Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series) nitrate film. The UCLA Film and Television Archive restored the series, putting the films onto modern polyester film, in a process that was jointly paid for by UCLA, Warner Bros. and Hugh Hefner. In 1938 Basil Rathbone was cast as Sherlock Holmes for the 20th Century Fox adaptation of "The Hound of the Baskervilles"; Nigel Bruce was chosen to play Dr. John Watson. Darryl F. Zanuck, Gregory Ratoff and Gene Markey made the choice of Rathbone as Holmes during a conversation at a party in Hollywood. Filming began on 29 December 1938 under the direction of Sidney Lanfield and the
Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes Vasily Livanov as Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Watson. Livanov earned honorary membership Order of the British Empire for a performance ambassador Anthony Brenton described as "one of the best I've ever seen". In 1983, Ian Richardson portrayed Sherlock Holmes in "The Sign of Four" with David Healy as Dr. John H. Watson. Later that same year, Richardson again played Holmes in a version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" with Donald Churchill as his Watson. In 1986, a TV movie called "My Tenderly Loved Detective" was made in Soviet Union about the adventures of the female Sherlock Holmes, called