Sherlock Holmes is a legendary character in literature who has also been taken to film and television on many occasions . We tell you who have been the actors who have given life to the most famous detective of all time. As you will see, there are those you are waiting for and, perhaps, some surprise that you have overlooked …
Who is Sherlock Holmes
In case anyone has lived on a desert island until now, Sherlock Holmes is a character in literature created by the doctor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. There are 56 short stories of this fictional character and 4 books that narrate his adventures in the change from the 19th to the 20th centuries.
With relentless enemies like Moriarty, legendary lines he never actually said (“Elemental, dear Watson”), and unforgettable stories like The Hound of the Baskervilles , Holmes has become the most famous fictional detective of all time.
So it was not uncommon for him to appear on film and television screens, embodied by a multitude of actors.
The actors who have made Sherlock Holmes
Since the character first appeared in a short silent film from 1900, no fewer than 47 actors have played Holmes on film and 45 on television. And we are not taking into account those who participated in plays or put their voice in video games and radio serials.
It would be impossible to talk about all of them without turning this into an encyclopedia, in fact. So we are going to tell you a little about the most legendary, well-known … and curious .
The most legendary and well-known Sherlock Holmes actors in cinema
There are faces that you relate to Sherlock Holmes and the cinema and these are.
The legendary Basil Rathbone is indisputably the one who best represents Sherlock Holmes on screen. He played it between 1939 and 1946 and is Holmes’s sharp and serious “face” in black and white. Rathbone starred in no less than 15 films (and a cameo) that narrate some of the most famous literary adventures of Sherlock Holmes such as the already named The Hound of the Baskervilles and others inspired much more loosely by the works of Doyle
In that classic era we also find two other legendary actors who have played Holmes, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee . The first for another adaptation of The Hound … and the second in Sherlock Holmes and the necklace of death . The most interesting curiosity is that Cushing and Lee have coincided in the legendary horror films of the Hammer, the first as Van Helsing, the most famous vampire slayer in history, and the second as Count Dracula.
In more modern times, the most recognizable face that has embodied Holmes has been Robert Downey Jr. in the Guy Richie-directed film Sherlock Holmes (2009), with Jude Law in the role of Dr. Watson. They would all repeat in the sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), in which the duo would fight against Professor Moriarty, Holmes’s arch nemesis. As there are no two without three at present, a third film is scheduled to be released, but with Dexter Fletcher and not Guy Ritchie behind the camera.
Other famous actors, who you may not remember, but who have played Holmes in the movies are, for example, Johnny Depp in Sherlock Gnome or Will Ferrell in Holmes and Watson . Two films of 2018 that better to bury where they cannot be found.
The last to play him so far has been Henry Cavill , our favorite Superman and gamer , in the Netflix movie Enola Holmes. There he leaves the leading role to Millie Bobby Brown, who plays the fictional sister of the fictional detective, while Holmes’s suit tries not to break at the seams.
The most famous Sherlock Holmes actors on television
What can we say? The most recognizable actor as Holmes on the small screen is undoubtedly Benedict Cumberbatch , protagonist of the English series Sherlock , who had a phenomenal reception from critics and audiences and catapulted him to fame and roles such as Doctor Strange.
Johnny Lee Miller -below these lines- also plays Holmes in the series Elementary , which had no less than 7 seasons and 154 chapters. Both incarnations of Holmes are situated in the present times.
Interestingly, Miller is not the oldest actor in terms of years (although he does episodes), that honor goes to the actor in the image below, Jeremy Brett, who played the detective in 42 adaptations of Holmes over a decade, from 1984 to 1994.
Other recognizable actors have been Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who) or Jeremy Irons (a lot of movies, but we’re going to name him after the Alfred from Snyder’s Batman) who played Holmes, albeit very briefly, because they were comic sketches with him. protagonist detective.
The most curious Sherlock Holmes actors
If we review the list of actors who have worn Holmes’ cap and magnifying glass, we find some surprises.
The first is actress Yūko Takeuchi , who played the character in Miss Holmes , but she would not be the only eastern Sherlock. Yūji Oda, Yūko Takeuchi or Dean Fujioka are other Japanese actors who have given him life and face.
There is devotion to the character in the land of the rising sun, and there are several animes that focus on him and, what can we say? Miyazaki’s Holmes series is a living legend of animation.
While another curious case is that the identity of the first actor in a Holmes movie ( Sherlock Holmes Baffled ) is unknown, let me tell you about Gary Piquer .
If the name does not sound like you, know that he is a Spanish actor with many films behind him, who played Holmes in Holmes & Watson: Madrid days (2012), a Holmes film produced and directed by José Luis Garci . In this case, Holmes is in the capital of Spain investigating crimes very similar to those of the legendary Jack the Ripper.
The premise sounds good and there is a crossover with a literary flavor with historical figures such as Galdós or Baroja, but the result was frankly flat and unexciting, and it barely circulated in movie theaters.
Of course, Garci has dominated the times (and the contacts) and the film had 19 nominations for the Goya that year. No, we are not wavering you .
As you can see, there is a whole legion of actors who have put themselves in the role of Holmes. And that we have not counted radio serials, video games or plays. Little joke with the latter, that Leonard Nimoy, aka Spock, was Sherlock in one of them.
So, if you want to revisit the most famous detective of all time, but don’t feel like reading, you have all the options in the world to enjoy him on screen.