Every day here on Horror Society I post horror birthdays for anyone related to the horror genre that I can dig up. But there are some that are too important to only leave for that daily posting, and there are three distinguished gentlemen of horror that truly define the meaning of the words “legends”, “masters”, or “icon” in every sense possible.
Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, and Sir Christopher Lee were all born within two days of each other on May 26th for Cushing and May 27th for Price and Lee. With a combined filmography of over 400 films and well over 200 television appearances between them, these three distinguished gentlemen of horror are three of the finest actors the genre has ever had, along with a few other actors.
Cushing and Price have both passed on but Lee is still alive and well and believe it or not, a busy working actor at 91 years old as of today. He most recently appeared in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and has roles in the next two Hobbit films that will be released in the next few years. Lee also is releasing his own heavy metal album later this year, yes you heard me right, a heavy metal album in which he sings.
Cushing and Lee are the faces of England’s Hammer Films, they appeared in so many of the studio’s movies, they are known for those films more than anything else. Vincent Price was the venerable actor of so many classic roles from The Invisible Man Returns to Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe series of films.
These three icons of fright have all played down their contributions to the horror genre and film in general, mainly because they are and were true gentlemen and didn’t have huge ego’s. It is simply impossible to express how deeply these three actors have changed the face of horror films in their illustrious careers, so much they will never be equaled by any of the following generations of actors.
So it is with great honor that I wish the warmest of birthday wishes to Sir Christopher Lee and two of his friends, Peter Cushing and Vincent Price, gone but never forgotten.
These were the masters of horror God Bless you three!