in The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes, Hillbillys in a Haunted House, Voyage to a Prehistoric Planet

Born to British parents in Johannesburg, South Africa, June 13, 1892, Basil Rathbone fled with his family to England after his father was accused of being a spy during the early years of the Second Boer War.Rathbone carved out a career as a leading man in theater before transplanting his talents to film and ultimately becoming one of Hollywood's most notorious screen villains in such classics as David Copperfield (1935), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and The Mark of Zorro (1940). it was in 1939 that Rathbone played his best-known and most popular character, Sherlock Holmes, with Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, first in The Hound of the Baskervilles, and then in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which were followed by 12 more films and numerous radio broadcasts over the next seven years.

Although earlier in his career he had ceased playing Sherlock Holmes out of disgust with what he felt was typecasting, later in life he had a change of heart and openly embraced the role. He began appearing as Holmes on television and in several movies, and even wrote (along with his wife), a play about Holmes, in which he played the character on stage.

Similar to 0 things you like: