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 1960s, there was a BBC TV series entitled "Sherlock Holmes" with Douglas Wilmer and Nigel Stock. Peter Cushing, who had earlier played the detective in the Hammer version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles", later took over from Wilmer in the lead role. The 24 part series "Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson" (1979–1980) starred Geoffrey Whitehead as Holmes and Donald Pickering as Watson. In 1982, Granada Television aired an eight-part series entitled "" which told the story of Holmes' youth. The show starred Guy Henry as Sherlock Holmes. Also in 1982, the BBC produced an adaptation of The Hound of