Who is your favorite Sherlock Holmes?

[sigp220.45]

About three dozen actors have played Sherlock Holmes on film and TV, from Arthur Saintsbury to Benedict Cumberbatch.

I love the current PBS series with Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, but my favorite pairing will always be Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. They did 14 films during WWII, and they were aired relentlessly on late night TV when I was a kid. I loved them all - especially when Watson produced his "service revolver" from some deep pocket and saved the day. I still record them when they appear.

There are plenty of Holmeses to choose from - John Barrymore, Orson Welles, John Gielgud, even Robert Downey, Jr. Who is your favorite?

 

[Rpg]

Basil Rathbone will always be Holmes to me.

 

[ExcitableBoy]

Jeremy Brett (PBS) is the DEFINITIVE Holmes! He could express volumes with the smallest twitch of the lip, or slightly raised eyebrow. The most intelligent portrayal on any screen.

 

[Rustyt1953]

To me, Basil will always be the benchmark. Cumberpatch and Downey have done justice to the role and deserve to be in the conversation. I also enjoyed Peter Cushing"s portrayal very much.

I do loves me some Holmes.

 

[bigwheelzip]

The brilliant portrayals of Holmes by Jeremy Brett and Watson by Edward Hardwicke redefined the duo and raised the bar above any interpretation I've seen before or since. It's 41 episodes were produced by Granada Television from 1984 to 1994.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqRz-rdp_sM[/ame]

 

[Absalom]

I am a total fan of the new Cumberbatch/Freeman version, too, but for me the classic version of Holmes will always be Peter Cushing, whose Holmes role starting with the classic "Hound of the Baskervilles" in 1959 and then for the BBC in the 1960s really defined the character for me. That's the guy I envision when I re-read the original stories even nowadays.

 

[les.b]

I'm with bigwheelzip on this one. I am a virtually lifelong Holmes fan, and my earliest impression of Holmes and Watson were the illustrations of the two from the most prolific illustrator of the original publication of the stories in the "Strand" magazine, and later reproduced in the books.

Of course, I also saw the Rathbone movies, and others, but the most meticulous and accurate and best portrayals of Holmes were Jeremy Brett. Also, the sets and ephemera of the late Victorian era were most meticulously represented in this series. They would have eventually produced the entire "canon", as Holmes scholars term it, of 4 novels and 56 short stories, had it not been for Brett's untimely death.

I have not seen the recent series that are being refered to here, but I can't imagine any one catching Holmes better than Brett.

By the way, for any Holmes fan, the best collection of the works is without a doubt "The Annotated Sherlock Holmes", I think it's called, by William Baring-Gould, I believe. Long out of print, but available on Abebooks. All the stories are here, but the center columns of each page have the text, and the outer columns have photos and definitions and explanations of all the references in the text, which are I valuble for modern readers, spwho may not know, for wpexample, what a "tantalus" is. Has pictures of the coins of the era, buildings, you name it. An invaluable resource. I may have mis-spelled some things here, as I am going on memory, and it's getting late.

Best Regards, Les

 

[Watchdog]

Who is your favorite Sherlock Holmes?

Without a doubt, Basil Rathbone.

His performance in 1939's The Hound of the Baskervilles sets the standard by which all successive portrayals are judged. Whenever I read the original stories, it's Rathbone's face I see as Holmes.

Again...Basil Rathbone.

 

[PPS1980]

I enjoyed Rathbone as a kid too. I took a course in High School on Sherlock Holmes, yes an elective back in the age before Wifi, and William Baring-Gould's annotated stories were a must. They are available, used of course, from Amazon most days. I find Jeremy Brett hard to watch for some reason. The current incarnation of Holmes in Cumberbatch, on the other hand, I enjoy watching immensely despite his despicable politics.

 

[moncoacp]

Rathbone followed by the quirky portrayal by Nicol Williamson in Seven Percent Solution

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

[Telecaster]

I've enjoyed many over the years, but the current BBC Sherlock has had me riveted since the first episode. I just watched season 4, and was extremely satisfied. The writing and acting are superb, the cinematography is unique. Gotta love Mrs. Hudson. "I'm your landlady, not a plot device!"

 

[dben002]

There was and always will be only one Holmes....Rathbone.
There was and always will be only one 007.
There was and always will be only one Superman.
There was and always will be only one Batman.
There was and always will be only one Mr. Spock.
There was and always will be only one Angelina Jolie...

 

[loknload]

Never much of a Sherlock Holmes fan until the current movie duo of Robert Downey and Jude Law. I did enjoy the movies set back in the day.
Picked up on the new BBC version with Cumberbatch and Freeman and yes Mrs. Hudson. Sometimes though I find that some of the episodes are a little hard to follow!

 

[shouldazagged]

Jeremy Brett (PBS) is the DEFINITIVE Holmes! He could express volumes with the smallest twitch of the lip, or slightly raised eyebrow. The most intelligent portrayal on any screen.

Absolutely, without question. Brett caught the huge ego and odd quirks of Holmes brilliantly.

That series was vastly more faithful to the Conan Doyle stories, including the settings; and true to Conan Doyle, Watson was portrayed as a vigorous, intelligent middle-aged physician, not the bumbling comic-relief character written for Nigel Bruce.

If you read the stories today you'll find how good the Brett series was. Rathbone and Bruce were fun to watch, but the way the characters were originally written was much, much more interesting.

 

[Absalom]

I think there is a bit of a cultural factor at work here.

Even though Basil Rathbone was a British actor (well, South African, actually), the Sherlock Holmes movies starring him were Hollywood productions and likely the first and most prominent Holmes representations many of you saw.

Coming from Europe, even though I read Doyle's stories early on, I don't remember seeing any Rathbone movie back then. For us in the 1960s when the BBC show came out, Peter Cushing WAS Sherlock.

I think early impressions stick.

 

[Tom K]

Another adamant vote for Jeremy Brett. Perfect portrayal of the character that Doyle wrote.

Robert Downey Jr should not even be in this conversation. He makes a good Iron Man but casting him as Holmes is ludicrous.

 

[Jeff423]

Jeremy Brett (PBS) is the DEFINITIVE Holmes! He could express volumes with the smallest twitch of the lip, or slightly raised eyebrow. The most intelligent portrayal on any screen.

Everything he says!!!

IMHO every other portrayal is cartoonish.

 

[Watchdog]

Picked up on the new BBC version with Cumberbatch and Freeman and yes Mrs. Hudson. Sometimes though I find that some of the episodes are a little hard to follow!

Well, don't feel bad about that. Some of the original stories by Conan Doyle are hard to follow.

 

[Watchdog]

For us in the 1960s when the BBC show came out, Peter Cushing WAS Sherlock.

Earlier, I mentioned Rathbone in The Hound of the Baskervilles.

In 1959, twenty years after Rathbone, Hammer Films (remember them?) came out with their version, starring Peter Cushing as Holmes. Like Rathbone, Cushing had that long, angular face.

I saw the film in the theater when it came out. Unlike the original, the Cushing version actually scared me. The film seemed to accentuate the little gothic horror aspects of the story more than the Rathbone version.

They're both good films, and worth watching more than once.

 

[Jack Flash]

I agree with those who voted for Jeremy Brett, but I haven't seen the new series yet.

My only issue with the 1984 - 1994 Granada production is that it still retains, in a much smaller measure to be sure, some of the bumbling fool / thick as a brick attributes for Watson that were standard in the Rathbone movies. Not at all like the short stories / books.

Thanks Les.B for the reference to the "Annotated Sherlock Holmes". I'll get a copy. I love all those early illustrations.