Author: David Clayton
Genre: Biography/Film
Digital Book
ASIN #: B08DG6PJ7C
The History Press
231 Pages
$7.99 Amazon
August 3, 2020
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Basil Rathbone is synonymous with Sherlock Holmes.
He played the Victorian sleuth in fourteen Fox/Universal films of the 1930's and '40's, as well as on stage and radio. For many people, he is the Holmes.
Basil Rathbone grew to hate Sherlock Holmes.
The character placed restrictions on his career; before Holmes he was an esteemed theatre actor, appearing in Broadway plays such as The Captive and The Swan, the latter of which became his launchpad to greater stardom. But he never, ever escaped his most famous role.
Basil Rathbone was not Sherlock Holmes.
In The Curse of Sherlock Holmes, celebrated biographer David Clayton looks at the behind-the-camera life of a remarkable man who deserved so much more than to be relegated to just one role.
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This biography of Basil Rathbone is perhaps one of the best written, just behind Basil's own autobiography. While Mr. Clayton clearly likes his subject, he doesn't pull any punches as to Mr. Rathbone.
In the beginning, Basil always knew he wanted to be an actor. But he couldn't give this information to his parents, and instead at his school Repton, he excelled in sports of all kind while honing his skills in the theatre. He was an ordinary scholarly student, struggling to keep his grades up because his interests were elsewhere. However, when it was needed, he managed to keep them up enough to graduate.
Basil was an extraordinary man; so much more than what most people know of him. He was a war hero, and there is several paragraphs which dictate just how fearless (or bored) he was; something that is normal today in the military was not familiar then. I was surprised, but happily so.
He married twice, and while his first marriage suffered and ended, leaving his ex-wife with his young son Rodian (a sad story in itself), he managed to find a new wife named Ouida, who excelled herself in entertaining and loved lavish parties. Perhaps this is the reason -- as the author speculates -- that Basil kept himself working after most of his prospects were done.
He was not only an accomplished theatre actor -- his first love -- but also an accomplished actor in film, and so much more than just Sherlock Holmes. I have seen most, if not all, of his films, and am still amazed each time I see Son of Frankenstein, where there is a scene in which he does his own stunts. I love his swordplay in the films. I love his voice, so full of life and vigor, his body of regal bearing like a tiger about to pounce.
But it is Sherlock with which he is identified both, and this role made him rich, but took away much of his soul. He will be forever identified in it; and I watch these films at least once per year. While I enjoy them, I could enjoy them more if Nigel Bruce were not such a bumbling fool in them (no offense to Mr. Bruce's acting; it takes a good actor to be perceived so and get away with it). If anyone knows the books as I do, Dr. Watson narrates them, and a fool could not do this. But I find no fault with Mr. Rathbone's portrayal of Holmes. It is indeed excellent, and just what I would consider Holmes to be. Perhaps the only reason I prefer Jeremy Brett's Holmes to Basil's is because Dr. Watson in that series is more what Dr. Watson should have been in the first place. I will never know the answer to this question.
But Basil was cursed by Holmes and unable to find decent roles when he had given it up, and it was this that he ended his career on; and a sad ending for such a jovial and talented actor. We can surmise that he would not have had to take roles he despised if it were not for Ouida spending all his money; it is opined by the author that she controlled Basil at home; and if you see how his own son and grandchildren were treated, I can sympathize (my own stepmother attempted to erase my father's first family, too -- but without success, at least). It caused sadness for Basil.
In the end, this biography details Basil's life -- both good and bad -- and gives us a better understanding of the man and the actor. I am glad that I discovered it, and I would highly recommend it to others.
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