William Nigel Ernle Bruce was born on 4 February 1895, usually known as Nigel Bruce, was a British stage and film, radio actor who gained fame as Doctor Watson in a series of films and radio plays with Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes.
His father was Sir William Waller Bruce, 10th Baronet (1856 – 1912), by his wife Angelica Selby (d. 1917), daughter of General George Selby, and he was born in Ensenada, Mexico during a holiday with his parents. He was educated at The Grange, Stevenage, and at Abingdon School, Berkshire. He served in France from 1914 as a Lieutenant in the 10th Service Battalion - Somerset Light Infantry, and in the Honourable Artillery Company, but was seriously wounded the following year, spending the rest of the First World War in a wheelchair.
His first stage appearance was on 12 May 1920 at the Comedy Theatre as a footman in Why Marry?. In October of that year he went to Canada as stage manager for Henry V. Esmond and Eva Moore, as well as playing Montague Jordan in Eliza Comes to Stay. He appeared constantly on stage thereafter, and eight years later began working in silent films. In 1934 he moved to Hollywood, settling in Beverly Hills.
During his film career he appeared in 78 films, including Treasure Island (1934), The Scarlet Pimpernel, Lassie Come Home, The Corn is Green, and Bwana Devil. He also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's films Rebecca (1940) and Suspicion (1941).
He often played buffoonish, clueless gentlemen, and his main role was as Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes series that began in 1939 with his good friend Basil Rathbone. Holmesian purists objected that in the books Watson was intelligent and capable, while Bruce's portrayal made him dumber and more clumsy. To millions of fans, however, Bruce was the definitive Watson. He starred in 14 films and more than 200 radio shows as Dr. Watson. Although Watson often appears as the older of the two characters, Bruce was actually three years younger than Rathbone. Unlike Rathbone, Bruce never tired of his role, and would even have liked to play it more often.
Unlike some of his contemporaries, he never renounced his British citizenship, despite his long residence in the United States, and retained his membership of the London clubs Garrick Club and Bucks Club until his death.
Bruce died on 8 October 1953 of an acute myocardial infarction in Santa Monica, California, in 1953, aged 58. He was cremated, and his ashes were kept at the Chapel of the Pines Crematorium in Los Angeles.
His last film, World for Ransom, was released posthumously in 1954.
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