Peter Cushing (obituary)
Peter Cushing (1913-1994) is an obituary written by David Stuart Davies published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 5, 1994).
Obituary
As an actor, Peter Cushing had the unique distinction of having played both Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on screen. Physically, he was not the least bit like ACD, the tall, beefy and thick-set author. Indeed, at a slender five feet eight inches tall, Cushing was not at first glance the ideal Sherlock Holmes either. Certainly he had suitably gaunt facial features, but his height and build were insubstantial. However, Peter Cushing approached these two roles as he did all others: with dedication and the determination to convince in the part.
Cushing first played Holmes in the Hammer Film Production of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1959. Nearly ten years later he reprised the role in a series of canonical adaptations on BBC television. As an aged Holmes he appeared in the Tyburn Films television movie The Masks of Death in 1984. On all three occasions he was instrumental in moving the productions towards Doylean fidelity. I have been privileged to see his original script of the '59 Hound and it is quite clear from his emendations to the text and his little sketches that he was constantly referring back to the original novel. When we first met in 1974, he told me that there was little point in doing Sherlock Holmes unless you presented the character 'as Sir Arthur conceived him'.
When, after a good ten years of movie-making, Cushing returned to television in the sixties to play the Baker Street sleuth, he was involved in the production decisions from the start. He ensured the costumes in the individual stories mirrored the Paget drawings and, because the series was in colour, insisted that the various dressing gowns he wore were based on the colours mentioned in the text.
At the age of 71, he played Holmes for the last time in The Masks of Death.
Despite the popular image of Cushing being a frail and delicate flower in later life, he was still a consummate professional. Anthony Mendelson, the costume designer on The Masks of Death, has said that Cushing had very definite ideas regarding dialogue, costume and set details in 221B and had greater input into the movies than just the star performance. This movie, shown at a time when the Brett/Granada series was riding the crest of a very high wave, was somewhat overlooked and dismissed by both critics and Sherlockians. I do believe this charming feature now deserves a reappraisal.
In 1976 Cushing made a guest appearance as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the television movie The Great Houdinis. It certainly was not a great film, but again Cushing was convincing in the role of the crusading Spiritualist. I feel sure that he took the part because of his love of ACD's works and the sympathy he felt for the great man's beliefs.
After his wife, Helen Cushing, died in 1970, he was never quite the same man again, but he was quite convinced that he would meet her again. 'It is quite unthinkable that this existence on earth is all we have,' he told me. 'There must be something more.'
Peter Cushing was a nice man and a good man and while he was not, perhaps, the greatest Sherlock Holmes, he was one of the best. He was also an actor who not only respected the source of his material but strove to be true to it. There are very few of those around. He will be missed.
David Stuart Davies
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
