NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Jeremy Brett

Peter Jeremy William Huggins (November 3, 1933 – September 12, 1995), better known as Jeremy Brett, was an English actor famous for his portrayal of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the British television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Berkswell is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, county of West Midlands, England. ... A detailed map Stratford-upon-Avon Kenilworth Castle Warwickshire (pronounced // or //) is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in central England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... London — containing the City of London — is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England and a major world city. With over seven million inhabitants (Londoners) in Greater London area, it is amongst the most densely populated areas in Western Europe. ... is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Actor (disambiguation). ... A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the name given to the series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company Granada Television between 1984 and 1994, although only the first two series bore that title on screen. ...

Early life

Brett was born at Berkswell Grange in Berkswell, Warwickshire, England and was educated at Eton College. Brett later claimed that he was an "academic disaster" at Eton and attributed his learning difficulties to dyslexia. However, he excelled at singing and was a member of the choir at Eton. Berkswell is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, county of West Midlands, England. ... A detailed map Stratford-upon-Avon Kenilworth Castle Warwickshire (pronounced // or //) is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in central England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a public school (privately funded and independent) for boys, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. It is located in Eton, near Windsor in England, north of Windsor Castle, and... This article is about developmental dyslexia. ...

Acting career

Brett trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He made his professional acting debut at the Library Theatre in Manchester in 1954, and made his London stage debut with the Old Vic company in 1956. He went on to play many classical roles on stage, including numerous Shakespearean parts in his early career with the Old Vic and later with the Royal National Theatre. Brett made his first television appearance in 1954 and his first feature film appearance in 1955. The Central School of Speech and Drama is a United Kingdom government funded higher education college in London. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Library Theatre is located an the basement of Manchester Central Library and is the home of the respected Library Theatre Company, a Manchester City Council service. ... This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ... The exterior of the Old Vic from the corner of Baylis Road and Waterloo Road. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Royal National Theatre from Waterloo Bridge The Royal National Theatre is a building complex and theatre company located on the South Bank in London, England immediately east of the southern end of Waterloo Bridge. ...

He was briefly considered by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli for the role of James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service after Sean Connery quit the series in 1967, but the role went to Australian George Lazenby instead. A second audition for the role of 007 for Live and Let Die was also unsuccessful as Roger Moore won the coveted part. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... â€œ007â€ redirects here. ... For the Ian Fleming novel, see On Her Majestys Secret Service. ... Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930) is a retired Scottish actor and producer who is perhaps best known as the first actor to portray James Bond in cinema, starring in seven Bond films. ... George Robert Lazenby (born September 5, 1939) is an Australian actor best known for portraying James Bond only once in the 1969 James Bond film, On Her Majestys Secret Service. ... Live and Let Die is the 8th film in the British James Bond series and the first to star Roger Moore as MI6 agent James Bond. ... For other persons named Roger Moore, see Roger Moore (disambiguation). ...

From the early 1960s, Brett was rarely absent from British television screens. He starred in many serials, notably as D'Artagnan in the 1966 adaptation of The Three Musketeers. A few of his appearances were in comedic roles, but usually with a classic edge, such as Captain Absolute in The Rivals. In 1973, Brett portrayed Bassanio in a televised production of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in which Laurence Olivier portrayed Shylock and Joan Plowright Portia. (Brett, Olivier and Plowright had previously played the same roles in a Royal National Theatre production of the play.) Brett joked that, as an actor, he was rarely allowed into the 20th century and never into the present day. Roger Delgado and Jeremy Brett in an episode of the 1968 TV series The Champions. ... Roger Delgado and Jeremy Brett in an episode of the 1968 TV series The Champions. ... Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto (March 1, 1918 â€“ June 18, 1973) was a British actor, best known for his role as the Master in Doctor Who. ... For other uses, see Champion (disambiguation). ... The statue of dArtagnan in Auch Statue of dArtagnan in Maastricht Charles de Batz-Castelmore, Comte dArtagnan (c. ... For other uses, see The Three Musketeers (disambiguation). ... The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Portia and Shylock (1835) by Thomas Sully The Merchant of Venice is one of William Shakespeares best-known plays, written sometime between 1596 and 1598. ... Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, (IPA: ; 22 May 1907 â€“ 11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. ... Shylock After the Trial by John Gilbert (late 19th century) Shylock is a central character in Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice who famously demanded a pound of flesh from the title character. ... Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier DBE, nÃ©e Plowright (born October 28, 1929), known professionally as Dame Joan Plowright is a British actress and widow of Laurence Olivier. ... The Royal National Theatre from Waterloo Bridge The Royal National Theatre is a building complex and theatre company located on the South Bank in London, England immediately east of the southern end of Waterloo Bridge. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999...

Although Brett's feature film appearances were relatively few, he did play Freddie Eynsford-Hill in the 1964 blockbuster film version of My Fair Lady. His singing voice was dubbed in the film, but Brett could still sing, as he later proved when he played Danilo in The Merry Widow on British television in 1968. My Fair Lady is an Academy Award-winning 1964 film adaptation of the stage musical, My Fair Lady, based in turn on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. ... For the ballet, see The Merry Widow (ballet). ...

Notable in all of Jeremy Brett's roles is his precisely honed diction. Brett was born with a speech impediment that kept him from pronouncing the "R" sound correctly. Corrective surgery as a teenager, followed by years of practising, gave Brett an enviable pronunciation and enunciation. He later claimed he practised all of his speech exercises daily, whether he was working or not. Rhotacism may refer to several phenomena related to the usage of the consonant r (whether as an alveolar tap, alveolar trill, or the rarer uvular trill). ...

Although he appeared in many different roles during his 40-year career, Brett is now best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes in the 1984–94 series of Granada Television films, adapted by John Hawkesworth and other writers from the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (see The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes). Even though he reportedly feared being typecast, Brett appeared in 41 episodes of the Granada series. After taking on the demanding role, Brett made few other acting appearances and he is now widely considered to be the definitive Holmes of his era, just as Basil Rathbone was during the 1940s. Interestingly, Brett had played Doctor Watson on stage opposite Charlton Heston as Holmes in the 1980 Los Angeles production of The Crucifer of Blood, making him one of only three actors to play both Holmes and Watson professionally (the other two are Reginald Owen and Patrick Macnee). A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859â€“7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. ... The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the name given to the series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company Granada Television between 1984 and 1994, although only the first two series bore that title on screen. ... Basil Rathbone (13 June 1892 â€“ 21 July 1967), Military Cross, was a British actor most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and of suave villains in such swashbuckler films as The Mark of Zorro, Captain Blood, and The Adventures of Robin Hood. ... Dr Watson (left) and Sherlock Holmes, by Sidney Paget. ... This article contains a trivia section. ... Reginald Owen, or John Reginald Owen, (August 5, 1887â€“November 5, 1972) was a British character actor known for playing in many film roles in British and American movies and later in television programs. ... Patrick Macnee (born Daniel Patrick Macnee on February 6, 1922 in London) is an English born American actor. ...

Illnesses and death

Brett suffered from bipolar disorder (commonly known as manic depression), which worsened after the death of his second wife, Joan Wilson, on July 4, 1985. She died shortly after Brett finished filming Holmes’ "death" in The Final Problem. He took a break from filming the Holmes series. When he returned to film new episodes in 1986, however, grief and the stressful shooting schedule aggravated his disorder. He suffered a full-blown manic depressive crisis and was hospitalized. During the last decade of his life, Brett was treated in hospital several times for his mental illness, and his health and appearance visibly deteriorated by the time he completed the later episodes of the Sherlock Holmes series. For other uses, see Bipolar. ...

There were plans to film all the Holmes stories, but Brett died of heart failure at his London home before the project could be completed. Brett's heart had been damaged by a childhood case of rheumatic fever and was apparently further weakened by his heavy smoking. In an interview, Edward Hardwicke (the second actor to play Dr. Watson in Brett's Holmes series) claimed that Brett would buy 60 cigarettes on his way to the set and smoke them all throughout the day. After his heart problem was diagnosed, Brett reportedly quit smoking for a short while, but began smoking again shortly before his death at the age of 61 on September 12, 1995. Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease which may develop after a Group A streptococcal infection (such as strep throat or scarlet fever) and can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. ... Edward Hardwicke (born August 7, 1932; sometimes credited as Edward Hardwick) is a British actor, the son of Sir Cedric Hardwicke and actress Helena Pickard. ... Dr. John H. Watson is a fictional character, the sidekick of Sherlock Holmes, the fictional 19th century detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle. ... is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ...

Jeremy Brett's final, posthumous on-screen credit was as the "Artist's Father" in Moll Flanders, with Robin Wright Penn in the title role. This American feature film (not to be confused with the ITV adaptation starring Alex Kingston) was released in the summer of 1996, nearly a year after Brett's death. The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders is a 1722 novel by Daniel Defoe. ... Robin Gayle Wright Penn (born April 8, 1966) is an American film actress. ... Alexandra Kingston (born March 11, 1963, in Epsom, Surrey) is an English actress best known for her role as Elizabeth Corday on the NBC medical drama ER. // Kingston grew up in Epsom, on the outskirts of London, the eldest of three daughters of a butcher and his German wife. ...

Family

In 1958, Brett married the actress Anna Massey (daughter of Raymond Massey), but they divorced in 1962. Their son, David Huggins, born in 1959, is now a successful British cartoonist, illustrator and novelist. Years later, Brett and Massey appeared together in the BBC's dramatization of Rebecca (1978), with Brett playing the haunted hero, Max de Winter, and Massey playing the sinister housekeeper, Mrs Danvers. (David Huggins also played an uncredited bit part in the film.) In 1977 Brett married American PBS producer Joan Wilson, but she died of cancer in 1985. Brett was devastated by Wilson's death and did not marry again. Brett was related to another noted British actor, Martin Clunes (of Men Behaving Badly fame) Clunes' mother was Brett's first cousin. Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Actor (disambiguation). ... Anna Massey, CBE (born August 11, 1937) is a British actress. ... Raymond Massey photographed by Carl Van Vechten Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 â€“ July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Rebecca is a novel by British author Daphne du Maurier. ... Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ... Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (where cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Men Behaving Badly is a British comedy, which first broadcasted in 1992 on the ITV network, however moved to BBC One (and a later timeslot) from the third series onwards. ...

Contents

Early life

Acting career

Illnesses and death

Family

See also

External links

Contents

Early life var ACE_AR = {Site: '756743', Size: '300250'};

Acting career

Illnesses and death

Family

See also

External links

Early life