Born Philip St. John Basil Rathbone in Johannesburg, South Africa. The American screen's finest villain and most memorable Sherlock Holmes. In 1895 he escaped to England with his family because his father, a mining engineer, was accused by the Boers of being a British spy at a time when Boer-British conflicts were leading to the Boer War (1899-1902). Educated in England, he made his stage debut there in 1911. During WW I, Rathbone served as a second lieutenant in the Liverpool Scottish, Second Battalion, working in intellegence. He received the Military Cross of England for bravery. In 1919, released from military service, he returned to Stratford-on-Avon. He played many classical roles, including much Shakespeare, on both sides of the Atlantic. On the screen from the early 20s, often in romantic leads, he rose to prominence after the coming of sound, when his distinctive voice complemented his polished manner. Gaunt, saturnine, and cerebral, he made an ideal archenemy for many of Hollywood's leading heroes, crossing swords and exchanging innuendos with such stars as Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power. He was so frequently cast as a villain, he won only one on-screen sword fight in his whole career: as Tybalt in ROMEO AND JULIET (1936). The same qualities made him a convincing, cunning, and aloof Sherlock Holmes in 14 films, beginning in 1939 and extending to 1946. Some of his notable credits include CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935), DAVID COPPERFIELD, A TALE OF TWO CITIES, ANNA KARENINA, and THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (all 1935), THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and as King Louis XI in IF I WERE KING (both 1938), THE TOWER OF LONDON (1939), THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940). Feeling that his identification with the Holmes character was killing his film career, Rathbone went back to New York and the stage in 1946. The next year, he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Dr. Swoper in the Broadway play The Heiress, but afterwards found little rewarding stage work. Nevertheless, during the last two decades of his life, Rathbone was a very busy actor, appearing on numerous television shows, primarily drama, variety, and game shows; in occasional films, such as CASANOVA'S BIG NIGHT (1954), THE COURT JESTER (1956), TALES OF TERROR (1962), and THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1964); and in his own one-man show, An Evening with Basil Rathbone, with which he toured the U.S. His second wife, Ouida Bergère (1886-1974), was a supporting actress of Hollywood films of the 1920s who also collaborated on a number of screenplays. She was widely regarded for her lavish parties, which for many years were de rigueur for the Hollywood social set.    Nominated for Supporting Actor 1936: ROMEO AND JULIET    Nominated for Supporting Actor 1938: IF I WERE KING 2 nominations