Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/June 20, 2011

Peter Cushing (May 26, 1913–August 11, 1994) was an English actor best known for his roles in the Hammer Studios horror films of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, as well as his performance as Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977). Spanning over six decades, his acting career included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage and radio roles. Born in Kenley, Surrey, Cushing made his stage debut in 1935 and spent three years at a repertory theater before moving to Hollywood to pursue a film career.

After making his motion picture debut in the 1939 film The Man in the Iron Mask, Cushing began to find modest success in American films before returning to England at the outbreak of World War II. Despite performing in a string of roles, including one as Osric in Laurence Olivier's film adaptation of Hamlet (1948), Cushing struggled greatly to find work during this period and began to consider himself a failure. His career was revitalized once he started to work in live television plays, and he soon became one of the most recognizable faces in British television. He earned particular acclaim for his lead performance in a 1954 adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Cushing gained worldwide fame for his appearances in twenty-two horror films by the independent Hammer Studios, particularly for his role as Baron Victor Frankenstein in their six Frankenstein films, and Dr. Van Helsing in five Dracula films. Cushing often starred alongside actor Christopher Lee, who became one of his closest friends.

Cushing appeared in several other Hammer Studios films, including The Abominable Snowman, The Mummy and The Hound of the Baskervilles, the latter of which marked the first of many times he portrayed the famous detective Sherlock Holmes throughout his career. Cushing continued to perform a variety of roles, although he was often typecast as a horror film actor. He gained the highest amount of visibility in his career in 1977, when he appeared as Grand Moff Tarkin in the first Star Wars film. Director George Lucas wanted a particularly strong actor for the part and Cushing was his first choice, although the actor claimed he was initially approached to play the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Cushing continued acting into his later years, until his death in 1994 due to prostate cancer. He wrote two autobiographies and was fiercely devoted to his wife of twenty-eight years, Helen Cushing, who died in 1971.