Peter Cushing’s 10 Best Roles Of All Time, Ranked | ScreenRant – Screen Rant

Even though British actor Peter Cushing might be best-known as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars, genre fans also venerate him as a horror icon.

Even though British actor Peter Cushing might be best-known as Grand Moff Tarkin in the Star Wars Universe, genre fans also venerate him as a horror icon. Along with horror maestros like Christopher Lee and Vincent Price, Cushing has been at the forefront of many cult Hammer films, especially in the studio's many productions Frankenstein and Dracula.

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His other roles include that of Sherlock Holmes in an adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, the protagonist in an adaptation of The Mummy, and even Dr. Who in two films from the 1960s. With a career spanning over five decades, Cushing earns his status as a character actor, specializing in horror and literary adaptations.

Peter Cushing starred alongside icons like Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and John Carradine, in this 1983 horror-comedy. The film failed to make a mark in critical terms as its source material (the classic novel Seven Keys to Baldpate) had already been adapted several times before. The plot mainly revolves around an American novelist encountering bizarre aristocrats in a Welsh manor.

Carradine plays the manor's patriarch Lord Grisbane while Cushing features his son. The film is still memorable chiefly because it marked a return in acting for the aforementioned seasoned veterans. Cushing and the rest of the ensemble appear to be in their comfort zone as they take satirical digs at their own characters and the superficiality of their own horror filmography.

Cushing first played the great detective Sherlock Holmes in the 1959 adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Creative liberties were taken for this film, blending mystery elements from the novel with those of horror. The actor still gave it all and got his fair share of deducing crimes, smoking his pipe, and wearing a deerstalker hat.

The role drew polarizing reviews but was still an interesting albeit more empathetic take on the otherwise-arrogant character. He went on to reprise his role in the sixteen-part BBC miniseries Sherlock Holmes.

Starring alongside frequent collaborator Vincent Price (who plays the titular character), Peter Cushing appears as archaeologist John Banning. The hot-headed and morally righteous character allowed Cushing to be at his heroic best. After his team desecrates a tomb of an ancient Egyptian princess, the "Guardian of the Dead" aka the Mummy is brought back to life.

A production by Hammer, the 1959 film cannot match the legendary status of its Universal predecessor but it's still exciting enough, thanks to Lee and Cushing's ever-reliable chemistry.

From Sherlock Holmes to Van Helsing, Cushing has had his fair share of playing heroic characters. The 1960 Robin Hood film Sword of Sherwood Forest (yet again a Hammer Films production) allowed him to sink his teeth into a major villainous character, before playing antagonists like Grand Moff Tarkin.

A light-hearted, feel-good film, it narrates the familiar tale of outlaw Robin Hood's adventures and the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham's attempts to imprison him. Cushing gets to sport a majestic goatee, deliver Shakesperean monologues, and engage in a swordfight with Sherwood's hero himself.

Compared to his other monster-driven horrors, The Skull is a British horror that allowed Peter Cushing to incorporate a more serious performance given the story's psychological angle. The titular skull is that of nobleman and writer Marquis de Sade. After occult expert Dr. Christopher Maitland (Cushing) possesses the skull, he ends up experiencing fatal hallucinations and insanity.

This leads to several emotional breakdowns the intensity of which the actor perfectly encapsulates.

One of Cushing's first leading roles was that of Winston Smith in a TV adaptation of George Orwell's dystopian classic Nineteen Eighty-Four. Originally broadcast in 1954, the program was considered to be ahead of its times and garnered controversy (even leading to parliamentary debates) with its prophetic messages on the underlying fascism in modern-day regimes.

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Winston is a low-level civil servant who goes down a rabbit hole of state-sponsored torture when he dares to explore free thought and the true nature of the government around him. One of Cushing's most intense roles, the actor plays his part with nuance and pain.

Arguably Cushing's most popular role, the actor played Grand Moff Tarkin at a pretty late stage of his cinematic career. Before the first Star Wars film, he had already established his reputation as a horror actor. The role of this antagonistic commander of the Death Star not only helped in establishing him among American audiences but also helped him break the horror typecast.

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Portraying the character with a stonecold attitude, Cushing's Moff Tarkin perfectly embodies the mercilessness of the Empire. In the spin-off film Rogue One, the character returned once again, in a CGI-recreation.

As a part of his continuing association with Hammer, Peter Cushing has appeared in five Dracula films, starring as the vampire's adversary Doctor Van Helsing. Even though the films might not have aged well in terms of the visual style and effects, Cushing's performance ensured to not reduce Van Helsing as a B-movie caricature.

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His chemistry with Christopher Lee (who played Dracula) is another major reason for Cushing's performance to have endured over the years. As has been the case with his other literature-based roles, the actor's mannerisms closely mimic that of the original character, adding more credibility to his performance. For instance, in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Van Helsing often raises his index finger while making a point. Physical cues like these were accurately channeled by Cushing.

Before Tales From The Crypt gained popularity as an HBO series, the EC comics of the same name served as an inspiration for a 1972 anthology film. Peter Cushing features as an old, friendly widower in the segment titled Poetic Justice. But when a notorious neighbor torments him with unnecessary pranks and allegations, the man ends up losing his job and his dogs. He's driven to such an extent that he ends up taking his own life, only to come back from the afterlife to seek his revenge.

The moving short details the cruelty of human nature, and is bolstered by Cushing's own grief who was then coping with the death of his wife Violet Beck.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has been a cinematic delight for many, starting with the 1931 Universal film of the same name that chiefly focussed on Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster. But it was Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and its five sequels starring Peter Cushing that added more depth to the character of Baron Victor Frankenstein himself.

Cushing's stint as Frankenstein focused more on the human scientist serving as the actual monster. He functions as an egotistic and coldly intellectual man of science who can go to any extent for his experiments. At the same time, he studied Shelley's original character closely to add a sense of authenticity. In fact, he resorted to advice from surgeons for even mundane tasks like holding a scalpel. His hard work bore fruit as his cold-hearted performance inevitably set the precedent for 'mad scientist' tropes in the future.

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Hailing from and based in India, Shaurya Thapa harbors interests in freelance journalism, cultural diversity, and critical analyses on films and TV of varied genres.

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Peter Cushing's 10 Best Roles Of All Time, Ranked | ScreenRant - Screen Rant