The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978 film) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978 film) The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1978 British comedy film spoofing "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It starred Peter Cook as Sherlock Holmes and Dudley Moore as Dr. Watson. A number of other well-known British comedy actors appeared in the film including Terry-Thomas (in his final screen appearance), Kenneth Williams and Denholm Elliott. The film begins in a theatre, where a pianist (Moore) begins to play a piano accompaniment to the actual film being shown in the theater. Holmes (Cook) has just restored a stolen artifact to
The Hound of the Baskervilles of the Empty House" that Holmes had faked his own death. He was assisted with the plot by a 30-year-old "Daily Express" journalist named Bertram Fletcher Robinson (1870–1907). His ideas came from the legend of Richard Cabell (d.1677), of Brook Hall, in the parish of Buckfastleigh, Devon, which was the fundamental inspiration for the Baskerville tale of a hellish hound and a cursed country squire. Cabell's tomb survives in the village of Buckfastleigh. Squire Richard Cabell lived for hunting and was what in those days was described as a 'monstrously evil man'. He gained this reputation for, amongst other things,