Film Personalities: Peter Cushing
by Angie McKaig

 

Peter Cushing's portrayal of Abraham Van Helsing (and his descendants) in various Hammer films has established him as vampire fans' favourite vampire hunter.

Peter Cushing was born in 1913 in Kenley, Surrey. His first appearance in film was in The Man in the Iron Mask in the 1940's. He balanced his career between stage and screen throughout the war and the rest of the 1940's.

In the 1950's, Cushing was approached by Hammer Films to appear with Christopher Lee in the Hammer remake of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. His portrayal of Victor Frankenstein endeared him to horror fans, but it was his role of Abraham Van Helsing in Hammer's The Horror of Dracula (opposite Lee) that established him as a favourite for the role, which he reprised many times through his career.

Cushing captivated audiences as Van Helsing (or his descendants) in the following films:

 

The Horror of Dracula
The Brides of Dracula
Dracula A.D. 1972
Count Dracula and His Vampire Brides
The Legend of the Seven Golden vampires

 

In addition to his roles as Van Helsing, Cushing revisited his role as Dr. Frankenstein in several Hammer films. But the role in which vampire fans loved him most was as the hunter of evil, and Cushing went on to make several non-Dracula films portraying the role of the vampire or witch hunter.

His most famous non-horror

 

 

 

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