Basil Rathbone was a South-African actor.
Biography[]
Born Philip St. John Basil Rathbone in Johannesburg, he studied at Repton School and made his first stage appearance in a 1911 production of The Taming of the Shrew. After serving in the Army, he resumed his stage career (which he considered his finest work) and made his film debut in 1925, making a name for himself as swashbuckling villains in The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood and The Mark of Zorro.
In 1939, Rathbone was cast in his most famous role, that of Sherlock Holmes in in twelve film series based on the character. He also went on to win a Tony Award for his part in The Heiress, performed a one-man show entitled In and Out of Character' ' and recorded several readings of works by Edgar Allen Poe as well as classics such as The Night Before Christmas.
Rathbone passed away in 1967.
Singing[]
Rathbone sang on a handful of occasions on film, generally performing fragments of songs such as "I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside" in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and more substantially as Ebenezer Scrooge in an episode of The Alcoa Hour, entitled "The Stingiest Man in Town".
Film[]
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)[]
- I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside (solo)
Above Suspicion (1943)[]
- Oxford University Song
Television[]
The Alcoa Hour (1956)[]
- Humbug (solo)
- I Wear a Chain (duet)
- Spirit Theme (duet)
- The Christmas Spirit (contains solo lines)
- One Little Boy (contains solo lines)
- I Wear a Chain (reprise)(solo)
- Mankind Should Be My Business (solo)
Gallery[]
