Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 â€" 21 July 1967) was
an English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a
Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films,
primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror
films.Rathbone frequently portrayed suave villains or morally
ambiguous characters, such as Mr. Murdstone in David Copperfield
(1935) and Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood
(1938). His most famous role was that of Sherlock Holmes in fourteen
Hollywood films made between 1939 and 1946 and in a radio series. His
later career included roles on Broadway, as well as self-ironic film
and television work. He received a Tony Award in 1948 as Best Actor in
a Play. He was also nominated for two Academy Awards and was honoured
with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.Rathbone was born in
Johannesburg, South Africa, to British parents. His mother, Anna
Barbara (née George), was a violinist, and his father, Edgar Philip
Rathbone, was a mining engineer and scion of the Liverpool Rathbone
family. He had two older half-brothers, Harold and Horace, as well as
two younger siblings, Beatrice and John. Basil was the great-grandson
of the noted Victorian philanthropist, William Rathbone V, and thus a
descendant of William Rathbone II. The Rathbones fled to Britain when
Basil was three years old when his father was accused by the Boers of
being a spy after the Jameson Raid. He was a distant cousin of Brevet
Colonel Henry Rathbone, who was present at the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln, and was seriously wounded trying to stop John Wilkes
Booth.
an English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a
Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films,
primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror
films.Rathbone frequently portrayed suave villains or morally
ambiguous characters, such as Mr. Murdstone in David Copperfield
(1935) and Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood
(1938). His most famous role was that of Sherlock Holmes in fourteen
Hollywood films made between 1939 and 1946 and in a radio series. His
later career included roles on Broadway, as well as self-ironic film
and television work. He received a Tony Award in 1948 as Best Actor in
a Play. He was also nominated for two Academy Awards and was honoured
with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.Rathbone was born in
Johannesburg, South Africa, to British parents. His mother, Anna
Barbara (née George), was a violinist, and his father, Edgar Philip
Rathbone, was a mining engineer and scion of the Liverpool Rathbone
family. He had two older half-brothers, Harold and Horace, as well as
two younger siblings, Beatrice and John. Basil was the great-grandson
of the noted Victorian philanthropist, William Rathbone V, and thus a
descendant of William Rathbone II. The Rathbones fled to Britain when
Basil was three years old when his father was accused by the Boers of
being a spy after the Jameson Raid. He was a distant cousin of Brevet
Colonel Henry Rathbone, who was present at the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln, and was seriously wounded trying to stop John Wilkes
Booth.
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