Some characters lend themselves well to constant reinvention – there have been several Supermen, a dozen Doctor Whos and a bunch of Bonds. But the most portrayed character, according to Guinness World Record is Sherlock Holmes – the English detective with his deerstalker and sharp mind. There have been 200 different films featuring Holmes and around 70 actors have taken on the role. It’s hard to narrow it down to the top ten, but here are our personal picks for the Top 10 Screen Versions of Sherlock Holmes.
10. Robert Downey Jr
One of the most recent interpretations on the list, Robert Downey Jr played Sherlock in a 2009 film directed by Guy Ritchie, and its 2011 sequel. A third film has been discussed by there has been nothing confirmed yet, with Downey Jr saying he will only do it if it still “excites” him. The franchise is set in the original Victorian era, albeit re-imagined in a gritty, Guy Ritchie way and full of anachronisms. Still, it received good reviews and Downey Jr and his Dr Watson, Jude Law, were praised for their portrayals, with one reviewer saying “when Downey Jr. and Law are together the screen lights up so brightly it could catch fire.” It’s a high-energy movie, with huge liberties taken with London geography (The Houses of Parliament are next to Tower Bridge) but Holmes is likable and charming, unlike some of the other versions.
9. James DâArcy
The youngest interpretation of Sherlock on our list comes from James D’Arcy is the 2002 television movie “Sherlock: Case of Evil”. It’s an action-packed thriller, with Sherlock being a ladies’ man and celebrity as well as a detective. He’s 28, foppish and over-confident about his abilities when it comes to killing his arch-nemesis Moriarty (here played by Victor D’Onofrio). Variety described D’Arcy as convincing, saying he has the “passion and drive he needs for such intense devotion to crime solving, but also the emotional weaknesses that plague him”. Others weren’t so kind, with one critic ridiculing the “scenery-chewing” of the two leads and the over-simplifying of the script. But it was the first attempt to bring Sherlock into the 21st century, which paved the way for other, better-received interpretations.
8. Christopher Lee
There are two great Hammer Horror stars in this list and here’s the first one – the villainous Christopher Lee, famous for his portrayal of Dracula. He first played the role in the 1962 film “Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace” and then made two back-to-back TV films in the 1990s when he was in his late 60s. The two films were called “Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady” and “Incident at Victoria Falls”, which saw Holmes meeting Theodore Roosevelt. They were intended as part of a series called “Sherlock Holmes: The Golden Years”, with an older Sherlock in the early 1900s. However, only the two films were ever made. Lee also appeared in Hammer’s “Hound of the Baskervilles” but another man was playing Sherlock. More on him later…
7. Ronald Howard
A rare American TV version of Sherlock next, with 1954’s “Sherlock Holmes” – a 39-part series starring Ronald Howard (not to be confused with director Ron Howard). The Holmes of this series was a younger version than many others – he was an “exceptionally sincere young man trying to get ahead in his profession” rather than the highly-strung mastermind of later stories. A lot of the episodes were original scripts rather than being based on Canon Doyle’s books, although there are loose connections between the two. Many seem to be targeted at an American audience – “The Case of the Texas Cowgirl”, “The Case of the Pennsylvania Gun” – but it was set in London and stock footage was used to give the impression that it was filmed in London (it was actually filmed in Paris). However, the star was authentically British, having been born in South Norwood, London and studied at Cambridge.
6. Jonny Lee Miller
The only other American TV version of the role is “Elementary”, after Sherlock’s oft-quoted but non-canonical phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson”. Jonny Lee Miller plays Sherlock, with Lucy Liu as a controversially female Watson (although Miller says they will never get together as a couple). It’s probably the slickest version of the story, with modern storylines involving computer hacking and Wall Street bankers. The costumes are minimalist, the script snappy and Sherlock himself is a recovering alcoholic, who’s been assigned Watson as his sober partner. Although it’s an American production, the star is British and he’s supported by fellow Brits Rhys Ifans and Sean Pertwee as Mycroft Holmes and Inspector Lestrade respectively. Debuting around the same time as the Guy Ritchie films and the BBC’s “Sherlock”, it suffered from comparisons to both but the reviews have been mostly positive and the viewing figures strong.
5. Michael Caine
Now this is an unusual interpretation – Watson as the genius and Holmes as his mere frontman. The film was 1988 comedy “Without a Clue” and Ben Kingsley played Dr Watson, delivering pithy lines like “Try not to shoot yourself – at least, not until I give the signal. “In this universe, “Sherlock” is a fictional character, devised by Watson, and played by a drunken actor called Reginald Kincaid…who eventually starts believing that he is the real Holmes and tries to face off against Moriarty. It’s an unorthodox and irreverent take on the legend and even the credits have a knowing tone – “With apologies to the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson”. Caine’s Holmes is a buffoon, a drunkard and a fake…and because of that, he’s a lot of fun too.
4. Vasily Livanov
The only Russian in our list, Vasily Livanov played Sherlock in a number of TV shows films in his native country, including the 1981 adaptation “Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона: Собака Баскервилей” or, as we know it “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Hound of the Baskerville”. In total, there were five films made between 1979 and 1986, split into 11 episodes. Livanov made an excellent “Шерлока Холмса” and the daughter of Arthur Conan Doyle thought her father would approve of his interpretation. He has been honored in the UK, with an MBE for services to acting in 2006 but also in Moscow, with a statue outside the British Embassy there depicting Livanov’s Holmes, along with his “доктора Ватсона”, Vitaly Solomin. A Russian Holmes may not be the most obvious choice, but he seems to have marked his place in Sherlock history!
3. Peter Cushing
Here’s the second of our two Hammer Horror stars to take on the great detective role – Baron Frankenstein himself, Peter Cushing. He played Holmes in three separate productions – firstly in Hammer’s 1958 film “Hound of the Baskervilles”, the first Holmes adaptation to be filmed in color and widely praised (Time Out says it’s Cushing’s very best performance). Next was the 1968 series of the BBC’s “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes” for which Cushing took over the role from Douglas Wilmer, but it was apparently a shambolic and chaotic production, with scripts delivered late and badly written. Cushing himself said that “it wasn’t Peter Cushing doing his best as Sherlock Holmes – it was Peter Cushing looking relieved that he had remembered what to say and said it.” Cushing’s last outing as Sherlock Holmes came in the 1984 Channel 4 series “The Masks of Death” in which he played a retired Holmes persuaded to solve one last case. Definitely our most varied Sherlock!
2. Benedict Cumberbatch
Now for the best of the recent Sherlocks. Cumberbatch stars in “Sherlock”, a BBC drama that shows three episodes every few years, much to fans’ frustrations as they often leave questions unanswered. The show is set in modern London, with all the technology that’s available now (Watson’s journal is a blog, Moriarty communicates via text.) The episodes are only loosely based on the original stories and sometimes not at all, but the heart of the show remains Sherlock’s almost autistic powers of memory and deduction. Cumberbatch’s Sherlock is socially inept and describes himself as a “high-functioning sociopath”, yet still manages to inspire love in those around him, including his Dr Watson (Martin Freeman) and mortician Molly (Louise Brealey), who’s long harbored a crush on the dapper detective. A sometimes infuriating version, and mind-stretchingly fast paced but a massive success for the BBC and Cumberbatch is perfect in it.
1. Basil Rathbone
But in many people’s minds, the definitive Sherlock will always be Basil Rathbone- a South-African-born British actor, who starred in 14 Sherlock films between 1939 and 1946, starting once again with “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Nigel Bruce played his Dr Watson, and the films were a mix of Victorian-era and contemporary World War 2 storylines. Rathbone found himself typecast by his success and later was reduced to appearing as Sherlock in TV commercials. He also played Sherlock on the stage, but Nigel Bruce was too ill to play alongside him and the play only lasted three performances. He died suddenly in 1967, but his voice was posthumously used in the 1986 Disney film “The Great Mouse Detective”, in which the main character was named Basil as a tribute to the greatest Sherlock of all time.
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