Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes in five British films from 1931 to 1937. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce played Holmes and Watson in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" which launched a 14-film series. Rathbone is regarded as the Holmes of his generation. Many other films have been comedies and parodies that poke fun at Holmes, Watson, their relationship and other characters. These have included Billy Wilder's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" with Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely as Holmes and Watson. More serious, non-canonical films were "A Study in Terror" (with John Neville and Donald Houston) and "Murder by Decree" (with Christopher Plummer and
Basil Rathbone Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers and, occasionally, horror films. Rathbone frequently portrayed suave villains or morally ambiguous characters, such as Mr. 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