Horror icons Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing starred in a number of movies together; here are all 24 films to feature the famous duo. Cushing, the older of the two stars, worked in the theatre before moving to Hollywood and kick-starting his movie career. Lee, an intelligence officer during the Second World War, transferred his skills to film acting upon returning to Britain and quickly crossed paths with Cushing - though their “double act” status didn’t emerge until they collaborated on Hammer Films’ British horror movie cycle.
Cushing became famous starring as Baron Frankenstein, while Lee became - for many - the definitive Count Dracula. That said, they often played ing roles in each other's movies, with Cushing battling Lee’s Dracula as Van Helsing, and Lee playing the Creature in Cushing’s first Frankenstein film. While working on various Hammer productions, the pair forged a close friendship and - by the time the '70s rolled around - were a known cinematic entity, with movies marketed on their pairing alone.
While modern audiences might best recognize the duo from the Hamlet to House of the Long Shadows, Lee and Cushing acted together many times. Here are all 24 films to feature their pairing, explained.
Hamlet (1948)
Based on Shakespeare’s play, Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet tells the story of the Prince of Denmark who struggles over the decision to kill his uncle whom he suspects has murdered his father. Christopher Lee played a guard, though this role was uncredited, while Peter Cushing played Osric, a courtier who referees a duel. The film was the first British production to win the Academy Award for Best Picture but proved controversial amongst Shakespeare fans as Olivier cut almost two hours of the roughly four-hour play. That said, this was likely a plus for general audiences. Today, Hamlet is held in relatively high regard, but - as with all things Shakespeare - a lot of the praise feels forced and ego-based on the part of critics.
Moulin Rouge (1952)
Given the poster art and endorsement from dance legend Bob Fosse, it would be fair to assume that Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing would be appearing in a musical entitled Moulin Rouge by John Huston. That assumption would be wrong. Instead, the film is a biopic of artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, based on a novel by Pierre La Mure, with very little of the movie’s runtime taking place in the titular Parisian cabaret. Lee played real-world artist Georges Seurat, while Cushing played Marcel de la Voisier - a fictional character. Though Moulin Rouge was both a financial and critical hit in its day, the film has since been viewed as rather boring, aside from a few striking dance sequences.
Alexander the Great (1956)
Robert Rossen’s Alexander the Great, a historical epic, starred Richard Burton in the title role and tells the story of the king’s life and military conquests. Christopher Lee voiced Nectenabus, dubbing over Helmut Dantine’s physical performance, while Peter Cushing played Memnon - a Greek military commander and rival to Alexander. Like his role in Hamlet, Lee’s work went uncredited. While praised for its spectacle and epic scope, Alexander the Great was considered by a number of critics to be bloated and repetitive. Nowadays, Burton is often said to be miscast in the title role, though the film certainly boosted Cushing’s career.
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Terence Fisher’s The Curse of Frankenstein is a movie full of cinematic firsts: Hammer’s first color horror film, Peter Cushing’s first leading role in a movie, and his first time acting in the same scenes as Christopher Lee. Loosely based on Mary Shelley’s novel, the film tells the story of Victor Frankenstein - an unorthodox scientist who brings a creature to life, only to have it turn on him in the process. Cushing played Frankenstein (and would go on to reprise the role in five other Hammer films), while Lee played the Creature. While derided by a lot of British critics for being too graphic, critics in the USA seemed more attuned to Hammer’s efforts, and The Curse of Frankenstein has gone on to achieve a very respected position in the horror movie canon.
Horror of Dracula (1958)
The first film in Hammer’s Count Dracula, respectively. Loosely based on Bram Stoker’s novel and, again, directed by Terence Fisher, the film tells the story of Van Helsing hunting Dracula down after the villain begins to target a vampire-hunter’s family. Horror of Dracula succeeded both financially and critically, was praised for bringing out the sexual themes of Stoker’s work, and cemented Cushing and Lee as an iconic horror pairing. To this day, the film is commonly cited amongst the best Dracula movies of all time.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
Another Hammer t, Terrence Fisher’s The Hound of the Baskervilles saw Cushing and Lee reunite in the first color adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective novel. Cushing, of course, played Sherlock Holmes, while Lee played Sir Henry Baskerville - heir to the Baskerville fortune. Sherlock movies, though the success of their monster-based horror movies was likely to blame. That said, Lee and Cushing would go on to star in several unrelated Holmes productions across film and TV.
The Mummy (1959)
Mirroring their pairing in The Curse of Frankenstein, Hammer’s The Mummy kick-started yet another Hammer franchise, with three more movies produced - though neither Cushing nor Lee was involved in any of the sequels.
The Devil’s Agent (1962)
John Paddy Carstairs’ The Devil’s Agent, based on a novel by Hans Habe, tells the story of a double agent in during the Cold War. Christopher Lee appears as Baron von Staub, the agent’s friend before the war, and would have been ed by Peter Cushing had the actor’s scenes not been cut from the finished film. Ultimately, The Devil’s Agent got lost amid glitzier spy movies and is little ed today as anything other than a rather pedestrian espionage flick.
The Gorgon (1964)
Another Hammer movie, Terrence Fisher’s The Gorgon tells the story of the titular monster, terrorizing a village in Europe by turning its inhabitants to stone. Lee and Cushing starred as Professor Karl Meister and Dr. Namaroff, respectively. A then-modern reimagining of the Greek Medusa myth, The Gorgon has become something of a cult classic - respected for introducing a female monster to Hammer’s rather male-centric pantheon, though Lee and Cushing don’t share very much screen-time on the whole.
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965)
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, directed by Freddie Francis, was the first film in Amicus Productions’ famous anthology horror cycle. Peter Cushing starred as the narrator, Dr. Schreck (his surname is German for “terror”), and guided the audience through five different horror stories. The fourth segment, “Disembodied Hand”, starred Christopher Lee as an art critic, haunted by the severed hand of a painter whose life he destroyed. The film is often hailed by modern critics as an underrated gem, taken for granted during the era in which it was made. Cushing would go on to star in five of Amicus’s six spiritual sequels to Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, while Lee only appeared once more in the series.
