MUSEUM OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE

BASIL RATHBONE

1892-1967. Philip St. John Basil Rathbone was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. During World War I, he served as a Captain and intelligence officer with the Liverpool Scottish, Second Battalion. Rathbone received the British Military Cross for outstanding bravery. After the war, Rathbone resumed his theater career, and in 1923 came to New York, performing in The Swan. He began making films in the 1920s, and worked his way up to better roles, such as, Mr. Murdstone (David Copperfield, 1935), and the Marquis St. Evremond (A Tale of Two Cities, 1935). In 1939 Basil Rathbone took on the role he would be identified with for the rest of his life. The Hound of the Baskervilles introduced Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. In his elder years, Basil Rathbone continued acting in films, stage, and the new medium of television. In 1963 he performed at the White House at President John F. Kennedy's request.

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