Sherlock Holmes early 1900s, H. A. Saintsbury took over the role from Gillette for a tour of the play. Between this play and Conan Doyle's own stage adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", Saintsbury portrayed Holmes over 1,000 times. Basil Rathbone played Holmes and Nigel Bruce played Watson in fourteen U.S. films (two for 20th Century Fox and a dozen for Universal Pictures) from 1939 to 1946, and in "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" on the Mutual radio network from 1939 to 1946 (before the role of Holmes passed to Tom Conway). While the Fox films were period pieces,
Ian Carmichael on stage, screen and radio Ian Carmichael on stage, screen and radio The English actor and comedian Ian Carmichael OBE (1920–2010) performed in many mediums of light entertainment, including theatre, radio, television and film. His career spanned from 1939 until his death in 2010. According to Brian McFarlane, writing for the British Film Institute, Carmichael "epitomises the good-natured, undemanding pleasures of '50s British cinema". Carmichael made his professional stage debut in 1939 while he was studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art; his role was as a robot in the science fiction play "R.U.R.", which lasted for only a week. His studies were interrupted