Horror of Dracula
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87% 68% The Revenge of Frankenstein
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83% 52% The Creeping Flesh
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Filmography

Movies TV Shows
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires 50% 43% 2003 Actor The Human Factor: For the Love of Helen 1990 Guest Sword of the Valiant 29% 1984 Seneschal - Gaspar Actor Top Secret! 76% 80% 1984 Sven Jorgensen, the Sweden Bookstore Owner/Resistance Member Actor Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues 60% 1984 Professor Charles Copeland Actor Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death 45% 1984 Sherlock Holmes Actor House of the Long Shadows 43% 1983 Sebastian Grisbane Actor Mystery on Monster Island 8% 1981 William T. Kolderup Actor Silent Scream 1981 Martin Blueck Actor A Tale of Two Cities 38% 1980 Dr. Alexander Manette Actor Arabian Adventure 35% 1979 Wazir Al Wuzara Actor No Secrets 1979 Commissioner Potts Actor Hitler's Son 1978 Heinrich Haussner Actor The Uncanny 17% 24% 1977 Wilbur Actor Shock Waves 60% 40% 1977 SS Commander Actor Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope 93% 96% 1977 Grand Moff Tarkin Actor The Standard 1977 Baron von Hackenberg Actor Land of the Minotaur 2% 1976 Baron Corofax Actor At the Earth's Core 33% 33% 1976 Dr. Abner Perry Actor Dirty Knight's Work 1976 Sir Edward Gifford Actor The Great Houdinis 1976 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Actor Call Him Mr. Shatter 1976 Paul Rattwood Actor Legend of the Werewolf 26% 1975 Prof. Paul Actor The Ghoul 33% 1975 Dr. Lawrence Actor Devil's Undead 1975 Actor
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