Peter Cushing would have been 100 today.

In centenary celebration, The Horror Channel (UK) is screening a feast of Cushing treats for fans of his many iconic genre roles. Brutal As Hell, as usual, offers excellent, insightful (and sometimes irreverent) coverage of the great man, his movies and friendship with that other Hammer Horror legend, Christopher Lee (who is set to release a metal album on his 91st birthday – rock on Sir Christopher!)

And on a personal note, in a truly horrible week here in the UK (where some flag-waving nutters have been bandying around very misguided notions of “Englishness”) it is a tonic to remember Peter Cushing as that most consummate of English gents. In his autobiography, ‘Tall, Dark and Gruesome’, Christopher Lee described his friend as, “the gentlest, and most generous of men.”

I’m going to celebrate this evening with a screening of ‘The Uncanny’, one of my fave guilty pleasures. Cushing + cats = bliss.

And here is the great man in many of those aforementioned iconic roles thanks to this lovely tribute:

Happy 100th Birthday Peter Cushing – gone but never, ever forgotten.

“cats aren’t always cute and cuddly!”