{"id":437,"date":"2013-05-26T18:31:48","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T00:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/?p=437"},"modified":"2013-09-28T02:51:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-28T08:51:00","slug":"peter-cushing-a-life-in-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/?p=437","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Peter Cushing: A Life In Film&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today would have been Peter Cushing&#8217;s 100th birthday, so the time is right to review a newly released biography about him (released April 16th from Titan books).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00011.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-441\" alt=\"IMG_0001\" src=\"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00011-220x300.jpg\" width=\"220\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00011-220x300.jpg 220w, http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00011-754x1024.jpg 754w, http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00011.jpg 849w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>From his beginnings in repertory theatre, to his starring roles on television (he was a very popular television star in the 1950&#8217;s, and <strong>Hammer<\/strong> had a big job luring him away from that), to his days at <strong>Hammer,\u00a0<\/strong>and the dark times beyond that (after his beloved wife Helen died in 1971), this book encompasses it all. \u00a0If you&#8217;ve read his autobiographies from the &#8217;80s, this is still a good read and adds a lot of detail and information to what you already know. \u00a0It also has a wealth of photos (well over 200- there&#8217;s at least one on almost every page), mostly black and white but with two sections of color photos as well.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Cushing&#8217;s multitude of ups and downs are all represented here, and it features a lot of interviews (both reprinted and newly conducted for this book) with friends and co-stars (and the man himself). \u00a0The writing is a little academic and undynamic, but the source material shines through and engages without really needing a charismatic host to bring it to you.<\/p>\n<p>Most actors, if they are lucky, get to play a famous character or meaty role that they become beloved for or associated with. \u00a0Cushing played many- Winston Smith, King Richard II, Dr. Frankenstein, Professor Van Helsing, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, Captain Clegg, Grand Moff Tarken. \u00a0The joy he&#8217;s brought to people over the years with his thoughtful portrayals of these characters and many more is unquantifiable. \u00a0One thing you always hear when people describe his performances, is how he didn&#8217;t always choose the best material and movies to be in, but he always gave his all to every role and brought a humanity to even the most absurd or cardboard characters and storylines. \u00a0My favorite thing about <strong>PETER CUSHING- A LIFE IN FILM<\/strong>\u00a0is that it tells a lot of the changes and improvements Cushing made to scenes, scripts, and characters- he was always suggesting little changes and enhancements, most of which the directors saw value in and used.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_442\" style=\"width: 280px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00021.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-442\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-442\" alt=\"From Peter Cushing- A Life In Film, a page about the production of Amicus' Tales From The Crypt (1972) and how Cushing molded the role to make it his own.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00021-270x300.jpg\" width=\"270\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00021-270x300.jpg 270w, http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00021.jpg 849w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-442\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From PETER CUSHING- A LIFE IN FILM, a page about the production of Amicus&#8217; <strong>Tales From The Crypt<\/strong> (1972) and how Cushing molded the role to make it his own.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Peter Cushing, like Vincent Price, was incredibly beloved by all of his co-stars and fans, and I&#8217;ve never heard a bad word or derogatory tale about him. \u00a0By all accounts was a very friendly, gracious, and honorable man, and a fantastic and charismatic actor; he is still missed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00031.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-443\" alt=\"IMG_0003\" src=\"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00031-270x300.jpg\" width=\"270\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00031-270x300.jpg 270w, http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_00031.jpg 849w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today would have been Peter Cushing&#8217;s 100th birthday, so the time is right to review a newly released biography about him (released April 16th from Titan books). From his beginnings in repertory theatre, to his starring roles on television (he &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/?p=437\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-peter-cushing-a-life-in-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":485,"href":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions\/485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.postmoderntrashaeology.thezombified.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}