Editing Peter Cushing (section)

===Hammer Dracula films===
[[File:Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride (1973) - Peter Cushing.png|thumb|Cushing as [[Abraham Van Helsing|Doctor Van Helsing]] ]]
When Hammer sought to adapt [[Bram Stoker]]'s classic [[vampire]] novel ''[[Dracula]]'', they cast Cushing to play the vampire's adversary [[Abraham Van Helsing|Doctor Van Helsing]]. Cushing envisioned the character as an idealist warrior for the greater good, and studied the original book carefully and adapted several of Van Helsing's characteristics from the books into his performance, including the repeated gesture of raising his index finger to emphasise an important point.<ref>Leggett, p. 49</ref> Cushing said one of the biggest challenges during filming was not missing whenever he struck a prop stake with a mallet and drove it into a vampire's heart.<ref name="Cush147">Cushing, p. 147</ref> ''[[Dracula (1958 film)|Dracula]]'' was released in 1958, with Cushing once again starring opposite Lee, who played the [[Count Dracula|title character]], although Cushing was given [[Billing (filmmaking)|top billing]].<ref>Meikle, p. 55</ref> During filming, Cushing himself suggested the staging for the final confrontation scene, in which Van Helsing leaps onto a large library table, opens window curtains to weaken Dracula with sunlight, then uses two candlesticks as a makeshift crucifix to drive the vampire into the sunlight.<ref name="SWI56" /> As with the ''Frankenstein'' film, critics largely disliked ''Dracula'' because of its violence and sexual content, deeming it inferior to the 1931 [[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Universal version]].<ref>[[Christopher Lee|Lee, Christopher]] (actor). (5 October 2004). ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199528/usercomments Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119082856/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199528/usercomments |date=19 November 2010}}''. <nowiki>[</nowiki>Documentary<nowiki>]</nowiki>. [[Veronica Carlson]], Los Angeles, California: [[Image Entertainment]]. Retrieved 14 February 2018.</ref>

In 1959, Cushing agreed to reprise the role of Van Helsing in the sequel, ''[[The Brides of Dracula (film)|The Brides of Dracula]]'' (1960). Before filming began, however, Cushing said he had reservations about the screenplay written by Jimmy Sangster and Peter Bryan. As a result the playwright [[Edward Percy]] was brought in to make modifications to the script, though the rewrites pushed filming into early 1960 and brought additional costs to the production.<ref>Meikle, p. 98</ref> For the sequel, ''[[Dracula: Prince of Darkness]]'' (1966), which marked Lee's return to the title role for the first time since 1958, Cushing granted permission for archival footage featuring him to be used in the opening scene, a reprisal of the climax from the first ''Dracula'' film. In exchange, Hammer's James Carreras thanked Cushing by paying for extensive roofing repair work that had recently been done on Cushing's recently purchased [[Whitstable]] home.<ref name="Cush149">Cushing, p. 149</ref> Cushing appeared in ''[[Dracula AD 1972|Dracula A.D. 1972]]'' (1972), a Hammer modernisation of the Dracula story set in the then-present day. Lee once again starred as Dracula. In the opening scene Cushing portrays the nineteenth century Van Helsing as he did in the previous films, and the character is killed after battling Dracula. Thereafter the action jumps ahead to 1972, and Cushing plays the original character's grandson for the bulk of the movie.<ref name="Monush" /> Cushing performed many of his own stunts in ''Dracula A.D. 1972'', which included tumbling off a haywagon during a fight with Dracula. [[Christopher Neame]], who also starred in the film, said he was particularly impressed with Cushing's agility and fitness, considering his age.<ref>[[Christopher Neame|Neame, Christopher]] (actor). (5 October 2004). ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199528/usercomments Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119082856/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199528/usercomments |date=19 November 2010}}''. <nowiki>[</nowiki>Documentary<nowiki>]</nowiki>. [[Chatsworth, Los Angeles|Chatsworth]], Los Angeles, California: [[Image Entertainment]]. Retrieved 14 February 2018.</ref> Cushing and Lee both reprised their respective roles in the sequel ''[[The Satanic Rites of Dracula]]'' (1974), which was known in the United States as ''Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride''.<ref name="Monush" /> Around the same time, Cushing played the original nineteenth-century Van Helsing in ''[[The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires]]'' (also 1974), a co-production between Hammer Studios and the [[Shaw Brothers Studio]], which brought [[Chinese martial arts]] into the Dracula story.<ref name="Monush" /> In that film, Cushing's Van Helsing travels to the Chinese city [[Chongqing]], where Count Dracula is heading a vampire cult.<ref name="Wallflower">Allon, Yoram; Cullen, Del; and Patterson, Hannah (2002). ''The Wallflower Critical Guide to Contemporary British and Irish Directors''. London: Wallflower Press. p. 21. {{ISBN|1903364213}}.</ref>