Basil Rathbone: His life and his films

by Michael B. Druxman

To the average moviegoer, the name of Basil Rathbone conjures up an image of fiction's most famous detective - Sherlock Holmes. Certainly, of all the actors who have played the Baker Street sleuth, his interpretation was definitive.Yet, for cinema aficionados, the actor was much more than the personification of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character. He began his film career in 1921 in Innocent, which was one of several silent films in which he appeared. He was also Mr. Murdstone in David Copperfield, Richard III in Tower of London, Louis XI in If I Were King, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Captain Estaban Pasquale in The Mark of Zorro, Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Baron Wolf von Frankenstein in Son of Frankenstein.For most of his years in motion pictures, Rathbone was the victim of type casting. During the 1930s, he was known as the screen's ultimate villain, constantly in demand by producers to carry out dastardly deeds against such heroes as Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper, and Leslie Howard. He also appeared opposite such leading ladies as Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Loretta Young, Olivia de Havilland, and Joan Crawford. Rathbone earned Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performances as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936) and as King Louis XI in If I Were King (1938).He portrayed Sherlock Holmes in fourteen Hollywood films made between 1939 and 1946 and in an Old Time Radio series. His later career included roles on Broadway, as well as television work. He received a Tony Award in 1948 as Best Actor in a Play.Through the 1950s and 1960s, he appeared on television as a panelist on the game show The Name's the Same (in 1954), and he also took roles in cheap film thrillers of far lesser quality, such as The Black Sleep (1956), Queen of Blood (1966), The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966), Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967, also featuring Lon Chaney Jr and John Carradine.), and his last film, a low-budget, Mexican horror film called Autopsy of a Ghost (1968).He is also known for his spoken word recordings, including his interpretation of Clement C. Moore's "The Night Before Christmas." Rathbone's readings of the stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe are collected together with readings by Vincent Price in Caedmon Audio's The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection on CD. Rathbone also made many other recordings, of everything from a dramatised version of Oliver Twist to a recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf (with Leopold Stokowski conducting) to a dramatised version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.On television he appeared in two musical versions of Dickens's A Christmas one in 1954, in which he played Marley's Ghost opposite Fredric March's Scrooge, and the original 1956 live-action version of The Stingiest Man In Town, in which he starred as a singing Ebenezer Scrooge.In the 1960s, he also toured with a one-man show titled (like his autobiography) In and Out of Character. In this show, he recited poetry and Shakespeare, as well as reminisced about his life and career. He appeared with Vincent Price and Boris Karloff, in Tower of London (1939) and The Comedy of Terrors (1964). The latter was the only film to feature the "Big Four" of American International Pictures' horror for over thirty-five years, Michael B. Druxman's Basil His Life and His Films is a carefully researched work that thoroughly examines the life and professional career of one of Hollywood's most respected character actors. This new edition includes an Introduction by the author, a Biography, Filmography, and more than 250 rare photographs.

Genres: Biography, Film, Media Tie In

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker, is a veteran Hollywood screenwriter whose credits include CHEYENNE WARRIOR with Kelly Preston, DILLINGER AND CAPONE starring Martin Sheen and F. Murray Abraham, and THE DOORWAY with Roy Scheider, which he also directed.

He is also a prolific playwright. Among his many works is the one-person play, JOLSON, which has had numerous productions around the country.

Additionally, he is the author of over a dozen other published books, including several nonfiction works about Hollywood, its movies, and the people who make them (e.g., BASIL RATHBONE: His Life and His Films, and MAKE IT AGAIN, SAM: A Survey of Movie Remakes), plus two novels, NOBODY DROWNS IN MINERAL LAKE and SHADOW WATCHER and a book of short stories, DRACULA MEETS JACK THE RIPPER & Other Revisionist Histories.

His memoir, MY FORTY-FIVE YEARS IN HOLLYWOOD...AND HOW I ESCAPED ALIVE, was published in 2010.

Mr. Druxman resides in Austin, TX.

Reviews

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basil Rathbone: his life and his films. This book contains three of my favorite movies. They are Captain Blood, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and The Court Jester. He was a versatile actor. This is a must-read for any of his fans.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The name Rathbone was bantered around my house all the time growing up. He was a big star and his movies were on television. He crossed swords with Errol Flynn and did scary movies with Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Lon Chaney (Jr.) and Bela Lugosi. He was a class act and was talked about for lots of reasons, primarily that dad's grandma was friends with Ouida, Basil's wife. One theory I made up is that great grandma met Ouida when she started in vaudeville in 1919. Great grandma had already been active for 20 years. It made us proud that the Rathbones loved great grandma. One of my aunts, a wonderful, life-loving lady, gushed about him. I wish she'd lived longer because I could talk to her about him.

By every account, even in Druxman's book, Basil was thoughtful and generous. The Rathbones sent cards and presents regularly for decades until something arrived summoning support for the British war effort. The story goes that grandfather tore up the card and forbid any more gifts from Rathbone, however, during WWII, dad, being stationed in California, visited the Rathbones and swam in their pool with scantily dressed Hollywood starlets and enjoyed their hospitality immensely.

Druxman's book leaves no stone unturned. It contains credits, plots, photos and reviews on everything Basil did throughout his long and amazing career. For anyone who wants to know about Rathbone, (I intend to read Rathbones' autobiography), BASIL RATHBONE HIS LIFE AND HIS FILMS, must be THE definitive book about Basil Rathbone.

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much!

I stumbled upon this by chance after it was donated to my library, and spent a handful of days really sinking my teeth into the story of an actor I've always enjoyed on screen, but really knew little about. And now, I can safely say that it was refreshing to hear about an actor who was genuinely a nice guy. Too often, you learn about bad behavior on the part of actors, authors, and other celebrities after their deaths, and it sort of ruins the image for you. Mr. Rathbone, however, was about as nice as they come.

The interested reader might be surprised (as I was) to see that the actual biography only takes up about 100 pages of this 350+ page book. However, despite being the shorter of the two parts, I never felt that it was lacking. Of course, there's always more detail you could put into the story of someone's life, but I appreciated that it never felt bogged down. I was able to learn a lot about Rathbone without feeling like I was trapped in a slog, which unfortunately happens too often with biographies that try to include every blessed detail about their subject.

The second "half" of the book was all about the films. Each film was touched upon in detail, production information was given, as well as a cast list, followed by a summary of the film, critical reception, some fun anecdotes, pictures, and a short review from the critics of the day. It was fascinating, and I found so many old films that I desperately want to watch now!

Like Dwight Frye's Last Laugh and Lon Chaney: The Man Behind The Thousand Faces, this book was clearly the work of a dedicated fan with a deep respect for his subject. I cannot recommend this more highly for Rathbone fans, and as I'm writing this, I must admit that I'm deeply saddened that the book is over. Fortunately for me, the book has made its way into my personal collection (only a dollar for this wonderful read!) and I know that I'll be picking it up again in the future.

[Debi Emerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a biography, this is pretty skimpy, but as a filmography, it is excellent.