Faces of Holmes: Jeremy Brett

“You would have made an actor, and a rare one.”

– The Sign of The Four (SIGN)

For many who were introduced to Sherlock Holmes during the 1980’s and 1990’s, Jeremy Brett is the first image that comes to their mind. Jeremy Brett would have turned 83 years old today.

Born as Peter Jeremy William Huggins in 1933, Brett had a speech impediment that was corrected by surgery and pronunciation exercises. Brett claimed to have suffered from dyslexia that impacted his studies at Eton College and would graduate, in 1954, from the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Brett made his professional acting debut in rep at the Library Theatre in Manchester in 1954, and his London stage debut with the Old Vic company in 1956. By 1959, he was performing on Broadway in New York. On stage, he would perform in King Richard II, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet, among other productions.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s, Brett would transition over to roles in films and television. His first major film was War and Peace, released in 1956. Brett would play the character of Freddie Eynsford-Hill in the 1964 film of My Fair Lady.

In 1980, Brett would perform the role of Dr. John H. Watson, opposite Charlton Heston’s Sherlock Holmes in the Los Angeles stage production of The Crucifer of Blood.

Granada Television would approach Brett in 1982 to portray Holmes in a series of totally authentic and faithful adaptation of the best cases from the Canon.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes would premiere in 1984, with David Burke as Dr. Watson. Burke would play the role for 13 episodes and would be replaced by Edward Hardwicke who would play the role for the remaining 28 episodes for the next 5 series of stories.

In addition to the television series, Brett and Hardwicke would star in a theatrical adaptation, The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, in London’s West End during 1988 and 1989 and then subsequently toured England and Scotland as well.

During the course of the 10 year production of filming the Granada series, Brett began to deal with health issues. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he was hospitalized several times and began taking medications. These prescriptions would cause Brett to gain weight and slow down the actor. In later years, he would take to using an oxygen mask just off the set to assist with his difficulties breathing.  Co-star Hardwicke was quoted that Brett was also smoking 60 cigarettes daily, which obviously were not helping matters. If you pay attention while viewing the Granada series, you can see Brett’s health deteriorate over the years.

Brett would film 42 stories of the Canon in 41 episodes (The Three Garridebs and Mazarin Stone storylines were combined for one episode), with 36 one hour episodes and 5 feature-length specials.

On September 12, 1995, Brett died from heart failure. Shortly after Brett’s death, Meg Moller Martin, a Sherlockian in New York state who knew Brett, contacted the British government’s Honours Committee and advocated the awarding of some honor to the late actor. She received the following reply, below. 

So that is the reason why one does not see the initials OBE, CBE or KBE behind the name of Jeremy Brett.  It truly is a shame that two of the most recognized portrayers of Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone and Brett, did not receive any form of honours from the Crown.

The letter illustrated above was originally published in The Formidable Scrap-Book of Baker Street, edited by Carolyn & Joel Senter.