Basil Rathbone (June 13, 1892 - July 21, 1967)
An English actor most famous for his portrayal of
Sherlock Holmes and swashbuckler film villain roles.
He was born Philip St. John Basil Rathbone in Johannesburg,
South Africa, a son of Edgar Philip Rathbone and Anna
Barbara George. His younger sister and brother were
Beatrice Rathbone and John Rathbone.
His career
During the 1920s, Rathbone appeared in Shakespearean
roles on the Britishstage. He was in a few silent
movies, and played detective Philo Vance in the 1929
movie The Bishop Murder Case.
Rathbone became famous for playing suave villains
in many swashbucklers of the 1930s, including David
Copperfield (1935), Anna Karenina (1935), The Last
Days of Pompeii (1935), Captain Blood (1935), A Tale
of Two Cities (1935), The Adventures of Robin Hood
(1938) and The Mark of Zorro (1940).
He was most notable for his starring roles in fifteen
Sherlock Holmes movies. To many fans, Basil Rathbone
was born to play Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous London
detective. He also starred as Holmes with Nigel Bruce
as Dr. Watson in an old-time radio mystery series,
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1943-1946),
and did numerous other radio broadcasts.
Awards
Basil Rathbone earned an Academy Award nomination
for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance
of Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936), and another
nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for
his performance of King Louis XI in If I Were King
(1938). He has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame; one for motion pictures at 6549 Hollywood Boulevard;
one for radio at 6300 Hollywood Boulevard; and one
for television at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.
Rathbone also acted on Broadway numerous times. In
1948, he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in Play for
his performance of Dr. Austin Sloper in the original
production of The Heiress.Through the 1950s and 1960s,
he continued to appear in several anthology programs
on television.
It was in 1939 that Rathbone first starred as Sherlock
Holmes, in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Unfortunately,
the many sequels typecast him (he gained the nickname
'Razzle Bathrobe') and he was unable to break out
of the stereotype, except in certain spoofs of his
earlier swashbuckling villains in such movies as Casanova's
Big Night (1954) and The Court Jester (1956).
Swordsman
He was admired for his athletic cinema swordsmanship,
particularly in the duel on the beach in Captain Blood
and as Sir Guy of Guisborne in the long fight scene
in Robin Hood. Other noteworthy sword fights appear
in The Mark of Zorro and The Court Jester (1956).
The latter duplicates a scene in the former where
Rathbone slices a candle in two and leaves it burning.
The End
Rathbone was married to actress Marion Foreman (married
1914-divorced 1926) and writer Ouida Bergere (married
1927-his death 1967). He and Foreman had one son,
Rodion Rathbone, and he and Bergere had one adopted
daughter, Cynthia Rathbone. He died of a heart attack
at his home in New York City. He is interred in the
Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.
