Basil Rathbone

English actor (1892–1967)

OverviewAI-generated

Basil Rathbone (1892–1967) was a British character, stage, film, and television actor. Born in Johannesburg, he served as a captain in the British Army during World War I. His acting career began in 1921. Rathbone received the Military Cross and a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He was educated at Repton School and was married to Ouida Bergère, with whom he had two children. Rathbone died of a myocardial infarction in New York City at The Langham. He is buried at Ferncliff Cemetery. Among his recorded works are *Mystery Classics* and *The Adventures of Ichabod And Mr. Toad*.

Synthesized by Vinony from 41 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Crossref, TMDb, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1892
Died: 1967
Works: 14

Top works

Mystery Classics
The Adventures of Ichabod And Mr. Toad
Basil Rathbone Selects Strange Tales
8-Movie Fantasy Collection Vol 1
Pearl of Death

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Johannesburg, South African Republic

Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967), was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films. He frequently portrayed suave villains or morally ambiguous characters, such as Murdstone in David Copperfield (1935) and Sir Guy of…

Known for

The Adventures of Errol Flynn — Self / Various Roles (archive sound) (archive footage)2005
In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes1996
Dracula in the Movies1992
Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook — Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (archive footage)1991
The Great Mouse Detective — Sherlock Holmes (voice)1986
The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes — Sherlock Holmes (archive footage)1985
The Horror of It All — Carmichael (archive footage)1983
The Horror Show — (archive footage)1979
Madhouse — Basil (archive footage)1974
The Movie Orgy — Self (archival footage)1968

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Country: United States
Active from: 1892
Active to: 1967

Discography

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 3,628
Total plays: 16,971

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

2021 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure
· 2021 · cited 12,096x
Dabigatran versus Warfarin in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation
· 2009 · cited 9,210x
2020 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS)
· 2020 · cited 8,230x
2019 ESC/EAS Guidelines for the management of dyslipidaemias: lipid modification to reduce cardiovascular risk
· 2019 · cited 7,854x
Apixaban versus Warfarin in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation
· 2011 · cited 7,531x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“That is the most wonderful training an actor can have. If you can speak Shakespeare, you can speak anything. And it gives you complete poise and grace of movement.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born: Philip St. John Basil Rathbone , ( 1892-06-13 ) 13 June 1892, Johannesburg , South African Republic (present-day South Africa)
Died: 21 July 1967 (1967-07-21) (aged 75), New York City , US
Resting place: Ferncliff Cemetery Shrine of Memories , Hartsdale, New York , US
Citizenship: United Kingdom
Occupation: Actor
Years active: 1911–1967
Spouses: Ethel Marion Foreman ( married"}]]}'>m. 1914 ; divorced"}]]}'>div. 1926 ) Ouida Bergère ( married"}]]}'>m. 1926 )
Relatives: Sir Frank Benson (cousin) William Rathbone V (great-grandfather) Eleanor Rathbone (first cousin once removed)
Family: Rathbone
Allegiance: United Kingdom
Branch: British Army
Service years: 1915–1918
Rank: Captain
Unit: London Scottish Regiment , Liverpool Scottish
Awards: Military Cross

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Basil
Gender: male
Citizenship: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Place of birth: Johannesburg
Place of death: The Langham
Spouse: Ouida Bergère
Occupation: film actor
Educated at: Repton School
Languages spoken: English language
Award: star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Genre: adventure film
Sport: fencing
Conflict: World War I
Military branch: British Army
Military rank: captain
Image: Basil Rathbone headshot, 1935.jpg
Height: 186
Number of children: 2

Show 11 more facts

place of burial: Ferncliff Cemetery
Commons category: Basil Rathbone
cause of death: myocardial infarction
date of birth: 1892-06-13
date of death: 1967-07-21
nominated for: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
manner of death: natural causes
Commons gallery: Basil Rathbone
start of work period: 1921-00-00
relative: Frank Benson
birth name: Philip St. John Basil Rathbone

Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

~19 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Philip St. John Basil Rathbone (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was an English actor. Born in South Africa and raised in Derbyshire, 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), Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936) 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.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Basil Rathbone” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (5)

Available in 47 languages

Show 28 more

via Wikidata sitelinks · CC0

Basil Rathbone