World’s Fanciest Men - Peter Cushing
Some men bring new meaning to the word ‘fancy’. They make it mean ‘badass.’
PETER CUSHING
BORN: 26 May 1913
DIED: 11 August 1994
OCCUPATION: Master Thespian / Officer of the Order of the British Empire
FANCIEST THING HE EVER DID: Having a strain of rose named after his late wife, Helen.
FANCIEST QUOTE: “Teeth are a vitally important part of an actor’s equipment. I have over 30 toothbrushes at home and always keep a good supply at the studio.”
You remember him as Grand Moff Tarkin, (“The Emperor’s coming here?”) in the original Star Wars movie, but Peter Cushing is the also the only actor fancy enough to have played Sherlock Holmes, Victor Frankenstein AND Dr. Who in multiple films.
The star of of over 70 moving pictures, Cushing’s film work ranged from roles in movie versions of Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice (fancy!) to bloody, bizarre genre fare like The Flesh and The Fiends and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. It is, of course, for films like the latter that he is most well-known.
For extra geek cred, Cushing had a role in the 1984 Val Kilmer spoof Top Secret, a favorite film of comedy nerds worldwide.
If you watch his movies, you’ll see that even in the schlockiest of movies he always brings his actor A-game and his A-game is very good. Peter Cushing brought to hokey sci-fi and horror movies something that they desperately needed: class. The guy just oozed with it!
Carrie Fischer said in an interview that doing her scenes with him in the Star Wars were difficult for two reasons: she thought the lines were ridiculous and she found Peter to be so polite and charming off camera that it was hard to project the sense of disdain that her character, Princess Leia, held for his character, Tarkin.
If you watch his movies you can see that even though he’s a fantastic actor, that charm always bleeds through. The guy’s voice is like a violin and he always knows the smoothest way to turn a line. Oh he was a dandy little gentleman to be sure!
ANOTHER FANCY THING HE DID: Had a penpal relationship with Three’s Company’s Joyce Dewitt! (is that fancy?)
SECOND FANCIEST QUOTE: “Television is rather a frightening business. But I get all the relaxation I want from my collection of model soldiers.”
FANCY!!!!!!
