--- name: "Peter Cushing" canonical: "https://film.one/person/peter-cushing" fi1m_id: "peter-cushing" imdb_id: "nm0001088" tmdb_id: 5 wikidata_id: "Q309589" roles: ["Actor"] born: "26 May 1913" died: "11 August 1994" reviewed_on_fi1m: 6 average_fi1m_score: 79 average_as: "actor" average_over: 5 updated: "2026-10-04T18:47:46.002963+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Peter Cushing ## Identity Peter Cushing - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/peter-cushing - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** peter-cushing - **IMDb ID:** nm0001088 - **TMDB ID:** 5 - **Wikidata ID:** Q309589 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cushing, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q309589, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001088/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/5 Actor. Born 26 May 1913 in Kenley, Surrey, England, UK. Died 11 August 1994. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 26 May 1913, Kenley, Surrey, England, UK - **Died:** 11 August 1994 - **Active:** 1941–1984 - **Also known as:** Peter Wilton Cushing - **Titles on Fi1m:** 6: 5 acting, 1 crew - **BAFTA Television Awards:** 1 BAFTA (1 won) - **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as actor, over 5 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1940s 82 (2), 1950s 72 (2), 1970s 88 (1), 1980s 76 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 82 to 75 across 4 titles - **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 1 of 4 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Drama 2, Action 1, Adventure 1, Comedy 1, Horror 1, Science Fiction 1 - **Screen time:** 9 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $799m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cushing, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q309589, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001088/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/5 ## Streaming the US now - **Disney+:** [*Star Wars*](https://film.one/film/star-wars.md) (88) - **HBO Max:** [*Hamlet*](https://film.one/film/hamlet-1948.md) (84) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Peter Cushing > Peter Cushing played mad scientists, vampire hunters and space tyrants as if each were a difficult colleague at a serious institution, and he never winked. That seriousness is why the Hammer films still stand up, and why he was asked to make so many of them. Peter Cushing's habit is to speak quietly to people who are used to being shouted at. In *Star Wars* (1977) he is Grand Moff Tarkin, a thin man in a grey uniform who gives orders to a seven-foot figure in a black mask and barely turns his head to do it. Lucas's film is loud and quick and Cushing is neither, and the scenes he is in are the ones where the Empire looks like something that might actually win. We were more frightened of him than of anything with a lightsabre, because he is the only person aboard who sounds as though he has read the paperwork. He came up the slow way: repertory theatre from the mid-1930s, bit parts in Hollywood, then back to Britain during the war. In Olivier's *Hamlet* (1948) he is Osric, on for a few minutes near the end with a hat and a bow, and it is one of the few moments that film lets itself laugh. Television made him; he was Winston Smith in the BBC's *Nineteen Eighty-Four* in 1954. Then came Hammer and *The Curse of Frankenstein* (1957), and for two decades he was Baron Frankenstein, Dr Van Helsing in *Dracula* (1958), Sherlock Holmes in *The Hound of the Baskervilles* (1959), and Frankenstein again. Terence Fisher directed him seven times. Christopher Lee shared twenty-two films with him, which is longer than some marriages. What he brought to all of it was the refusal to condescend. A castle full of rubber bats got the same clipped, precise delivery as Shakespeare, and hero and villain got the same dignity, so that you were never quite told which one you were watching. He prepared like a scholar, researched the parts, chose his own props and did his own stunts when a laboratory needed wrecking. In *The Curse of Frankenstein* he explains the indefensible so reasonably that we found ourselves nodding along, and then felt a small chill at having nodded. That is the trick, and it does not date. The complaint, then and now, is that he did the same thing too often, and that Hammer's formula wore the parts smooth. There is something in it; Frankenstein and Van Helsing are hard to tell apart on a bad night. He knew it himself. "Who wants to see me as Hamlet? Very few. But millions want to see me as [Baron] Frankenstein, so that's the one I do." It is a more honest account of a career than most actors manage. If you know him only from *Star Wars*, go to *Dracula* and watch the same man do the same thing with a crucifix instead of a space station. It is, more or less, the same performance. That is not a complaint. ## Biography Peter Wilton Cushing was an English actor. He was born on 26 May 1913 in Kenley, Surrey, and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before working in repertory theatre. Cushing appeared in numerous Hammer Films horror productions from the 1950s onwards, playing Baron Victor Frankenstein in *The Curse of Frankenstein* (1957) and Doctor Van Helsing in *Dracula* (1958), often opposite Christopher Lee. He also portrayed Sherlock Holmes in *The Hound of the Baskervilles* (1959). His later roles included Grand Moff Tarkin in *Star Wars* (1977). He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1989 and died on 11 August 1994. *Sources: imdb.com, starwars.fandom.com.* ## On Fi1m (6) ### Performed in (5) — the average rests on these - *Top Secret!* (1984), Fi1m 76, as Bookstore Proprietor — [page](https://film.one/film/top-secret.md) - *Star Wars* (1977), Fi1m 88, as Grand Moff Tarkin — [page](https://film.one/film/star-wars.md) - *Dracula* (1958), Fi1m 81, as Doctor Van Helsing — [page](https://film.one/film/dracula-1958.md) - *Moulin Rouge* (1952), Fi1m 64, as Marcel de la Voisier — [page](https://film.one/film/moulin-rouge-1952.md) - *Hamlet* (1948), Fi1m 84, as Osric — [page](https://film.one/film/hamlet-1948.md) ### Crew (1) - *49th Parallel* (1941), Fi1m 79, Props — [page](https://film.one/film/49th-parallel.md) ## Complete filmography (138) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *AGFA Mystery Mixtape #2: Later in L.A.* (2020), as (archive footage) - *The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault* (2020), as (archive footage) - *Rogue One: A Star Wars Story* (2016), Actor's Assistant — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story.md) - *Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films* (2014), as Sebastian Grisbane (archive footage) (uncredited) - *Attack of the Octopus People* (2010), as Doctor Welles (archive footage) - *The Story of Star Wars* (2004), as Grand Moff Tarkin (archive footage) - *Dalekmania* (1995), as Doctor Who (archive footage) - *Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror* (1994), as Narrator (voice) / Self - *Frankenstein Reborn* (1993), as Victor's Grandfather (photo) (uncredited) - *Innocent Blood* (1992), as Van Helsing (archive footage) - *Dracula in the Movies* (1992), as (archive footage) - *Halloween Monster Bash* (1991), as Dr. Wells (archive footage) - *Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook* (1991), as Victor Frankenstein / Dr. Carl Victor (archive footage) - *Biggles* (1986), as Air Commodore Colonel William Raymond - *Television* (1985), series, Actor - *The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes* (1985), as Sherlock Holmes (archive footage) - *The Masks of Death* (1984), as Sherlock Holmes - *Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight* (1984), as Seneschal - *Top Secret!* (1984), as Bookstore Proprietor — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/top-secret.md) - *Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues* (1984), as Professor Charles Copeland - *House of the Long Shadows* (1983), as Sebastian Grisbane - *Black Jack* (1981), as Sir Thomas Bedford - *Mystery on Monster Island* (1981), as William T. Kolderup - *A Tale of Two Cities* (1980), as Dr. Alexander Manette - *Hammer House of Horror* (1980), series, as Martin Blueck - *A Touch of the Sun* (1979), as Commissioner Potts - *Arabian Adventure* (1979), as Wazir Al Wuzara - *Tales of the Unexpected* (1979), series, as Von Baden - *The Horror Show* (1979), as (archive footage) - *Son of Hitler* (1979), as Heinrich Haussner - *The Detour* (1979), as Narrator - *The Standard* (1977), as Baron Hackenberg - *The Uncanny* (1977), as Wilbur Gray (segment "Montreal 1977") - *Shock Waves* (1977), as SS Commander - *Star Wars* (1977), as Grand Moff Tarkin — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/star-wars.md) - *The New Avengers* (1976), series, as Von Claus - *The Great Houdinis* (1976), as Conan Doyle - *The Devil's Men* (1976), as Baron Corofax - *At the Earth's Core* (1976), as Dr. Abner Perry - *Trial by Combat* (1976), as Sir Edward Gifford - *Space: 1999* (1975), series, as Raan - *Legend of the Werewolf* (1975), as Prof. Paul - *The Ghoul* (1975), as Dr. Lawrence - *Shatter* (1974), as Paul Rattwood - *Tender Dracula* (1974), as MacGregor - *The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires* (1974), as Professor Lawrence Van Helsing - *Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell* (1974), as Baron Victor Frankenstein aka Dr. Carl Victor - *The Zoo Gang* (1974), series, as Judge Gautier - *The Beast Must Die* (1974), as Dr. Christopher Lundgren - *Madhouse* (1974), as Herbert Flay - *From Beyond the Grave* (1974), as The Proprietor - *Orson Welles' Great Mysteries* (1973), series, as Count Gerard De Merret - *And Now the Screaming Starts!* (1973), as Dr. Pope - *The Satanic Rites of Dracula* (1973), as Prof. Lorrimer Van Helsing - *Nothing But the Night* (1973), as Sir Mark Ashley - *The Creeping Flesh* (1973), as Emmanuel Hildern - *Asylum* (1972), as Smith - *Horror Express* (1972), as Dr. Wells - *Fear in the Night* (1972), as Michael Carmichael - *Dr. Phibes Rises Again* (1972), as Ship's Captain - *Dracula A.D. 1972* (1972), as Professor Van Helsing - *Tales from the Crypt* (1972), as Arthur Edward Grimsdyke - *I, Monster* (1971), as Frederick Utterson - *Twins of Evil* (1971), as Gustav Weil - *Blood Suckers* (1971), as Dr. Walter Goodrich - *The House That Dripped Blood* (1971), as Philip Grayson (segment 2 "Waxworks") - *The Vampire Lovers* (1970), as General von Spielsdorf - *One More Time* (1970), as Dr. Frankenstein - *Scream and Scream Again* (1970), as Major Heinrich Benedek - *Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed* (1969), as Baron Victor Frankenstein - *Corruption* (1968), as Sir John Rowan - *The Blood Beast Terror* (1968), as Detective Inspector Quennell - *Torture Garden* (1967), as Lancelot Canning (segment 4 "The Man Who Collected Poe") - *Some May Live* (1967), as John Meredith - *Night of the Big Heat* (1967), as Dr. Vernon Stone - *Frankenstein Created Woman* (1967), as Baron Frankenstein - *Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.* (1966), as Doctor Who - *Island of Terror* (1966), as Dr. Brian Stanley - *Dracula: Prince of Darkness* (1966), as Doctor Van Helsing (archive footage) - *Thirty-Minute Theatre* (1965), series, as Leonard - *The Skull* (1965), as Dr. Christopher Maitland - *Dr. Who and the Daleks* (1965), as Doctor Who - *She* (1965), as Holly - *Dr. Terror's House of Horrors* (1965), as Dr. Sandor Schreck aka "Dr. Terror" - *The Gorgon* (1964), as Dr. Namaroff - *The Caves of Steel* (1964), as Elijah Baley - *Sherlock Holmes* (1964), series, as Sherlock Holmes - *The Evil of Frankenstein* (1964), as Baron Frankenstein - *Story Parade* (1964), series, as Elijah Baley - *The Man Who Finally Died* (1963), as Doctor Peter von Brecht - *The Spread of the Eagle* (1963), series, as Caius Cassius - *Captain Clegg* (1962), as Reverend Dr. Blyss - *Cash on Demand* (1961), as Harry Fordyce - *The Naked Edge* (1961), as Mr. Evan Wrack - *Drama 61-67* (1961), series, as Frederick James Parsons - *Fury at Smugglers' Bay* (1961), as Squire Trevenyan - *The Hellfire Club* (1961), as Mr. Merryweather - *The Avengers* (1961), series, as Paul Beresford — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-avengers-1961.md) - *Sword of Sherwood Forest* (1960), as Sheriff of Nottingham - *Suspect* (1960), as Professor Sewell - *The Brides of Dracula* (1960), as Dr. J. Van Helsing - *Cone of Silence* (1960), as Capt. Clive Judd - *The Flesh and the Fiends* (1960), as Dr. Robert Knox - *The Mummy* (1959), as John Banning - *John Paul Jones* (1959), as Captain Richard Pearson - *The Hound of the Baskervilles* (1959), as Sherlock Holmes - *The Revenge of Frankenstein* (1958), as Dr. Victor Stein - *Dracula* (1958), as Doctor Van Helsing — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/dracula-1958.md) - *Violent Playground* (1958), as Father Laidlaw - *The Abominable Snowman* (1957), as Dr. John Rollason - *The Curse of Frankenstein* (1957), as Baron Victor Frankenstein - *Time Without Pity* (1957), as Jeremy Clayton - *Alexander the Great* (1956), as Memmon - *Magic Fire* (1955), as Otto Wesendonk - *The Moment of Truth* (1955), as The Prime Minister - *The End of the Affair* (1955), as Henry Miles - *The Creature* (1955), as Dr. John Rollason - *Nineteen Eighty-Four* (1954), as Winston Smith - *The Black Knight* (1954), as Sir Palamides - *Anastasia* (1953), as Piotr Petrovsky - *Number Three* (1953), as Simpson - *Moulin Rouge* (1952), as Marcel de la Voisier — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/moulin-rouge-1952.md) - *Pride and Prejudice* (1952), series, as Mr Darcy - *When We Are Married* (1951), as Gerald Forbes - *Sunday Night Theatre* (1950), series, as Winston Smith, Dr. John Rollason, Simpson - *Hamlet* (1948), as Osric — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/hamlet-1948.md) - *It Might Be You* (1946), as The doctor - *The Woman in the House* (1942), as Man Waking Up (archive footage) - *49th Parallel* (1941), as Props — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/49th-parallel.md) - *They Dare Not Love* (1941), as Sub-Lieutenant Blackler - *Dreams* (1940), as First Dreamer - *The Howards of Virginia* (1940), as Leslie Stephens - *Women in War* (1940), as Capt. Evans - *The Hidden Master* (1940), as Robert Clive of India - *Vigil in the Night* (1940), as Joe Shand - *A Chump at Oxford* (1940), as Student - *Laddie* (1940), as Robert Pryor - *The Man in the Iron Mask* (1939), as Second Officer ## Gallery - ![Peter Cushing](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-bb7bdf56c865.png) Peter Cushing — Hammer films, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Revenge_of_Frankenstein_%28trailer%29_-_Peter_Cushing_%28cropped%29.png/1280px-Revenge_of_Frankenstein_%28trailer%29_-_Peter_Cushing_%28cropped%29.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Baseline Drive-In theater advertisement for the double-feature horror films, Horror of Dracula, the American title for the British film Dracula (1958) and The T](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-73cdf9eabc0b.jpg) Baseline Drive-In theater advertisement for the double-feature horror films, Horror of Dracula, the American title for the British film Dracula (1958) and The T — Rank Film Distributors Universal Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Baseline_Drive-in_Ad_-_16_July_1958%2C_Highland%2C_CA.jpg/1280px-Baseline_Drive-in_Ad_-_16_July_1958%2C_Highland%2C_CA.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Baseline Drive-In theater advertisement for the double-feature horror films The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) and Night of the Demon (1957), released in the Un](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-b0e16fa3f95c.jpg) Baseline Drive-In theater advertisement for the double-feature horror films The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) and Night of the Demon (1957), released in the Un — Columbia Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Baseline_Drive-in_Ad_-_18_June_1958%2C_Highland%2C_CA.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Screenshot of Peter Cushing from the trailer for the film The Brides Of Dracula (1960)](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-47fb3aaf7d90.jpg) Screenshot of Peter Cushing from the trailer for the film The Brides Of Dracula (1960) — Hammer Films, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Brides_of_Dracula_%281960%29_trailer_-_Peter_Cushing.jpg/1280px-Brides_of_Dracula_%281960%29_trailer_-_Peter_Cushing.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Peter Cushing](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-aec069706dfa.jpg) Peter Cushing — Image via TMDB - ![Peter Cushing](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-b21593dd24b8.jpg) Peter Cushing — Image via TMDB - ![Peter Cushing](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-d9a40c2ab5c1.jpg) Peter Cushing — Image via TMDB - ![Screenshot from the trailer of Cash On Demand (1961)](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-6eedce8bc1b0.png) Screenshot from the trailer of Cash On Demand (1961) — Hammer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Cash_on_Demand_%281961%29_trailer_-_Peter_Cushing_1.png/1280px-Cash_on_Demand_%281961%29_trailer_-_Peter_Cushing_1.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Screenshot from the trailer of Cash On Demand (1961)](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-deda93665d2a.png) Screenshot from the trailer of Cash On Demand (1961) — Hammer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Cash_on_Demand_%281961%29_trailer_-_Peter_Cushing_2.png/1280px-Cash_on_Demand_%281961%29_trailer_-_Peter_Cushing_2.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Peter Cushing](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-d43e0ee9d620.jpg) Peter Cushing — Image via TMDB - ![Peter Cushing](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-ef2bc57a7e83.jpg) Peter Cushing — Image via TMDB - ![Peter Cushing](https://film.one/media/person/102272/gallery-6454e73519f4.jpg) Peter Cushing — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### BAFTA Television Awards — 1 won - 1956: Best Actor (won) ### Other awards — 3 won - Officer of the Order of the British Empire 1989: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (won) - Sitges Film Festival Best Actor award 1983: Sitges Film Festival Best Actor award (won), for *House of the Long Shadows* - Sitges Film Festival Best Actor award 1976: Sitges Film Festival Best Actor award (won), for *The Ghoul* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/peter-cushing