In his book A Life in
Film: Peter Cushing, David Miller coaxes these two poles together,
simultaneously studying the rotten roles (and the non-rotten ones… let’s not
forget his iconic turns as Van Helsing, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, etc.) while keeping us updated on
what was happening in Cushing’s life during his various jobs. If we come away
with one thing from A Life in Film,
it’s that Peter Cushing worked a lot.
That Miller is able to give such attention to so much of the actor’s work in
under 200 pages makes his book all the more impressive. Miller gives equal
treatment to Cushing’s work on stage, television, and film, even summarizing
and assessing his guest roles on TV shows such as “The Avengers” and “Hammer
House of Horror.” Special attention goes to the actor’s most iconic films—Nineteen Eighty Four, Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein, Hound
of the Baskervilles, Star Wars,
etc.—but his most minor, and occasionally regrettable, roles never feel
shortchanged.
Although Miller is more concerned with Cushing’s work than
his biography, we still get a clear and satisfying portrait of the man behind
the ghouls: his friendship with Christopher Lee (who comes off more playful
here than usual) and his fatherly mentoring of the often put-upon actresses who
appeared in his films, his proto-geek boy obsession with toy soldiers, his
utter devotion to his wife Helen and the horrid funk he fell into after her
death. Miller also slips in some interesting trivia about the projects that
never came to fruition and the roles he never played; I hadn’t known that
George Lucas originally had him in mind for another part in Star Wars. The main strength of A Life in Film is the way the author
balances Cushing’s work and life, and I became so invested in the man that
discussions of his performances I’d never seen were just as riveting as the
studies of those I had. Peter’s depression over Helen, which cast a perpetual
cloud over the final 22 years of his life, makes A Life in Film somewhat melancholy reading, but it only further
humanizes one of the screen’s most utterly human monsters.
A Life in Film: Peter
Cushing was originally published in 2000 by Reynolds & Hearn as The Peter Cushing Companion. I’m not
sure what changes David Miller has made to this republishing by Titan Books,
but it’s a really handsome hardcover edition loaded with rare photos, two
full-color spreads, and elaborate end papers.
