Peter Cushing

Peter Cushing: A Life in Film chronicles the horror icon’s life via his appearances on stage and screen. Biographer David Miller’s focus on Cushing’s professional life differentiates this work from Cushing’s two autobiographies. Miller’s disciplined approach feels, at times, less like the story of Cushing’s life, and more like a reference guide to his career.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Among the better tidbits: Cushing came close enough to starring in Lucio Fulci’s The Black Cat to have annotated the script with notes on his performance.

Miller’s research is thorough. Want to know when the play Thark, with Cushing as Sir Hector Benbow, ran at the Carrick Theatre in London? Miller has you covered.

But fair warning: there’s little sympathy for readers outside the UK. I’ll admit to having to look up what housey-housey meant. Couldn’t Miller have just said ‘bingo’?