-
01
Rathbone firmly believed in ESP. At age four, his parents booked passage on a ship from South Africa to Britain, but his mother’s dream that it would sink led them to delay travel; the ship sank with all aboard.
-
02
Many regard him as the greatest swordsman in Hollywood history, superior even to on-screen foes Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power. Because he was so frequently cast as the villain, he won only two on-screen duels in his career: as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet 1936 and as Capt. Esteban Pascuale in The Mark of Zorro 1940. His last sword fight, at age 63, was with Danny Kaye in The Court Jester 1955, which some call the best ever filmed.
-
03
Rathbone was so frequently typecast as a villain that he jumped at early opportunities to play Sherlock Holmes, saying: for once, I got to beat the bad guy instead of play him. He played the detective in 14 films and over 200 radio plays, but by 1946 he was so sick of the role that he quit the film series and returned to Broadway.
-
04
The sudden passing of his close associate Nigel Bruce devastated Rathbone. He never fully recovered from the loss till his dying day.
-
05
He was British Army Fencing Champion.
-
06
Rathbone was a distant cousin of Maj. Henry Rathbone, who was present at President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Maj. Rathbone was stabbed by John Wilkes Booth and later murdered his wife in an insane rage.
-
07
He fought in the British Army during World War I and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery under fire.
-
08
The Sherlock Holmes-esque Basil of Baker Street in The Great Mouse Detective 1986 is named after Rathbone.
-
09
Rathbone and Tyrone Power were Hollywood’s most accomplished fencing masters but preferred duelling with their fencing instructors for safety in scenes without close-ups.
-
10
When the UK declared war on Germany in 1939, Rathbone wrote to enlist but was deemed too old.
-
11
His interpretation of Sherlock Holmes set a standard that many later actors have tried to match.
-
12
The Rathbones remained a happily married couple for more than four decades and hosted lavish epicurean parties in their Los Feliz Hills home, which once belonged to Jack Dempsey.
-
13
To this day, many fans cite Basil Rathbone as the definitive Sherlock Holmes.
-
14
He was awarded three Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: for Motion Pictures at 6549 Hollywood Blvd., for Radio at 6300 Hollywood Blvd., and for Television at 6915 Hollywood Blvd.
-
15
He has appeared in three films selected for the National Film Registry: The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938, The Mark of Zorro 1940, and The Court Jester 1955.
-
16
Rathbone lost both of his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations to the same actor, Walter Brennan, and they were the first actors nominated twice in that category.
-
17
He was the favorite choice of Gone with the Wind author Margaret Mitchell to play Rhett Butler.
-
18
He was due to appear in Blood Beast Terror 1968 with Peter Cushing but died before filming started.
-
19
He practiced fencing four days a week.
-
20
He had one son with Ethel Marion Foreman: John Rodion.
-
21
Rathbone was in five films nominated for Best Picture Oscars: David Copperfield 1935, A Tale of Two Cities 1935, Captain Blood 1935, Romeo and Juliet 1936, and The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938.
-
22
He campaigned in vain for the role of Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945, believing his typecasting as Sherlock Holmes cost him the role.
-
23
His good friend Jack Miltern, who also loved Rathbone’s wife Ouida, lived with them in a cottage until Miltern was killed in a hit-and-run accident.
-
24
His final appearance as Sherlock Holmes was in a play written by his wife Ouida Bergère, titled Sherlock Holmes, which opened on Broadway on October 30, 1953, and lasted only three performances.
-
25
Rathbone played every major character from Shakespeare during his long stage career.
-
26
He never renounced his British citizenship and was a lifelong member of the Conservative party.
-
27
His autobiography In and Out of Character was written in 1956 but not published until 1961.
-
28
Although immortalized as a screen villain, before playing Murdstone in 1935 he had never played a villain and was known as a matinée idol and romantic leading man.
-
29
He died on the day of his only son’s 52nd birthday.
-
30
He is interred at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, NY.
-
31
Later in life, Rathbone began appearing as Holmes again on television and in movies, and wrote a play about Holmes with his wife. Despite expressing hostility to his identification as Sherlock, he likely needed to exploit his previous fame due to chronic lack of money.
-
32
He openly expressed his dislike for always being identified as Holmes during his latter years.
-
33
Rathbone was related by marriage to the famous Huxley family. His wife’s niece, Ouida Branch, married David Bruce Huxley, brother of writers Aldous and Julian Huxley and Nobel Prize-winning scientist Andrew Huxley.
-
34
He won Broadway’s 1948 Tony Award as Best Actor Dramatic for his performance as Dr. Sloper in The Heiress, sharing the award with Henry Fonda and Paul Kelly.
-
35
He played Holmes on radio in over 200 episodes, mostly set in contemporary times like the Universal films.
-
36
Before training as an actor, Basil Rathbone worked as a clerk for an insurance company for a year.
-
37
He had one daughter with Ouida Bergère: Cynthia Rathbone 1939-69.
-
38
Contrary to popular belief, Basil Rathbone played the Baker Street sleuth in a total of 14 movies, not 16.
-
39
Errol Flynn’s nickname for Rathbone was Dear Old Bazz.
-
40
As he was leaving for France during World War I, his parents waved him off at the railway station.
-
41
He reacted with annoyance when asked to sign an autograph in the name of Sherlock Holmes.
-
42
During the sword fight with Danny Kaye in The Court Jester, Giacomo calls Ravenhurst a ‘rat catcher’—a nod to Rathbone and Shakespeare, as Rathbone played Tybalt to Barrymore’s Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet 1936.
-
43
He was so often cast as a baddie that he only won one screen fight as Tybalt in 1936.
-
44
Rathbone is one of 13 actors who have received an Academy Award nomination for portraying a real-life king, for his role as King Louis XI in If I Were King 1938.
-
45
He fell out with his son in around 1940, and they only saw each other once again.
-
46
He appeared with John Carradine in seven films, including The Garden of Allah 1936, The Hound of the Baskervilles 1939, and The Court Jester 1955.
-
47
Rathbone was a lieutenant in the Liverpool Scottish Regiment during WWI, alongside Claude Rains, Herbert Marshall, and Ronald Colman. His Military Cross was for bravery in combat in the trenches.
-
48
He is mentioned in The Ghost Breakers 1945.
-
49
He has two roles in common with Tom Baker: both played Sir Guy of Gisbourne in different Robin Hood productions, and both played Sherlock Holmes in films.
-
50
He portrayed the title character on Blue 1939-42 and Mutual 1943-46 Radio’s The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
