Arthur Wontner
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Arthur Wontner (21 January 1875 – 10 July 1960) was a British actor best known for playing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective Sherlock Holmes in five films from 1931 to 1937. These films are:
The Sleeping Cardinal (1931) (US title: Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour) based on Doyle's two stories, "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Final Problem"
The Missing Rembrandt (1932) (still considered lost) based on "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton"
The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case (1932)
The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935) based on The Valley of Fear
Silver Blaze (1937) (US title:Murder at the Baskervilles, release 1941) based on "Silver Blaze"
Reportedly, Wontner landed the role of Sherlock Holmes thanks to his performance of Holmes imitation Sexton Blake in a 1930 stage production.
Of all Wontner's films as Sherlock Holmes, The Missing Rembrandt is no longer available. It is officially a lost film. It is possible to obtain all of the others.
Silver Blaze was renamed Murder at the Baskervilles on its US release in order to make the most of the publicity which had been generated by Basil Rathbone's version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. In many respects Wontner's film can be seen as a sequel as it is set twenty years after the events of the more famous story.
Wontner's son became the well-known hotelier and Lord Mayor of London Sir Hugh Wontner.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Arthur Wontner,licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting
Movie
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
as Embassy Counsellor
1943
Movie
Genevieve
as Old Gentleman
1953
Movie
Sea Devils
as Baron de Baudrec
1953
Movie
Storm in a Teacup
as Fiscal
1937
Movie
The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes
as Sherlock Holmes
1935
Movie
Blanche Fury
as Lord Rudford
1948
Movie
Silver Blaze
as Sherlock Holmes
1937
Movie
The Sleeping Cardinal
as Sherlock Holmes
1931
Movie
The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case
as Sherlock Holmes
1932
Movie
The Elusive Pimpernel
as Lord Grenville
1950
Movie
The Terror
as Colonel Redmayne
1938
Movie
Brandy for the Parson
as Major Glockleigh
1952
Movie
Thunder in the City
as Sir Peter
1937
Movie
A Gentleman of Paris
as Judge Le Fevre
1931
Movie
The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
as Sherlock Holmes (archive footage)
1985
Movie
Kate Plus Ten
as Colonel Westhanger
1938
Movie
Lady Windermere's Fan
as Lord Darlington
1916
Movie
Dishonour Bright
as Judge
1936
Movie
Pygmalion
as Colonel Pickering
1948
Movie
Condemned to Death
as Sir Charles Wallington
1932
Movie
Ten Little Indians
as General Mackenzie
1949
Movie
Bonnie Prince Charlie
as Lord Kingsburgh
1923
Movie
The Diamond Man
as Lady Marshalt
1924
Movie
Eugene Aram
as Eugene Aram
1924