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Rathbone enjoys hunting with the bow and arrow. He
never uses a gun on game, saying the bow and arrow is more sporting.
Photos by Hal A. McAlpin, 1941
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Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce with Rupert Hughes,
Rathbone is receiving a certificate declaring him to be a "full and
participating member" of the Baker Street Irregulars. |
Basil Rathbone and Los Angeles sheriff Eugene Biscailuz
examine evidence at L.A. County's crime detection laboratory. NBC
photo, November 21, 1941. |
Morton Lowry, Basil Rathbone, Gladys Cooper,
Muriel Hutchison, Henry Stephenson, and Lillian Kemble Cooper
rehearsing "The Astonished Heart" (1940) |
Rathbone, Frank Forest and Nigel Bruce |
Rathbone and Bruce admiring an ice sculpture at the
Brown Derby Restaurant |
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce with actress
Irene Rich |
"Arthur Treacher, Butler for a Night"
The $300,000 butler serves tea to guests at a party at Atwater Kent's
home in Bel Air. Kent bought $300,000 in war bonds to have Treacher's
services for the party. Left to right here are: Jerome Courtland,
Claire Trevor, Treacher, Basil Rathbone, Mrs. Walter Wurdeman, Alan
Mowbray, and Anne Jeffreys. (November 1944) |
Photo shows (L to R) show comedians putting on their
act for actress Joan Fontaine, Brian Aherne (top), Basil Rathbone,
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Reginald Gardiner. 11/20/1940. The act was
part of the Christmas Show for British War Relief, staged in a huge
tent on Wilshire Boulevard's Miracle Mile. Acme Photo |
Samuel Whitting Lewis, the Farrel, Penn., boy who travels incognito
under the name of "Four-eyed" Lewis, proved his right to the claim
of "king of gate crashers" when he not only crashed the gates of
Paramount studio, but also crashed the dressing room of Basil
Rathbone on the set of The Mad Doctor. Lewis was tossed out a few minutes
later by a studio cop. |
1940 |
Rathbone with Pat Patterson (Mrs. Charles
Boyer), Jack Benny and Myrna Loy. Hurrell studio photo, January 1942 |
Basil and Ouida are chatting with Aristotle Onassis at
the Mitropoulos party. Photo by Nat Dallinger, 1944 |
Brian Aherne, Greer Garson,
Joan Fontaine and Rathbone |
Rathbone and Nigel Bruce posing with some
people from India
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Basil Rathbone, star of the Broadway play The
Heiress, congratulates jockey T. Malley for winning the Heiress
purse at Monmouth Park Race Track in honor of the hit show. 1948 |
at the Hollywood Canteen, 1944 |
Rathbone visiting a serviceman in the hospital |
British actress Wendy Hiller wearing white satin
ballerina dress with blue trimmings gets a hand from Basil Rathbone at the 1948
March of Dimes Fashion Show at the Waldorf Astoria. The New York
Dress Institute sponsored the show for the National Infantile
Paralysis Fund. Photo by Al Gretz. |
Visiting wounded in hospital |
At the Hollywood Canteen during war years |
Basil visiting servicemen in hospital |
Basil and Willie Howard |
Basil patting someone on the back at the
Hollywood Canteen |
Willie Howard and Basil in the Hollywood Canteen
(photo by Gene Lester) |
A group of stars at a
fund raising event arranged with the US Navy during WW II. Center left is Capt.
Alfred Jack Bolton thanking another officer for his participation. At far
left is Roy Rogers. At far right are Basil and Ouida Rathbone. The woman
standing next to Roy looks like Virginia O'Brien. The woman behind
the microphone (looking up) might be Lady Sylvia Ashley. |
Basil Rathbone, the "Sherlock Holmes" of screen and radio,
and Nigel Bruce, the "Dr. Watson" character, invaded San Francisco
in their sleuthing quest on "The Case of the Missing Bond
Buyer," a stunt to promote the Sixth War Loan Drive. Their first move
was to visit the Hall of Justice and sell a bond to Inspector George
Page. Left to right: Police Chief Charles Dullea, Rathbone, Bruce and
Inspector Page. |
Rathbone and Reginald Gardiner |
Basil and Ouida |
Basil Rathbone, Virginia Field, Nigel Bruce, and Dick Greene,
introducing a drink called "ski-ball" -- hot tea, lemon, cloves and
cinnamon |
Rathbone assists a magician. |
making a goofy face |
writing a telegram |
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Rathbone admires a portrait of Katherine Cornell,
1949. |
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at Paramount studios, 1940 |
Hollywood Treat for Polio Victims--Film Actor Basil
Rathbone, in his best Hollywood voice, reads Christmas Carols to Warren
Rodgers, 4, and Louis Hernandez, 3, at a pre-Christmas party given by
the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis at the hospital for
special surgery in New York. Photo by Barney Coons. |
Basil in mink (Photo by Raymond K. Martin) |
Rathbone with four servicemen: Rylands, Ellis,
Withercomb and Bakewell |
Basil, Ouida and friends |
Rathbone with Billy Gilbert and Mischa Auer |
Left to right: Van Johnson, Paul Henry, Sonja Henie,
Basil Rathbone |
Two snapshots (above and right) of Rathbone with
Hollywood correspondent Inez Wallace |
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The
following pictures are from the May 1942 issue of Click
magazine, a photo feature called
"Sherlock Holmes solves the Rathbone murder." |
Surrounded by luxury the famous actor, Basil Rathbone, sits reading
while his perfect butler (strange resemblance!) arranges the
flowers. "Why," the butler asks himself, "should he have everything?
I'm just as good!" And in his jealous mind rises the idea--murder! |
Ten minutes later butler Basil, costumed for murder, slips through
the door, knife in hand. He steps toward his master and strikes. |
Mortally wounded, Rathbone staggers to the telephone and calls his
friend Sherlock Holmes. "Catch my killer!" he pleads. |
When Sherlock Holmes arrives, he is greeted by butler Basil. "Sorry
to trouble you, sir," says the perfect butler, "but the master is
dead." |
Sherlock Holmes glances around the living room, points grimly at the
butler and announces, "You committed this crime!" |
"Because you're the perfect butler," Holmes says, "you put the phone
back. I heard it drop. You're a murderer, Basil Rathbone!" |
