In All Sincerity, Peter Cushing


Book Description

In All Sincerity... Peter Cushing by Christopher Gullo with a foreword by Peter Sasdy In All SincerityPeter Cushing is a new book examining the career of the gentle man of horror. In a career spanning six decades and many mediums, including film, television, theatre, radio, and writing, Peter Cushing has been hailed as a consummate actor who was loved by both fans and co-workers alike. Whether through his early days touring with Laurence Olivier, becoming Englands first television star, recreating the characters of Baron Frankenstein and Abraham Van Helsing for Hammer Films, or appearing in Star Wars, the most famous science fiction film ever produced, Peter Cushing exemplified dignity, preparedness and dedication to his craft. Four years in the making, In All SincerityPeter Cushing breaks down the actors career into decades from his very beginnings in local theatre, his stint in Hollywood, and his rise to fame as the king of horror and beyond. Over eighty actors, actresses and directors have contributed to the book, including Val Guest, Robert Quarry, Francis Matthews, Brian Cox, Forrest J. Ackerman, Yvonne Monlaur, Mark Hamill, John Carpenter, Ted Newsom, Caroline Munro and the late Sir Nigel Hawthorne. Featuring dozens of pictures, In All SincerityPeter Cushing includes some rare candid and never before published photos of Peter Cushing on the sets of The Curse of Frankenstein, The Gorgon, The Skull, Frankenstein Created Woman, and Tendre Dracula, at leisure; indulging in his love of painting, the 1975 Famous Monsters convention and the 1992 opening of Cushings View. Also featured is a dedication from his life-long love Helen Beck six months before their marriage. In All SincerityPeter Cushing offers fans a personal look at a truly talented man. Author Christopher Gullo has been a life-long admirer of actor Peter Cushing. He has spent the last four years collecting rare materials and conducting interviews with Cushings co-workers for his research on the book. In the beginning of 2000, he took over the running of The Peter Cushing Association, a club for all fans of the great actor, which was created under the guidance of Peter Cushings former secretary, Joyce Broughton. YOU COULD OWN A GENUINE PIECE OF PETER CUSHING MEMORABILIA: Author Christopher Gullo is offering all fans who order the book and e-mail him at [email protected] (including their name, mailing address, and e-mail address) the chance to win an actual letter written by Peter Cushing to the BBC in 1986. It is on a piece of Mr. Cushings official stationery, written on both sides, and signed by him. All names and addresses will be kept on file, and at the time of the books publication will be entered into a draw - the first one drawn will win Peter Cushings letter.




Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and Horror Cinema


Book Description

From their first pairing in Hamlet (1948) to House of the Long Shadows (1983), British film stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing forged perhaps the most successful collaboration in horror film history. In its revised and expanded second edition, this volume examines their 22 movie team-ups, with critical commentary, complete cast and credits, production information, details on cinematography and make-up, exhibition history and box-office figures. A wealth of background about Hammer, Amicus and other production companies is provided, along with more than 100 illustrations. Lee and Cushing describe particulars of their partnership in original interviews. Exclusive interviews with Robert Bloch, Hazel Court and nearly fifty other actors, directors and others who worked on the Lee-Cushing films are included.




The Vampire Book


Book Description

The Ultimate Collection of Vampire Facts and Fiction From Vlad the Impaler to Barnabas Collins to Edward Cullen to Dracula and Bill Compton, renowned religion expert and fearless vampire authority J. Gordon Melton, PhD takes the reader on a vast, alphabetic tour of the psychosexual, macabre world of the blood-sucking undead. Digging deep into the lore, myths, pop culture, and reported realities of vampires and vampire legends from across the globe, The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead exposes everything about the blood thirsty predator. Death and immortality, sexual prowess and surrender, intimacy and alienation, rebellion and temptation. The allure of the vampire is eternal, and The Vampire Book explores it all. The historical, literary, mythological, biographical, and popular aspects of one of the world's most mesmerizing paranormal subject. This vast reference is an alphabetical tour of the psychosexual, macabre world of the soul-sucking undead. In the first fully revised and updated edition in a decade, Dr. J. Gordon Melton (president of the American chapter of the Transylvania Society of Dracula) bites even deeper into vampire lore, myths, reported realities, and legends that come from all around the world. From Transylvania to plague-infested Europe to Nostradamus and from modern literature to movies and TV series, this exhaustive guide furnishes more than 500 essays to quench your thirst for facts, biographies, definitions, and more.




Balanced Wonder


Book Description

In Balanced Wonder: Experiential Sources of Imagination, Virtue, and Human Flourishing, Jan B. W. Pedersen digs deep into the alluring topic of wonder and argues in a scholarly yet accessible way that the experience of wonder, when balanced, serves as a strong contributor to human flourishing. Along the way, Pedersen describes seven properties of wonder and shows how wonder it is distinct from other altered states, including awe, horror, the sublime, curiosity, amazement, admiration, and astonishment. Examining the contribution of both emotion and imagination in the experience of wonder--—filtered through the Neo-Aristotelian work of philosophers Douglas Rasmussen, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Martha Nussbaum--—Pedersen also makes it clear that wonder may contribute to human flourishing in various ways, such as the widening of perception, extension of moral scope or sensitivity, a wondrous afterglow, openness, humility, an imaginative attitude, reverence, and gratitude. Importantly, for wonder to act as a strong contributor to human flourishing one needs to wonder at the right thing, in the right amount, in at the right time, in the right way, and for the right purpose.




Hollywood Presents Jules Verne


Book Description

An “illuminating” look at how filmmakers have taken us around the world, under the sea, and to the center of the earth over the course of a century (Milwaukee Express). Even for those who have never read Jules Verne, the author’s very name conjures visions of the submarine in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the epic race in Around the World in Eighty Days, the spacecraft in From the Earth to the Moon, and the daring descent in Journey to the Center of the Earth. One of the most widely translated authors of all time, Verne has inspired filmmakers since the early silent period and continues to fascinate audiences more than a century after his works were first published. His riveting plots and vivid descriptions easily transform into compelling scripts and dramatic visual compositions. In Hollywood Presents Jules Verne, Brian Taves investigates the indelible mark that the author has left on English-language cinema. Adaptations of Verne’s tales have taken many forms—early movie shorts, serials, feature films, miniseries, and television shows—and have been produced as both animated and live-action films. Taves illuminates how, as these stories have been made and remade over the years, each new adaptation looks back not only to Verne’s words but also to previous screen incarnations. He also examines how generations of actors have portrayed iconic characters such as Phileas Fogg and Captain Nemo, and how these figures are treated in pastiches such as Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Investigating the biggest box-office hits as well as lower-budget productions, this comprehensive study will appeal not only to fans of the writer's work but also to readers interested in the ever-changing relationship between literature, theater, and film.




The Vampire in Folklore, History, Literature, Film and Television


Book Description

This comprehensive bibliography covers writings about vampires and related creatures from the 19th century to the present. More than 6,000 entries document the vampire's penetration of Western culture, from scholarly discourse, to popular culture, politics and cook books. Sections by topic list works covering various aspects, including general sources, folklore and history, vampires in literature, music and art, metaphorical vampires and the contemporary vampire community. Vampires from film and television--from Bela Lugosi's Dracula to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood and the Twilight Saga--are well represented.




The Making of Horror Movies


Book Description

A fascinating journey through society’s changing preoccupations as reflected in horror films—plus profiles of the genre’s top actors and directors. It wasn’t until 1973 that a horror film—The Exorcist—was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, and critics are still divided today, many regarding them with amused condescension. The public’s view is also sharply divided. Some cinema-goers revel in the thought of being made very, very afraid, while others avoid horror films because they don’t want to be frightened. This guide, which is for both the fan and the more fainthearted, steers an illuminating path through a genre that has, since the early days of cinema, split off into many subdivisions—folk horror, slasher movies, Hammer, sci-fi horror, psychological thrillers, zombie movies, among others. Times change but moviemakers can always find a way to tap into what we fear and dread, whether it’s blood-sucking vampires or radioactive mutations, evil children, or the living dead. This book also gives concise biographies of the many actors and directors who saw their careers—for better or worse—defined by their association with horror movies, and who created a genre that is instantly recognizable in all its forms and continues to find new and ingenious ways of scaring us in the dark.




Beyond Rue Morgue Anthology


Book Description

An anthology of stories based around the very first mystery detective, Le Chevalier C. Auguste Dupin, created by Edgar Allan Poe. Dupin famously featured in 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' (1841), then went on to star in two more investigations, 'The Mystery of Marie Rogêt' (1842) and 'The Purloined Letter' (1844). The anthology will include the original 1841 story and Clive Barker's sequel, 'New Murders in the Rue Morgue' (which was first published in his Books of Blood series) to bookend the stories. Conributors: Guy Adams, Steve Volk, Thomas Monteleone, Lisa Tuttle, Simon Clark, Joe R. Lansdale, Elizabeth Massie, Ed Gorman, Jonathan Mayberry, Yvonne Navarro, Weston Ochse and Clive Barker




The Vampire Almanac


Book Description

Grab a stake, a fistful of garlic, a crucifix and holy water as you enter the dark, blood-curdling world of the original pain in the neck in this ultimate collection of vampire facts, fangs, and fiction! What accounts for the undying fascination people have for vampires? How did encounters with death create centuries-old myths and folklore in virtually every culture in the world? When did the early literary vampires—as pictured by Goethe, Coleridge, Shelly, Polidori, Byron, and Nodier as the personifications of man’s darker side—transform from villains into today’s cultural rebels? Showing how vampire-like creatures organically formed in virtually every part of the world, The Vampire Almanac: The Complete History by renowned religion expert and fearless vampire authority J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D., examines the historic, societal, and psychological role the vampire has played—and continues to play—in understanding death, man’s deepest desires, and human pathologies. It analyzes humanity’s lusts, fears, and longing for power and the forbidden! Today, the vampire serves as a powerful symbol for the darker parts of the human condition, touching on death, immortality, forbidden sexuality, sexual power and surrender, intimacy, alienation, rebellion, violence, and a fascination with the mysterious. The vampire is often portrayed as a symbolic leader advocating an outrageous alternative to the demands of conformity. Vampires can also be tools for scapegoating such as when women are called “vamps” and bosses are described as “bloodsuckers.” Meet all of the villains, anti-heroes, and heroes of myths, legends, books, films, and television series across cultures and today’s pop culture in The Vampire Almanac. It assembles and analyzes hundreds of vampiric characters, people, and creatures, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vlad the Impaler, Edward Cullen and The Twilight Saga, Bram Stoker, Lestat De Lioncourt and The Vampire Chronicles, Lon Chaney, True Blood, Bela Lugosi, Dracula, Dark Shadows, Lilith, Vampire Weekend, Batman, Nosferatu, and so many more. There is a lot to sink your teeth into with this deep exhumation of the undead. Quench your thirst for facts, histories, biographies, definitions, analysis, immortality, and more! This gruesomely thorough book of vampire facts also has a helpful bibliography, an extensive index, and numerous photos, adding to its usefulness.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Classic Movies


Book Description

Sit back, grab some popcorn, and let the credits roll. The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Classic Movies provides comprehensive information on the best classic films from the silent era up through 1969, cross-referenced several different ways for easy access. Also contains fun, “insider” trivia and facts about the movies, the stars, and factors that influenced the movie or the audience at the time of the movie’s release. • Written by a recognized name in the industry who has written books on movies and film for decades • Features only the best movies (3 and 4 stars) from the silent era up through 1969 • Offers several indexes, which are cross-referenced alphabetically by actor and director, in addition to the main text being indexed by film name and genre • Includes appendices that provide information on the top 100 films of all time, the greatest movie quotes, Academy Award winners, and Internet references for locating hard-to-find films