Cushing VS Lee

[DeadAlive]

Originally Posted by P-Mac

There was also another ending which featured Lee wrestling Satan... mad!

I'd have payed to see that.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

I'm sure Widmark being a major pain in the arse was mentioned in the doc on the ABUS disc.
Rich coming from a man who fought the African killer bees eh?

[vincenzo]

John Wayne almost throttled Widmark due to his arrogant behaviour on the set of The Alamo too. He wasn't known for his charm.

[Daemonia]

Cushing, for me. Mainly because I think he was more versatile as an actor and would always give 100% whatever he was in, even if he knew it was a bad film! Lee has irked me in recent years with his attitude towards his Dracula films, even going as far as to refusing to even discuss them. Sad really - as Cushing, when he appeared on Parkinson in the early 80's, was full of enthusiasm for all his Hammer and horror films. A complete contrast to the arrogance of Lee.

So yes, whilst I love Lee's work, Cushing just wins out for me. Nobody could've played Frankenstein as well and injected so much humanity into the role.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Daemonia

Cushing, for me. Mainly because I think he was more versatile as an actor and would always give 100% whatever he was in, even if he knew it was a bad film! Lee has irked me in recent years with his attitude towards his Dracula films, even going as far as to refusing to even discuss them. Sad really - as Cushing, when he appeared on Parkinson in the early 80's, was full of enthusiasm for all his Hammer and horror films. A complete contrast to the arrogance of Lee.

Spot on De!

[P-Mac]

Originally Posted by Daemonia

Cushing, for me. Mainly because I think he was more versatile as an actor and would always give 100% whatever he was in, even if he knew it was a bad film! Lee has irked me in recent years with his attitude towards his Dracula films, even going as far as to refusing to even discuss them. Sad really - as Cushing, when he appeared on Parkinson in the early 80's, was full of enthusiasm for all his Hammer and horror films. A complete contrast to the arrogance of Lee.

So yes, whilst I love Lee's work, Cushing just wins out for me. Nobody could've played Frankenstein as well and injected so much humanity into the role.

Lee actually doesn't mind talking about Dracula and Hammer, he has always said he is grateful to them for his career. It's just that he was not pleased about the way Hammer used the character, and a lot of people simply see him as the Count. Just look at the news headlines when he was knighted, "Arise Sir Dracula" being one of them.

[Daemonia]

I'm sure in the past he's been happy to discuss Hammer and Dracula, but not so much these days.

http://www.getreadytorock.com/featur...topher_lee.htm

From that interview:

After a couple of songs cut short by technical difficulties he answered a few questions from the floor (refusing to talk about Hammer Horror, dismissing it as so long in the past, apparently Scaramanger was the name of someone Ian Fleming (Lee's cousin) disliked at college so wrote him in as the bad guy in James Bond) before affording a more private interview.

I've also seen him in recent interviews and featurettes where he's very unwilling to talk about playing Dracula and talks about Hammer very negatively.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think he's a national treasure and I admire him immensely - partcularly, dare I say it, his portrayal of Dracula. He's a fine actor and I love his body of work, so no disrespect is meant in the slightest. However, like I said, it does irk me a bit his disparaging comments about Hammer - particularly his claims about Hammer virtually blackmailing him into appearing in some of the later Dracula movies.

[Mansonsblood]

Its a bit rich when you consider he would appear in walk-on's as Dracula in films like 'One more time' and 'The Magic Christian'.

[vincenzo]

It didn't stop him doing a DVD commentary for Hammer's later Scars Of Dracula either.

[Pete]

I'm sure once he sees the size of the check he remembers he likes talking about Drac.