Actors/Actresses in Mystery Series

For many fans of mystery films, Rathbone is the quintessential Sherlock Holmes. He and his co-star, Nigel Bruce, would appear in a total of 14 films as Holmes and Watson. In addition, when radio became a new medium, Rathbone and Bruce would reprise their roles respectively.

As there is no other Sherlock Holmes for me, there is also no other Dr. Watson than Nigel Bruce. While Bruce would play second-fiddle to Rathbone, the two were comparable in their roles. Note, when Rathbone grew tired of playing Sherlock Holmes on the radio, Bruce continued in his role as Dr. Watson.

When Hollywood decided to make a film making Lt. Charlie Chan of Honolulu the center of the plot, Warner Oland became the first European actor to play Chan. Oland would bring Charlie Chan into the sound era. When Oland died in 1938, he played Chan for a total of 16 times.

When actor Warner Oland died in 1938, 20th Century Fox cast veteran actor Sidney Toler into the role of Lt. Chan. When Fox decided to streamline their film offerings, Toler bought the rights to the franchise and brought it over to Monogram Pictures, a Poverty Row studio, to continue the franchise. Toler would continue to play Charlie Chan until his death in 1947. By his time of death, Toler would play Chan for a record total of 22 films. It should be noted that no other actor has yet to top this record playing any character in a film series.

Charming and debonair actor William Powell is noted for his role as former detective, Nick Charles. During the 30's and the 40's, Powell played Nick Charles six times. There may have been other actors in the role but none can match William Powell.

Ms. Loy, like Powell, is famous for her appearance in the six Thin Man films. She was Nora, the wife of Nick Charles. While Ms. Loy has a prolific career that spanned nearly sixty years, she will always be remembered as Nora.

During the career of Oscar winner George Sanders, he developed a reputation for playing cads on the screen. One of the reasons for this could be due to his turn as Gay Laurence, aka The Falcon. Laurence was also known as The Saint. Gay Laurence was a cad and a former thief, who would find himself in situations where he needed to prove his innocence. Sanders only played the Falcon four times. Eventually, when Sanders decided to move on to other film roles, his replacement was actor Tom Conway; his real-life brother. RKO Radio, the studio behind the Falcon series, played that up in the film, "The Falcon's Brother."

In 1932, Miss Oliver would become the first woman to head her own mystery series. She plays Miss Hildegarde Martha Withers, a teacher who discovers a body floating in a pool of penguins, at an aquarium. She would go on to do two other films as Miss Withers. Unfortunately, Miss Oliver only did a total of three films in this series as Ms. Withers.

Edward Arnold played a very unusual character that resulted in a two-picture series. He played blind detective Duncan "Mac" Maclain in the films, "Eyes in the Night" and "The Hidden Eye". The only thing I didn't like about this series is its lifespan- it was too short. Arnold is amazing as Det. Maclain and so is his companion, his seeing eye dog Friday!

Another prolific actor that appeared in a mystery series is Walter Pidgeon. During his long and prolific film career, Pidgeon played detective Nick Carter. In the late 30's and into the early 40's, Pidgeon played Detective Carter in a total of three films.

Ms. Granville earns a place on this list for starring as Nancy Drew, Detective. Ms. Granville is the first actress in the history of cinema to play Nancy Drew. Not only is she the first teenager to play the character on the big screen, she's also the youngest person to ever star in a mystery series for the big screen. Ms. Granville would play Nancy Drew a total of four times.