Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone 1892-1967
Philip St. John Basil Rathbone was born on June 13, 1892, in Johannesburg, South Africa. His father, Edgar Philip Rathbone, was a mining engineer, and his mother, Anna Barbara Rathbone, a violinist. Basil was the eldest of three children, with a younger sister Beatrice and a younger brother John.
Rathbone grew up in England, and attended the Repton School from 1906-1910, where he became an accomplished athlete.
Rathbone served in WW1 as a second lieutenant, an intelligence officer, with the Liverpool Scottish, winning the Military Cross. On his return Rathbone pursued a career in the theatre and he performed in Stratford on Avon, and in London. In 1923 he went to New York, to perform in "The Swan" later meeting met Ouida Bergere, a scriptwriter, whom he married in 1926.
Meantime, Rathbone became interested in films, making eight films during the 1920s, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney in 1929 being a modest success that came to the attention of Hollywood, where he finally moved in 1935.
A busy supporting actor, and an outstanding swordsman, he co-starred with Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood.
After his contract with Universal expired, he returned to the theatre in New York and made several undistinguished films in the 1950s and 1960s. He died of a heart attack on July 21, 1967, aged 75.
The 20th Century Fox films: In 1939 Basil Rathbone made his first Sherlock Holmes film:The Hound of the Baskervilles. After the first two Holmes films, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce also performed on radio and continued on radio and in films for seven years.
He was, for many, the definitive Holmes. The first two films were produced by Fox. While The Hound of the Baskervilles was based on the Conan Doyle novel, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was not, being based on a theatre production. In 1939, Fox executives believed the public was losing interest in Sherlock Holmes and decided to not make any more of these films.
The Universal series: In 1942 Universal brought Sherlock Holmes into the 20th century and went on to make 12 more short films (all around 60-80 minutes in length). Gone was the deerstalker, Holmes was given a modern makeover, learned to drive and spent the first few films outwitting Nazis. This somewhat bizarre development was explained by Universal thus:
"The character of Sherlock Holmes, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is ageless, invincible, and unchanging. In solving significant problems of the present day, he remains, as ever, the supreme master of deductive reasoning."
Some of the series are based on Conan Doyle stories, although the best, The Scarlet Claw, was an original screenplay. Despite the setting, there is no doubt that Rathbone made the role his own, and every subsequent interpretation has been compared with his. Since then, only Jeremy Brett has become so clearly identified with Sherlock Holmes.
Nigel Bruce as Watson is mainly used as a sidekick and comic foil. Some dislike this interpretation of Watson, but scriptwriters felt that Holmes' brilliance could only shine if he was surrounded by buffoons.