1. Douglas Norman Wilmer was an English actor, best known for playing Sherlock Holmes in the eponymous 1965 TV series.
19 Facts About Douglas Wilmer
1. 2.
Douglas Wilmer's father was an accountant for Jardine Matheson, and Wilmer spent his childhood in Shanghai where his father worked.
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When he was about 13 years old, Douglas Wilmer was sent back to the United Kingdom to attend King's School, Canterbury, and Stonyhurst College.
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Douglas Wilmer was later invalided out of the Armed Forces, having contracted tuberculosis.
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Douglas Wilmer made his theatre stage debut in 1945 in repertory at Rugby.
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Douglas Wilmer appeared frequently on the London stage, mainly in classical and Shakespearean roles.
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Douglas Wilmer made his first major film appearance in Laurence Olivier's Richard III ; thereafter, he appeared in a large number of films, mostly in supporting roles.
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Douglas Wilmer is mainly associated with the role of Sherlock Holmes, which he first played in the BBC's 1964 production of "The Speckled Band".
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Together with co-star Nigel Stock, who played Doctor Watson, Douglas Wilmer was brought back for a further twelve episodes of the Sherlock Holmes series.
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In 1973, Douglas Wilmer played author Jacques Futrelle's Holmesian detective Professor Van Dusen in The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes for ITV.
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Douglas Wilmer played Sir Denis Nayland Smith in two of Harry Alan Towers' Fu Manchu films, The Brides of Fu Manchu and The Vengeance of Fu Manchu.
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Douglas Wilmer recorded a series of the stories on audiocassette for Penguin audio books and appeared as a guest at several UK and US events, including the Society's Golden Jubilee Dinner in January 2001.
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Douglas Wilmer made a cameo appearance in "The Reichenbach Fall" episode of Sherlock as an irate old man in the Diogenes Club.
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Douglas Wilmer was an honorary member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, which considered Douglas Wilmer "the definitive Holmes".
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On 24 March 2009 Douglas Wilmer was guest of honour at a launch party for his book, held at the National Liberal Club in Whitehall Place, London.
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Douglas Wilmer married his third wife, Anne in 1985.
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Douglas Wilmer lived in Woodbridge, Suffolk in later life, where he ran a wine bar called Sherlock's.
18.
On 31 March 2016, after a short bout of pneumonia, Douglas Wilmer died aged 96 at Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk, England.
19.
Roger Moore posted a tribute on social media the same day that Douglas Wilmer had died; the actors had worked together in the James Bond feature film Octopussy and on the television show The Saint.