Douglas Wilmer
| Douglas Wilmer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
8 January 1920 Brentford, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 31 March 2016 (aged 96) Ipswich, Suffolk, England |
| Years active | 1945–2012 |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Joan Melville (m. 1946–?) Anne Wilmer (m. 1985–2016, his death) |
Douglas Wilmer (8 January 1920 – 31 March 2016) was an English actor, best known for playing Sherlock Holmes in the 1965 TV series Sherlock Holmes.
Wilmer was born in Brentford, Middlesex, and received his education at King's School, Canterbury, and Stonyhurst College. Whilst in training as an actor at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, he was conscripted into the British Army for military service with the Royal Artillery in the Second World War. After training, he was posted to an anti-tank battery, and saw war service in Africa with the Royal West African Frontier Force. He was later invalided out of the Armed Forces, having contracted tuberculosis.
Wilmer made his theatre stage debut in 1945 in repertory at Rugby. He appeared frequently on the London stage, mainly in classical and Shakespearean roles. He made his first major film appearance in Laurence Olivier's Richard III (1955); thereafter, he appeared in a large number of films, mostly in supporting roles. They include several epic films: as M. Desmoulins in The Battle of the River Plate (1956), as Al-Mu'tamin in El Cid (1961), Cleopatra (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), as Khalifa Abdullah in Khartoum (1966), as Maj. Gen. Francis de Guingand in Patton (1970), as Sir Thomas Fairfax in Cromwell (1970), and Antony and Cleopatra (1972). Other appearances include Jason and the Argonauts (1963) as Pelias, the Pink Panther films A Shot in the Dark (1964) and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), The Vampire Lovers (1970), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), and Octopussy (1983).
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