9 Best Peter Cushing Movies (That Aren’t Star Wars), Ranked According To IMDB

Content Warning: This article contains discussions/references to suicide and violence

Since 1977, audiences have been chilled by Peter Cushing’s portrayal of the cold and calculating villain, Grand Moff Tarkin. His decades-spanning career has seen him thrill and startle generations of moviegoers, and his personal philosophy of selecting movies that viewers want to see (rather than what he’d prefer to act in) lead to many remembered and loved films.

He was and is known by many as “the gentleman of horror” for his portrayal of heroes and monsters in Hammer Productions and Amicus horror movies. Christopher Lee, Lord of The Rings and fellow Star Wars alum, was a close personal friend and appeared in many movies with Cushing, including four of his highest rated movies according to IMDB.

9 The Man In The Iron Mask (1939) – 7.0

Loosley based on an Alexandre Dumas novel. Philippe, the twin brother of the tyrannical Louis XIV, is imprisoned by his brother in the iron mask after he begins to notice that the public favors Phillipe a lot more than him.

d’Artagnan and The Three Musketeers then must help the titular character ascend to the throne, even at the cost of their lives. For Peter Cushing, this was his film debut and he has a small part as “Second Officer” with just two lines.

8 Tales From The Crypt (1972) – 7.0

This is a horror anthology movie based on the famous EC Comics magazine. Five strangers wander into a crypt to find the mysterious Crypt Keeper, who gives them visions of their deaths. Peter Cushing stars in the segment “Poetic Justice,” and plays a sanitation worker, Arthur Grimsdyke. After being harassed and tormented by his neighbors for months on end, it is revealed that Arthur had died by suicide.

However, one year after his death, Arthur’s corpse is seen to rise from his grave as he intends to get revenge on those who wronged him. This classic anthology was directed by two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Freddie Francis (Glory, Sons and Lovers).

7 The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1959) – 7.0

Peter Cushing stars as the ingenious detective, Sherlock Holmes, in this adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective tale. Christopher Lee plays Sir Henry Baskerville, a kindly nobleman, who is haunted by his family’s past crimes.

Holmes and Watson (Andre Morell) must protect Henry’s life while discovering the mystery behind the hell hound, whose teeth are ready to strike. This beautiful technicolor mystery is certainly a classic from Hammer Productions’ most acclaimed era.

6 Moulin Rouge (1952) – 7.1

Moulin Rouge provided a fictionalized account of the life of the French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. It also centered around the famous Burlesque hall, The Moulin Rouge, and the Bohemian subculture of Paris.

Peter Cushing has a modest role in this film as Marcel de la Voisier, a handsome and wealthy man who proposes that Myriamme, Henri’s true love. Viewers should also keep an eye out for Christopher Lee in a small uncredited role.

5 The Curse Of Frankenstein (1957) – 7.1

Hammer Productions decided to remake the classic Universal monster movies in stunning technicolor, starting with Frankenstein. Told from the perspective of Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) while awaiting execution for murder, he tells the priest the story of his quest to reanimate life in dead tissue and his ultimate success and failure in his creation of The Creature (Christopher Lee).

Highly gory, especially for the time, this movie focused mainly on Victor as the villain, unlike many lesser Frankenstein adaptations.

4 Top Secret! (1984) – 7.2

At the end of Peter Cushing’s career, he played the bookstore proprietor in Top Secret!. A parody of WWII spy movies and Elvis’ films, an American Rock n Roll singer (Val Kilmer) must help to rescue a scientist from East Germany.

Cushing’s acting life came to an end just three projects and two years later with his final film Biggles: Adventures in Time. Fittingly the filmmakers reference his earlier film The Curse of Frankenstein, with a magnifying glass site gag.

3 Horror Of Dracula (1958) – 7.3

Hammer’s second remake of the classic Universal monster films was Horror of Dracula and is often considered their best horror movie. Jonathan Harker accepts a job at Castle Dracula as a librarian, but he’s secretly a vampire hunter. He is killed and Dracula (Christopher Lee) sets out to seek revenge on Harker’s loved ones.

It’s up to Harker’s mentor and friend Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) to save them and destroy Dracula. This movie introduced Dracula’s fangs, red eyes, redlined cape, and the scarlet blood of his victims.

2 A Chump At Oxford (1939) – 7.4

In this Laurel and Hardy comedy, audiences see the eponymous duo granted scholarships to Oxford, as a reward for stopping a robbery with a banana peel. However, they soon find they are not welcomed, as the snobby students go out of their way to torment them.

One of these students is a young Peter Cushing. As student Jones, he can be seen in a few scenes and in the group of students singing “fee-fi-fo-fum” threateningly.

1 Cash On Demand (1961) – 7.4

This Noir style thriller stars Peter Cushing and Andre Morell (The Hound of the Baskervilles). Morell poses as an insurance investigator and conducts a brazen bank robbery in broad daylight, two days before Christmas.

Using threats against Cushing’s family, he coerces the bank manager to assist him in the robbery. While not the type of horror that Hammer Productions is best known for, this tense thriller will certainly have you on the edge of your seat.

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