Oliver! (film) in the United States, and Oliver Reed, who played Bill Sikes, had just begun to make a name for himself. Producer John Woolf suggested Oliver Reed for the role to the director Reed, without knowing that the two were in fact related. Ron Moody, who was also well known in Britain but not the US, recreated his London stage performance, after Peter Sellers, Dick Van Dyke and Peter O'Toole reportedly turned down the role. Elizabeth Taylor turned down the role of Nancy as well. Julie Andrews was also considered. Director Reed also had Shirley Bassey in mind, but his choice
London in film film "Death of Nancy Sykes" in 1897. The most memorable of these are probably the musical "Oliver!" and the two David Lean films of "Oliver Twist" (1948) and "Great Expectations" (1946). Other film adaptations include "David Copperfield" in 1935 and 1969, "Nicholas Nickleby" in 1947 and 2002, "The Pickwick Papers" in 1952 and "Little Dorrit" in 1987. There have also been many versions of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", the best known of which is probably the 1951 Alastair Sim film "Scrooge". Many films have also been made of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Basil Rathbone played Holmes