# Who is your favorite Sherlock Homes regardless of era?



## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

Now for the main event. Who is your favorite Sherlock Homes regardless of era? By that I mean, who is your favorite actor that portrays Sherlock Holmes in a movie(s) or TV series that is loosely or tightly based upon the character in the A. Conan Doyle literature?

I was first introduced to Sherlock via the Basil Rathbone movies, i.e., the fourteen feature films made between 1939 and 1946, all of which co-starred Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson and Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson. (btw the first two did have a Victorian era backdrop). When I "grew up" and read the books, my appreciation for this marvelous work increased exponentially. I have read each story at least a dozen times. I am the world's #1 Sherlock fan and just as there will be only one James Bond, for me, there will only be one Sherlock Holmes. 

I'm limiting the poll to three options, because, realistically nobody else can win IMO. I couldn't have listed them all. It has been estimated that Sherlock Holmes is the most prolific screen character in the history of cinema. There have been many productions - most are utter crap. If your favorite Sherlock isn't on this list, vote for whom you like best out of the three, or dislike the least. 

This is not about which production is best, or which most closely tracks the A. Conan Doyle stories. The obvious answer to that question is the Granada Television adaptation screened from 1984 to 1994, starring Jeremy Brett. That is my favorite production and should be for any Sherlock Holmes fan worth his or her salt, although, as I mentioned before, Freddie Eynsford-Hill as Sherlock is a little too dry for my tastes.


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch .... no explanatione needed


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Well, I love the Basil Rathbone movies, and he has the look, but Brett was invincible in the role, for me. He had everything and I know you want us to compare Holmes's of whatever hue, but some characters called Sherlock Holmes just aren't Holmes to me. Robert Downey Jr is a prime example. It's an absolutely unrelated character.

Brett and that whole show captured it. It even had the definitive Moriarty and Colonel Moran. Look at the Moriarty in the Cumberbatch version. It's a distressed tantrum throwing oaf, not a professor and evil mastermind. Can we seperate the characters from the books? I think we can, but when we strike gold like we did with Brett, then that's the default setting for me...


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

oh do we mean the actor playing Holmes or the Holmes within the context of a programme?


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Basil Rathbone for sure


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Benedict Cumberbatch!!!!!!!


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Bix said:


> oh do we mean the actor playing Holmes or the Holmes within the context of a programme?


They are the same person.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I can't imagine a better Holmes for a contemporary setting than Cumberbatch but that's still not really how I like it - Brett's Sherlock Holmes is costume drama and in this case I think the period settings work better.


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## RussianIvan (Jun 30, 2013)

Vasiliy Livanov from Soviet movie series about Sherlock Holmes is the best for me! The best episode from that series was probably "the Hound of the Baskervilles".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hound_of_the_Baskervilles_(1981_film)
Acting in the film was wonderful. Music was also pretty good.
But non-Russians will likely find it uninteresting.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

RussianIvan said:


> Vasiliy Livanov from Soviet movie series about Sherlock Holmes is the best for me! The best episode from that series was probably "the Hound of the Baskervilles".
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hound_of_the_Baskervilles_(1981_film)
> Acting in the film was wonderful. Music was also pretty good.
> But non-Russians will likely find it uninteresting.


I've heard of this guy! A lot of people like him. Would be interested to see the Russian take on old Sherlock. Do they try stay close to the books?


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## RussianIvan (Jun 30, 2013)

Kieran said:


> I've heard of this guy! A lot of people like him. Would be interested to see the Russian take on old Sherlock. Do they try stay close to the books?


The Hound of the Baskervilles episode is close to the book with some minor changes. Others use plots of the books with some modifications. E.g. in the first episode after meeting Holmes Watson at first suspects him of being criminal. The first case, that Holmes investigates after meeting Watson is not Study in scarlet (which is in the second episode), but the adventure of speckeld band.
But, of course, the series stays much closer to the book, than the latest Hollywood and BBC adaptations!


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## chrisco97 (May 22, 2013)

Awesome to see some more Sherlock Holmes fans on this forum. 

What got me into the Holmesian universe was that of the Rathbone films. Terror by Night was the first film I saw, and I loved it. I have watched several Holmes films since then, and own many of them. I did not get into the books until way later though. I have loved what I have read of them. I need to finish the rest. Anyways, my favourite Holmes is either Cumberbatch or Robert Downey Jr...I really like Cumberbatch's Holmes because of how it has such a modern spin on it, but it also stays true to the original Holmes at the same time. I also like the humour in it. Martin Freeman is a great Watson as well.

RDJ's Holmes has been widely criticized among fans, but I love his Holmes personally. It is different, a bit exaggerated when it comes to the action elements (I do like to start the argument Holmes was a boxer), but I still love it. It has action, humour, great actors, and both RDJ and Jude Law play so well off of each other. I also really like Jude Law as Watson.

In the end, I would probably go with Cumberbatch slightly over RDJ, but I enjoy both of their portrayals very much. 

The Sherlock Holmes series is what got me into graphic and web design as well...after loving the films I had seen, I started a fan site dedicated to the Holmesian universe, and it ended up getting really popular, and even won a couple of awards. Anyways, I wanted to get a nice logo for it and stumbled upon a program named Paint.NET, which was free and some people had said they made logos with. I downloaded it, and made a basic banner...but constantly was wanting to improve it. It just kinda went from there...banners led into logos, logos led into graphic design as a whole, graphic design led into programming, and programming led into web design...


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