Basil Rathbone

Basil Rathbone was born in Johannesburg, 13 June 1892 and died in New York on 21 July 1967. He was a British actor who became famous for his portrayals of Sherlock Holmes and elegant villains in swashbuckler films such as The Mark of Zorro (1940) and Robin Hood (1938).

His real name was Philip St. John Basil Rathbone. He was born to English parents Edgar Philip Rathbone and Anna Barbara. He had a sister and a brother, Beatrice and John. The family went to England when Basil was three years old, because of the Boer accusation against his father of spying for the British at the start of the Second Boer War.

Basil was educated at Repton School. In 1916 he enlisted to serve during the First World War in the London Scottish Regiment as a private and later as a lieutenant in the Liverpool Scottish. In the London Scottish, he served alongside actors Claude Rains, Herbert Marshall and Ronald Colman. In September 1918 he was awarded the Military Cross. Rathbone developed early as an outstanding foil fencer, reaching Olympic level.

He made his first stage appearance at the Theatre Royal, Ipswich, on 22 April 1911, in the role of Hortensio in The Taming of the Shrew, with Sir Frank Benson's company, under the direction of Henry Herbert. In October 1912 he travelled to America with the same company, appearing as Paris in Romeo and Juliet, Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor, in As You Like It, etc. Returning to England he appeared in London at the Savoy Theatre on 9 July 1914, in the role of Finch in The Sin of David. In December of that year he appeared at the Shaftesbury Theatre, playing the Dauphin in Shakespeare's Henry V. During 1915 he toured with Benson and appeared with him at the Court Theatre, London, in December, in the role of Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

During the 1919 Summer Festival he appeared at Stratford-upon-Avon with the New Shakespeare Company as Romeo, Cassius, Ferdinando in The Tempest, Florizel in The Winter's Tale, etc.; in October he was at the Queen's Theatre in London as Aide-de-Camp in Napoleon, and in February 1920 he appeared at the Savoy Theatre in the title role of Peter Ibbetson with great success.

During the 1920s Rathbone regularly performed plays by William Shakespeare as well as other English stage roles. He began touring and appeared at the Cort Theatre in New York in October 1923, and toured the United States in 1925, making his debut in San Francisco (May) and at the Lyceum Theatre in New York (October). He returned to the United States again in 1927, 1930, and 1931, when he appeared on stage with Ethel Barrymore. He continued his stage career in England, returning to the U.S. in 1934, where he starred opposite Katharine Cornell in several plays.

He also began his film career in 1925 in The Masked Bride, appeared in a few silent films, and was Detective Philo Vance in the 1929 film The Bishop Murder Case. Rathbone made his name playing dapper villains in costumbrista dramas and swashbuckler films of the 1930s, including David Copperfield (1935), Anna Karenina (1935) (he played Anna's husband), The Last Days of Pompeii (1935), Captain Blood (1935), A Tale of Two Cities (1935), Robin Hood (1938), Tower of London (1939), and as Captain Esteban Pasquale in the film The Mark of Zorro (1940), famous for its grand fencing feint with foils. Son of Frankenstein is the third film in Universal Studios' Frankenstein series and the last to star Boris Karloff as the monster. Released in 1939, it is often cited as among the best of that year. Rathbone played Dr. Frankenstein's son, Dr. Wolf Frankenstein.

He was admired for his mastery of the foil sword in his films (he acknowledged fencing as one of his favorite pastimes, and became an Olympic fencer), particularly in the beach duel in Captain Blood and as Sir Guy of Gisbourne in the lengthy fight scene in Robin of the Woods. Other notable sword fights appear in Tower of London, The Mark of Zorro, and The Court Jester (1956). Despite his real-life prowess, Rathbone only won one film sword fight, in Romeo and Juliet (1936). Rathbone earned Academy Award nominations for supporting roles as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936) and as King Louis XI in If I Were King (1938).
Despite his film successes, Rathbone insisted that he wished to be remembered for his stage career, which was also legendary, and he regarded his favorite role as Romeo.
In the 1950s, Rathbone starred in two parodies of his earlier swashbuckling villains, Casanova's Big Night (1954) opposite Bob Hope and The Court Jester (1956) with Danny Kaye. He appeared frequently on television shows, and had a major role in John Ford's political drama The Last Hurrah (1958).

Rathbone also acted on Broadway in a number of plays. In 1948, he won a Tony Award for Best Actor for his role as the hard-nosed Dr. Austin Sloper in the play The Heiress, which also starred Wendy Hiller as his shy, unmarried daughter. The role of Dr. Sloper was later reprised by Ralph Richardson in the 1949 film version of The Heiress. He was also praised for his performance in Archibald Macleish's J.B., an update of the biblical figure of Job.
During the 1950s and 1960s, he continued to appear in various television shows.

Unfortunately, to pay off debts, he had to work in low-quality films, such as The Black Sleep (1956), Queen of Blood (1966), Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966), Hillbillies in a Haunted House (1967, opposite Lon Chaney Jr.), and his last film, a Mexican horror film called Autopsy of a Ghost (1968). Meanwhile, his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes became iconic for younger generations thanks to the frequent reruns of his older films on television.

He is also known for his readings of Edgar Allan Poe's stories and poems, which have been collected together with readings by Vincent Price. Price and Rathbone appeared, along with Boris Karloff, in Tower of London (1939) and The Comedy of Horrors (1964). Rathbone and Price also appeared in the final segment of Roger Corman's 1962 film Tales of Terror.
Basil Rathbone has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One is dedicated to his film career at 6549 Hollywood Boulevard; another for his radio work at 6300 Hollywood Boulevard; and a final one for his television work at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard.

Rathbone married actress Ethel Marion Foreman in 1914, divorcing her in 1926. During his first marriage he had a brief affair with actress Eva Le Gallienne. He married a second time in 1927 to writer Ouida Bergère.

He had one son with his first wife, Rodion Rathbone (1915-1996), who briefly had a Hollywood career under the name John Rodion. Basil and his second wife adopted a daughter, Cynthia Rathbone (1939-1969). Like Charlie Chaplin and unlike some contemporary British actors in Hollywood and Broadway, Rathbone never renounced his British citizenship.
Basil Rathbone died of heart disease in New York in 1967, aged 75. His body was buried in a crypt at the Shrine of Memories Mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.