Douglas Wilmer

Douglas Wilmer
as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series
Born	8 January 1920 (1920-01-08) (age 89) London, England

Douglas Wilmer (born 8 January 1920) is an English actor.

Early life

Wilmer was born in London and educated at King's School, Canterbury and Stonyhurst College. He trained at the RADA but was called up to the Army in World War II. Posted to an antitank battery in the Royal West African Frontier Force, he was invalided out after he acquired tuberculosis.^[1] He made his 1945 stage debut in repertory at Rugby. He appeared frequently on the London stage, mainly in classical and Shakespearean roles.

Career

He made his first major film appearance in Laurence Olivier's Richard III (1955) and since then, has appeared in a large number of films, mostly in supporting roles. They include several epic films: The Battle of the River Plate (1959), El Cid (1961), Cleopatra (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire(1964), Khartoum (1966), Patton (1970), Cromwell (1970), and Antony and Cleopatra (1972). Other appearances include Jason and the Argonauts, the Pink Panther films, A Shot in the Dark (1964) and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), The Vampire Lovers, Unman, Wittering and Zigo, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Octopussy (1983) and as Thomas Fairfax in Cromwell.

He is mainly associated with the role of Sherlock Holmes which he first played in the BBC's 1964 production of The Speckled Band. Together with co-star Nigel Stock, who played Doctor Watson, Wilmer was brought back for a further twelve episodes of the series. In 1973, Wilmer played author Jacques Futrelle's Holmesian detective Professor Van Dusen in The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes on BBC TV. In 1975 he once again appeared as Holmes (albeit in a supporting role) in Gene Wilder's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, with Thorley Walters as Dr. Watson.

Wilmer also played Sir Denis Nayland Smith in two Harry Alan Towers Fu Manchu films The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966) and The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967).

Wilmer was an honorary member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London.^[2] He has recorded a series of the stories on audio cassette for Penguin audio books and has appeared as a guest at several UK and US events, the most recent being the Society's Golden Jubilee Dinner in January 2001.^[3]

His other television credits include: The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Saint, The Troubleshooters, The Avengers, The Baron, UFO and Space: 1999.

In 2009 Wilmer released his autobiography entitled "Stage Whispers". On March 24th 2009 Wilmer was guest of honour at a launch party for his book held at the National Liberal Club in Whitehall Place, London.

Selected filmography

• The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954)

See also

• List of people who have played Sherlock Holmes

References

External links

• Douglas Wilmer at the Internet Movie Database

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