Basil Rathbone

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Basil Rathbone


Born
Johannesburg, South Africa
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Philip St. John Basil Rathbone, MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born British actor.

He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films. He frequently portrayed suave villains or morally ambiguous characters, such as Murdstone in David Copperfield (1935) and Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

His most famous role, however, was heroic—that of Sherlock Holmes in fourteen Hollywood films made between 1939 and 1946 and in a radio series. His later career included Broadway, self-ironic film and television work; he received a Tony Award in 1948 as Best Actor in a Play.

Average rating: 3.87 · 516 ratings · 83 reviews · 100 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Fall of the House of Us...

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4.17 avg rating — 75,031 ratings — published 1960 — 178 editions
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In and Out of Character

3.92 avg rating — 147 ratings — published 1956 — 15 editions
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Stories of sherlock holmes ...

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Adventures of Sherlock Holm...

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Erlanger Theatre Program fo...

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Basil Rathbone Selects Stra...

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Murder by Moonlight And Oth...

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The New Adventures of Sherl...

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Inscribed book about Sherlo...

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Sherlock Holmes Audio CD 1:...

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Quotes by Basil Rathbone  (?)
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“Never regret anything you have done with a sincere affection; nothing is lost that is born of the heart.”
Basil Rathbone

“[on how he was awarded his Military Cross]
All I did, old man, was disguise myself as a tree--that's correct, a tree--and cross no man's land to gather a bit of information from the German lines.
I have not since been called upon to play a tree.”
Basil Rathbone

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