May 26, 2023

This Day in Halloween: British icon and Hammer Films horror star Peter Cushing is born in Kenley, England in 1913. / Illustration by Haley Underwood

Peter Cushing is born in Kenley, England in 1913. The actor’s 60-year career spans more than 100 films, as well as stage, radio and TV performances. Best known as the star of 22 Hammer horror films, including The Curse of Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula, The Mummy, The Gorgon, The Abominable Snowman, and Scream and Scream Again, often co-starring his friend Christopher Lee, he found new stardom as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars in 1977. He died in 1994.