Basil Rathbone appeared in a series of TV commercials for Getz Exterminators ("Getz gets 'em, since 1888!'"). Rathbone also brought Holmes to the stage in a play written by his wife Ouida. Thomas Gomez, who had appeared as a Nazi ringleader in "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror", played the villainous Professor Moriarty. Nigel Bruce was slated to portray Dr Watson once more but became too ill and the part was played by character actor Jack Raine. Bruce's absence depressed Rathbone, particularly after Bruce died on 8 October 1953, while the play was in rehearsals. The play ran for only three
Sherlock Holmes (1932 film) Sherlock Holmes (1932 film) Sherlock Holmes (a.k.a. Conan Doyle's Master Detective Sherlock Holmes) is a 1932 American Pre-Code film starring Clive Brook as the eponymous London detective. The movie is based on the successful stage play "Sherlock Holmes" by William Gillette, in turn based on the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, and is directed by William K. Howard for the Fox Film Corporation. Brook had played Holmes previously in "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" and the "Murder Will Out" segment of "Paramount on Parade". Reginald Owen plays Dr. Watson, and Ernest Torrence is Holmes's arch-rival, Professor Moriarty. Reginald Owen played