Peter Cushing

Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor and a BAFTA TV Award Best Actor winner in 1956. He is mainly known for his prolific appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played strong character roles like the sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, among many other roles. He appeared frequently opposite Christopher Lee and, occasionally, Vincent Price. A familiar face on both sides of the Atlantic, Cushing is best known outside the Hammer productions for his performance as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977). He also played Dr. Who in Doctor Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks – Invasion Earth (1966). 2Early life and career Cushing was born in Kenley, Surrey, the second son of George Edward Cushing (1881–1956) and Nellie Maria (née King) Cushing (1882–1961). Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Dulwich, South London. After the end of the First World War, they returned close to Kenley; this time to neighbouring Purley, Surrey, where in 1926 his quantity surveyor father built Clearview, an Art Deco house on St James Roa