Actors who have played Sherlock Holmes

1. Basil Rathbone

Basil Rathbone was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1892, but three years later his family was forced to flee the country because his father was accused by the Boers of being a British spy at a time when Dutch-British conflicts were leading to the Boer War. The Rathbones escaped to England, ...

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes & The Hound of the Baskervilles (both 1939), plus series of Universal second features (1942-1946)

2. Ian Richardson

Actor | From Hell

A classical actor (and founding member in 1960 of the Royal Shakespeare Company), Richardson earned international fame as the villainous Francis Urquart in the BBC television trilogy, "House of Cards." Uttered in a cut-glass accent, the Machiavellian Prime Minister's sly "You might well think that ...

The Sign of Four (1983) & The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983)

3. Peter Cushing

Actor | Star Wars

Peter Wilton Cushing was born on May 26, 1913 in Kenley, Surrey, England, to Nellie Maria (King) and George Edward Cushing, a quantity surveyor. He and his older brother David were raised first in Dulwich Village, a south London suburb, and then later back in Surrey. At an early age, Cushing was ...

Sherlock Holmes (TV, 1968) & The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

4. Stewart Granger

Actor | King Solomon's Mines

Stewart Granger was born James Lablache Stewart in London, the great grandson of the opera singer Luigi Lablache. He attended Epsom College but left after deciding not to pursue a medical degree. He decided to try acting and attended Webber-Douglas School of Dramatic Art, London. By 1935, he made ...

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972)

5. Christopher Lee

Actor | Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was perhaps the only actor of his generation to have starred in so many films and cult saga. Although most notable for personifying bloodsucking vampire, Dracula, on screen, he portrayed other varied characters on screen, most of which were villains, whether it ...

Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes (1962)

6. Jeremy Brett

Actor | My Fair Lady

The refined and debonair English actor Jeremy Brett will forever be best remembered for his long-running and critically acclaimed portrayal of Sherlock Holmes for Britain's Granada Television. From a privileged background, Brett was educated at England's most prestigious independent school, Eton ...

Sherlock Holmes (Granada TV, 1984-94)

7. Carlyle Blackwell

Actor | The Ocean Waif

Carlyle Blackwell was a popular American matinee idol and occasional director of the silent cinema. Debonair and darkly handsome, he made his debut with Vitagraph in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1910) and was seldom out of work as a romantic lead, progressing from one- and two-reelers to feature films by ...

Der Hund von Baskervilles (1929)

8. Jonathan Pryce

Actor | The Two Popes

Jonathan Pryce was born on June 1, 1947 in Holywell, Flintshire, Wales, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for The Two Popes (2019), The Wife (2017) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). He has been married to Kate Fahy since April 2015. They have three children.

Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (2007)

9. John Neville

Actor | The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

When John Neville was in his early sixties, Terry Gilliam cast him in the title role of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). Although the film was a financial failure, Neville's starring role in this major production, as well as his fine performance, led to an explosion in his career. He ...

A Study in Terror (1965)

10. Christopher Plummer

Actor | Beginners

Legendary actor Christopher Plummer, perhaps Canada's greatest thespian, delivered outstanding performances as Sherlock Holmes in Murder by Decree (1979), the chilling villain in The Silent Partner (1978), the iconoclastic Mike Wallace in The Insider (1999), the empathetic psychiatrist in A ...

Murder By Decree (1979)

11. Robert Stephens

Actor | Romeo and Juliet

Sir Robert's career fell into two distinct parts. In the '60s, he was widely regarded as the heir of Laurence Olivier. But, after his departure from Britain's National Theatre in 1970 and the breakup of his marriage with Maggie Smith three years later, he suffered a slump made worse by heavy ...

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

12. George C. Scott

Actor | Patton

George C. Scott was an immensely talented actor, a star of the big screen, stage and television. He was born on October 18, 1927 in Wise, Virginia, to Helena Agnes (Slemp) and George Dewey Scott. At the age of eight, his mother died, and his father, an executive at Buick, raised him. In 1945, he ...

They Might Be Giants (1971)

13. Benedict Cumberbatch

Actor | The Imitation Game

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch was born and raised in London, England. His parents, Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton (born Timothy Carlton Congdon Cumberbatch), are both actors. He is a grandson of submarine commander Henry Carlton Cumberbatch, and a great-grandson of diplomat Henry Arnold ...

Sherlock (BBC TV 2010-2016)

14. Ian McKellen

Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Widely regarded as one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, twice nominated for the Oscar and recipient of every major theatrical award in the UK and US, Ian Murray McKellen was born on May 25, 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire, England, to Margery ...

Mr. Holmes (2015)

15. Hans Albers

Soundtrack | Soul Kitchen

Life companion was the actress Hansi Burg. Their relationship started in 1925. They separated in 1935 due to the pressure of the German Nazi government. In 1938 she went into exile in Switzerland (later London). Shortly after this she married the Norwegian Erich Blydt. Burg returned to Germany and ...

Der Mann der Sherlock Holmes war (Ufa, 1937)

16. Rupert Everett

Actor | My Best Friend's Wedding

Stylish Rupert James Hector Everett was born on May 29, 1959, in Burnham Deepdale, Norfolk, to Sara (Maclean) and Anthony Michael Everett, a Major in the British Army, who later worked in business. Of royal stock, he is of primarily English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry with a dash of German and ...

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking (2004)

17. Michael Caine

Actor | The Dark Knight

Michael Caine was born as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London, to Ellen (née Burchell), a cook, and Maurice Micklewhite Sr., a fish-market porter. He had a younger brother, Stanley Caine, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He left school at age 15 and took a series of ...

Without a Clue (1988)

18. John Barrymore

Actor | Twentieth Century

John Barrymore was born John Sidney Blyth on February 15, 1882 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An American stage and screen actor whose rise to superstardom and subsequent decline is one of the legendary tragedies of Hollywood. A member of the most famous generation of the most famous theatrical ...

Sherlock Holmes (1922)

19. Robert Downey Jr.

Actor | Iron Man

Robert Downey Jr. has evolved into one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. With an amazing list of credits to his name, he has managed to stay new and fresh even after over four decades in the business.

Downey was born April 4, 1965 in Manhattan, New York, the son of writer, director and ...

Sherlock Holmes (2009) & A Game of Shadows (2011)

20. Ron Moody

Actor | Oliver!

Equipped with a crooked, leering smirk and devilish gleam in his eye, actor Ron Moody will be most assuredly remembered for one signature role, despite the fact that the talented comedian had much, much more to offer. Carol Channing may have had her Dolly Levi and Yul Brynner his King of Siam, but ...

Who's Moody (1960) TV

21. Jonny Lee Miller

Actor | Æon Flux

Jonny (sometimes credited as Johnny) Lee Miller was born on November 15, 1972, in Kingston, England, UK. He is the son of actors Anna Lee and Alan Miller and the grandson of actor Bernard Lee. After appearing in many high school plays at his selective state grammar school, Jonny dropped out at 17 ...

Elementary (TV, 2012-19)

22. Guy Henry

Actor | Rogue One

Guy Henry is a British stage and screen actor. He is best-known for his roles in Rome (2005) and John Adams (2008). He trained at RADA (1979-1981). He has done most of his work at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has appeared in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) and Harry Potter ...

Young Sherlock (1982)

23. Nicholas Rowe

Actor | Young Sherlock Holmes

Speaks fluent Spanish and French. Lives in London. Attended Bristol University (BA in Hispanic Studies). Has appeared in numerous British plays and television programs. Most recognized by Americans as Sherlock Holmes in Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). The son of a member of Parliament. Lived with Lou...

Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

24. Alan Rickman

Actor | Die Hard

Alan Rickman was born on a council estate in Acton, West London, to Margaret Doreen Rose (Bartlett), of English and Welsh descent, and Bernard Rickman, of Irish descent, who worked at a factory. Alan Rickman had an older brother (David), a younger brother (Michael), and a younger sister (Sheila). ...

on stage in 1976

25. Barry Foster

Actor | Frenzy

John Barry Foster's acting career began and ended on the stage. At the age of 20 he won a scholarship to the Central School of Speech and Drama where he befriended future playwright Harold Pinter. After two years training, Barry went on tour with Andrew McMaster and fellow actors Patrick Magee and ...

on radio (1978)

26. Charlton Heston

Actor | Ben-Hur

With features chiseled in stone, and renowned for playing a long list of historical figures, particularly in Biblical epics, the tall, well-built and ruggedly handsome Charlton Heston was one of Hollywood's top leading men of his prime and remained active in front of movie cameras for over sixty ...

The Crucifer of Blood (1991) - also on stage

27. Peter Jones

Actor | Whoops Apocalypse

Actor, playwright and game show panellist, the son of an antiques dealer. Jones was educated at Ellesmere College where he first performed in school plays. At age sixteen he made an unsuccessful stab at acting on the professional stage at the Wolverhampton Grand but was fired after just one ...

The Curious Case of the Countless Clues (TV, 1968)

28. Frank Langella

Actor | Frost/Nixon

Frank Langella was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, to Angelina and Frank A. Langella, a business executive. He is of Italian descent.

A stage and screen actor of extreme versatility, Frank Langella won acclaim on the New York stage in "Seascape" and followed it up with the title role in the Edward Gorey...

on stage (1981 & 1987)

29. Roger Moore

Actor | Moonraker

Roger Moore will perhaps always be remembered as the man who replaced Sean Connery in the James Bond series, arguably something he never lived down.

Roger George Moore was born on October 14, 1927 in Stockwell, London, England, the son of Lillian (Pope) and George Alfred Moore, a policeman. His ...

Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976)

30. Alan Wheatley

Actor | The Pickwick Papers

Sharp-featured, incisive Surrey-born actor whose chief trademark was a memorably mellifluous voice. This, he used to maximum effect as a tool for impersonating a gallery of suave, urbane - usually rather likeable - villains, rogues and assorted shady types. He often imbued these characters with an ...

Sherlock Holmes (TV, 1951)

31. Matt Frewer

Actor | Watchmen

Matt Frewer has been travelling all over North America in recent months filming recurring roles. Most recently, he worked in Los Angeles for HBO's Perry Mason and in Austin for AMC's Fear The Walking Dead. In Vancouver portrayed Carnage in Netflix's sci-fi drama Altered Carbon (2018); in Montreal (...

4 x TV, 2000-2002

32. William Gillette

Writer | Sherlock Holmes

Handsome American actor, playwright and stage director/producer William Gillette was born in Hartford, CT, in 1853. His father Francis was a former United States Senator and crusader for women's suffrage and the abolition of slavery; his mother Elisabeth Daggett Hooker is a descendant of Rev. ...

Sherlock Holmes (1916) also on stage and radio

33. James D'Arcy

Actor | Cloud Atlas

James D'Arcy was born Simon Richard D'Arcy in London, England, to Caroline (O'Connor) and Richard D'Arcy. He was raised by his mother, a nurse. He trained at LAMDA and graduated in July 1995. During his three-year course, he gained acting experience by appearing in the plays "Heracles", "As You ...

Sherlock (TV, 2002)

34. Ronald Pickup

Actor | The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Ronald Alfred Pickup was a highly respected, incisive, classically trained character actor who specialized in the portrayal of prominent historical authority figures or crusty academics. He was born in Chester, England, to English and French language lecturer Eric Pickup and his wife Daisy (née ...

on radio

35. Robert Powell

Actor | The Italian Job

Robert Powell was born on Thursday, June 1st, 1944, five days before D-Day, on Tuesday, June 6th, 1944, in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. In 1964, he started his acting career while attending Manchester University. In 1967, he made his film debut, and later landed his first starring role in ...

stage and radio

36. Tim Pigott-Smith

Actor | V for Vendetta

A familiar patrician-looking face both here and abroad, blue-eyed, fair-haired classical stage and TV actor Tim Pigott-Smith, the son of a journalist, was born on in Rugby, Warwickshire, on May 13, 1946. The Britisher attended King Edward VI School in Stratford-upon-Avon, graduated from Bristol ...

stage and radio

37. Nicol Williamson

Actor | Excalibur

Nicol Williamson was an enormously talented actor who was considered by some critics to be the finest actor of his generation in the late 1960s and the 1970s, rivaled only by Albert Finney, whom Williamson bested in the classics. Williamson's 1969 "Hamlet" at the Roundhouse Theatre was a sensation ...

The Seven-Percent Solution (1976)

38. Arthur Wontner

Actor | The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Wontner (1875-1960), the critics' choice. "No better "Sherlock Holmes" than Arthur Wontner is likely to be seen and heard in pictures, in our time... The keen, worn, kindly face and quiet prescient smile are out of the very pages of the book", Vincent Starrett's 'The Private Life of Sherlock...

five feature films, 1931-1937, beginning with The Sleeping Cardinal

39. Edward Woodward

Actor | The Wicker Man

British actor Edward Woodward made a highly successful transition into Hollywood TV stardom in the mid 1980s thanks to a popular dramatic series. Possessing a magnetic, yet coldly handsome demeanor in the same mold as Christopher Plummer, he was born Edward Albert Arthur Woodward on June 1, 1930, ...

Hands of a Murderer (1990)

40. Douglas Wilmer

Actor | Octopussy

Douglas Wilmer was born on January 8, 1920 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Octopussy (1983), Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and El Cid (1961). He was married to Anne Harding and Elizabeth Joan Melville. He died on March 31, 2016 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK.

Sherlock Holmes (TV, 1964-65)

41. Clive Brook

Actor | Cavalcade

Born in London, England to Charlotte Mary (opera singer) and George Alfred Brook. He was educated privately. Stage experience included: "Oliver Twist", "Voysey Inheritence", "If I were King", "Importance of Being Ernest", Fair and Warmer", "Over Sunday", "Clothes and the WOman", and many others. ...

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929), Sherlock Holmes (1932)

42. Keith Michell

Actor | Henry VIII and His Six Wives

Keith Michell was an Emmy Award-winning Australian stage, television, and film actor. Born 1 December 1926 in Adelaide, South Australia, he was brought up some 150 miles away, in Warnertown, on the Augusta Highway between Crystal Brook and Port Pirie. He taught art until he made his debut on the ...

on stage

43. Alan Napier

Actor | Marnie

A tall, distinguished-looking English character actor with aristocratic bearing and a precisely modulated voice, Alan William Napier-Clavering was born in Kings Norton, Worcestershire, England. A cousin of the former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, he studied at the Royal Academy of ...

The Adventure of the Speckled Band (TV, 1949)

44. Tom Baker

Actor | Doctor Who

One of Britain's most recognizable (and most larger-than-life) character actors, Tom Baker is best known for his record-setting seven-year stint as the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who (1963). He was born in 1934 in Liverpool, to Mary Jane (Fleming) and John Stewart Baker. His father was of English and ...

The Hound of the Baskervilles (TV, 1982)

45. Richard Roxburgh

Actor | Van Helsing

Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor, writer and producer who is known for portraying Dracula in the 2004 cult classic monster movie Van Helsing starring Hugh Jackman, Hugh Stamp in Mission: Impossible 2 and for his collaborations with Baz Luhrmann, particularly Moulin Rouge. He is married to ...

The Hound of the Baskervilles (TV, 2002)

46. Brent Spiner

Actor | Star Trek: First Contact

Brent Spiner, whose primary claim to fame is his portrayal of the beloved android Data on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), was born and raised in Houston, Texas. His parents, Sylvia (Schwartz) and Jack Spiner, owned and operated a furniture store, and were both from ...

on Star Trek: The Next Generation

47. Guy Rolfe

Actor | Operation Diplomat

Gaunt and saturnine British character actor of stage and screen, Guy Rolfe made his stage debut in 1936, the same year he had a small uncredited bit part in Knight Without Armor (1937). Rolfe had spent his early twenties as a professional race car driver and boxer before making the move into films....

The Case of Marcel Duchamp (1984)

48. H.A. Saintsbury

Actor | The Valley of Fear

H.A. Saintsbury was born on December 18, 1867 in Chelsea, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Valley of Fear (1916). He was married to Florence Alice Bridget. He died on June 19, 1939 in London, England, UK.

The Valley of Fear (1916)

49. Tom Conway

Actor | Cat People

Tom Conway played "The Falcon" in ten of that series' entries. He starred in three Val Lewton horror classics. He appeared in comedies, musicals, two Tarzan films and even science fiction films.

He was early television's Detective Mark Saber, but Conway will probably be best remembered as George ...

on radio (1946-7)

50. Peter Capaldi

Actor | Doctor Who

Peter Capaldi was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Nancy (Soutar) and Gerald John Capaldi. His parents owned an ice cream business. He is of Italian (from his paternal grandfather), Scottish, and Irish descent. Capaldi attended drama classes and was accepted into the Glasgow School of Art. After ...

Sherlock Holmes and Watson (TV, 1994)

51. Peter O'Toole

Actor | Lawrence of Arabia

A leading man of prodigious talents, Peter O'Toole was born and raised in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, the son of Constance Jane Eliot (Ferguson), a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player and racecourse bookmaker. Upon leaving school, he decided to become a...

on stage (1976) and voice (TV, 1983-4)

52. Peter Wyngarde

Actor | Flash Gordon

Peter Paul Wyngarde was born at the home of an aunt in Marseille, Southern France, and is the son of an English father and French mother. Owing to his father's work as a member of the British Diplomatic Service, Peter spent much of his early childhood moving from one country to another, and was ...

The Illustrious Client (TV, 1965)

53. Alan Tudyk

Actor | Rogue One

Alan Tudyk was born in El Paso, Texas, but grew up in Plano, where he attended Plano Sr. High. In 1990, he went on to study drama at Lon Morris Jr. College. While there, he was awarded the Academic Excellence Award for Drama. He was also named Most Likely to Succeed and Sophomore Beau. During this ...

on stage (2019)

54. Larry Hagman

Actor | Dallas

The son of a legendary actress (Mary Martin) and a district attorney, Larry Martin Hagman was born on September 21, 1931 in Fort Worth, Texas. After his parents' divorce, he moved to Los Angeles, California to live with his grandmother. When he was 12, his grandmother died and he moved back to his ...

The Return of the World's Greatest Detective (TV, 1976)

55. Bernard Horsfall

Actor | Braveheart

He was educated at Rugby where he became interested in acting. He spent a year in Canada studying agriculture then returned to England and taught at a prep school in Surrey. In 1950 he joined the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and on completing the course joined and toured with Dundee ...

on stage (1981)

56. Gerald Harper

Actor | The Admirable Crichton

Gerald Harper was born on February 15, 1929 in London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Paradise Lagoon (1957), The League of Gentlemen (1960) and Gazette (1968).

(on stage, 1979)

57. Reginald Owen

Actor | Mary Poppins

Born August 5th, 1887 in England, Reginald Owen was among Hollywood's busier character actors, making more than 80 films. He was educated in England at Sir Herbert Tree's Academy of Dramatic Arts. Owen excelled and made his professional debut also in England at the age of 18. He came to New York in...

A Study in Scarlet (1933)

58. Simon Callow

Actor | Four Weddings and a Funeral

Simon Callow was born on June 13, 1949 in London, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998) and A Room with a View (1985). He has been married to Sebastian Fox since June 2016.

on radio (1993)

59. Peter Cook

Actor | The Princess Bride

One of four stars of the London and New York revues Beyond the Fringe and Beyond the Fringe (with Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett, and Dudley Moore). Later created scatological comedy routine "Derek & Clive" with Moore.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1979)

60. Leonard Nimoy

Actor | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Leonard Simon Nimoy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Dora (Spinner) and Max Nimoy, who owned a barbershop. His parents were Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. Raised in a tenement and acting in community theaters since age eight, Nimoy did not make his Hollywood debut until he was 20, with a bit ...

on stage (1976)

61. Nigel Bruce

Actor | Rebecca

Nigel was, from the beginning, typecast as bumbling English aristocrats, military types or drawing room society snobs and, within the narrow parameters of his range, he was very, very good at playing these parts. Nigel Bruce was born in Mexico, where his father, Sir William W. Bruce, worked as an ...

yes, the perennial Dr. Watson played the great sleuth once on radio, in 1945 !

62. Eille Norwood

Actor | The Man with the Twisted Lip

Eille Norwood was born on October 11, 1861 in York, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Man with the Twisted Lip (1921), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1921) and The Sign of Four (1923). He was married to Ruth Mackay. He died on December 24, 1948 in London, England, UK.

five feature films between 1921 and 1923, beginning with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

63. Brian Bedford

Actor | Nixon

Brian Bedford was born on February 16, 1935 in Morley, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for Nixon (1995), Robin Hood (1973) and Grand Prix (1966). He was married to Tim MacDonald. He died on January 13, 2016 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.

My Dear Watson (TV, 1989)

64. Raymond Massey

Actor | Arsenic and Old Lace

Educated at the University of Toronto & Balliol College, Oxford, he joined the Canadian Field Artillery in World War I, served in France & was wounded. His first appearance was in a stage production in Siberia, during the multi-nation intervention of 1918 - 1919. Raymond returned to Canada & his ...

The Speckled Band (1931)

65. Patrick Macnee

Actor | The Avengers

British actor Patrick Macnee was born on February 6, 1922 in London, England into a wealthy and eccentric family. His father, Daniel Macnee, was a race horse trainer, who drank and gambled away the family fortune, leaving young Patrick to be raised by his lesbian mother, Dorothea Mary, and her ...

The Hound of London (TV, 1993)

66. Christopher Lloyd

Actor | Back to the Future

Christopher Lloyd is an American actor with a relatively long career. His better known roles include drug-using taxicab driver Jim Ignatowski in the sitcom Taxi (1978), Klingon Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), inventor Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the Back to the Future ...

on stage (1990)

67. David Arquette

Actor | Scream 3

The youngest of five, David Arquette was born in Winchester, Virginia and is part of the illustrious Arquette family, whose work has spread over several generations. His parents, Lewis Arquette, an actor, and Brenda Denaut (née Nowak), an acting teacher and therapist, had 4 other children: Rosanna ...

on stage (2015)

68. John Longden

Actor | Blackmail

John Longden was born on November 11, 1900 in the West Indies. He was an actor and writer, known for Blackmail (1929), Quatermass 2 (1957) and Quinneys (1927). He was married to Jean Jay. He died on May 26, 1971 in London, England, UK.

TV (1951)

69. Howard Marion-Crawford

Actor | The Face of Fu Manchu

Howard Marion-Crawford was born on January 17, 1914 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969). He was married to Germaine Tighe-Umbers, Junia Crawford, Mary Wimbush and Jeanne Scott-Gunn. He died on ...

on radio (1948) - also played Watson in a 1950s TV series

70. Francis Ford

Actor | The Purple Mask

Elder brother of the director John Ford and himself a screen director (and John's erstwhile mentor) until the advent of sound. He had also acted in his own films and those of other directors, but turned to acting exclusively circa 1929. As actor, he would provide convincing portrayals of men of ...

A Study in Scarlet (1914)

71. Richard E. Grant

Actor | Gosford Park

Richard E. Grant is an actor and presenter. He made his film debut as Withnail in the comedy Withnail and I (1987). Grant received critical acclaim for his role as Jack Hock in Marielle Heller's drama film Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), winning various awards including the Independent Spirit ...

The Other Side, TV (1992)

72. Hermann Speelmans

Actor | Danton

Hermann Speelmans was born on August 14, 1906 in Uerdingen, Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was an actor, known for Danton (1931), Our Flags Lead Us Forward (1933) and A Certain Mr. Gran (1933). He died on February 9, 1960 in Berlin, Germany.

Sherlock Holmes: Die graue Dame (1937)

73. Ronald Howard

Actor | Come September

The British actor Ronald Howard was born in Norwood, London, England, in 1918. He and his younger sister Leslie Ruth Howard were raised by their mother Ruth Evelyn Martin and their father, the renowned actor Leslie Howard. After college, Howard became a newspaper reporter for a while but decided to...

Sherlock Holmes (TV, 1954)

74. Viggo Larsen

Director | Der Eid des Stephan Huller

Viggo Larsen was born on August 14, 1880 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was a director and actor, known for Der Eid des Stephan Huller (1912), The Grey Lady (1909) and Das Kriegslied der Rheinarmee (1914). He died on January 6, 1957 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

seven feature films between 1908 and 1910

75. Julian Glover

Actor | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Julian Wyatt Glover was born on March 27, 1935 in Hampstead, London, England, to Honor Ellen Morgan (Wyatt), a BBC journalist, and Claude Gordon Glover, a BBC radio producer. He is of English, Scottish and Welsh ancestry. Primarily a classical stage actor, Glover trained at the National Youth ...

on stage (1976)

76. Robert Hardy

Actor | Sense and Sensibility

One of England's most successful and enduring character actors, with a prolific screen career on television and in films, Robert Hardy was acclaimed for his versatility and the depth of his performances.

Born in Cheltenham in 1925, he studied at Oxford University and, in 1949, he joined the ...

eight sound dramas written for records (Nigel Stock voiced Watson)

77. Felix Aylmer

Actor | Hamlet

British character actor Felix Aylmer was educated at Oxford and later studied drama, making his stage debut at the London Coliseum in 1911. During World War I he served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and resumed his stage career after the war ended. He entered films in 1930 and stayed in them...

on stage (1933)

78. John Gielgud

Actor | Arthur

Born in London, England, John Gielgud trained at Lady Benson's Acting School and RADA, London. Best known for his Shakespearean roles in the theater, he first played Hamlet at the age of 26. He worked under the tutelage of Lilian Bayliss with friend and fellow performer Laurence Olivier and other ...

on radio (1954)

79. Richard Hurndall

Actor | Oil Strike North

A gaunt, intense character actor of striking presence, Richard Gibbon Hurndall was educated at Scarborough College and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He acted professionally from 1930, initially in repertory theatre and later with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon,...

on radio (1959)

80. Cedric Hardwicke

Actor | The Ten Commandments

Sir Cedric Hardwicke, one of the great character actors in the first decades of the talking picture, was born in Lye, England on February 19, 1893. Hardwicke attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his stage debut in 1912. His career was interrupted by military service in World War I, ...

on radio (1945)

81. Fritz Weaver

Actor | Creepshow

Fritz Weaver, the American actor, was born on January 19, 1926, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He served in Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector during World War II, breaking into acting in the early 1950s. He made his Broadway debut in October 1955 in "The Chalk Garden," which ...

on stage

82. Orson Welles

Actor | Citizen Kane

His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...

on radio (1938)

83. Henry Cavill

Actor | Man of Steel

Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill was born on the Bailiwick of Jersey, a British Crown dependency in the Channel Islands. His mother, Marianne (Dalgliesh), a housewife, was also born on Jersey, and is of Irish, Scottish and English ancestry. Henry's father, Colin Richard Cavill, a stockbroker, is of ...

Enola Holmes (2020)

84. Patrick Horgan

Actor | Zelig

Resonantly-voiced English-born thespian John Patrick Horgan was best known for his affinity with the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, or, more specifically, Sherlock Holmes. He played the great detective several times on stage, notably in 1975 and 1990, as well as providing the character's voice on two...

on stage

85. Geoffrey Whitehead

Actor | A Legacy

He may well be the only professional actor to have played both Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemesis, having interpreted the great detective in Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (1980) on TV and the 'Napoleon of Crime' Professor Moriarty in the burlesque spoof The Newly Discovered Casebook of ...

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (TV, 1979-80)