Jeremy Brett
| Jeremy Brett | |
|---|---|
Brett as Sherlock Holmes
|
|
| Born |
Peter Jeremy William Huggins 3 November 1933 Berkswell, Warwickshire, England |
| Died | 12 September 1995 (aged 61) Clapham, London, England |
| Cause of death | Cardiomyopathy |
| Years active | 1954–95 |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Spouse(s) |
Anna Massey (m. 1958–62) divorced) Joan Wilson (m. 1976–85) (her death) |
| Children | David Huggins |
Jeremy Brett (born Peter Jeremy William Huggins; 3 November 1933 – 12 September 1995), was an English actor, probably best known for playing fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series from 1984 to 1994 in all 41 episodes. His career spanned from stage, to television and film, to Shakespeare and musical theatre. He is also remembered for playing the besotted Freddie Eynsford-Hill in the Warner Bros. 1964 production of My Fair Lady.
Jeremy Brett was born Peter Jeremy William Huggins at Berkswell Grange in Berkswell, West Midlands. His birthdate is given variously as either 3 November 1933, December 1933 or 1935, according to many sources, although this was probably a later vanity claim to reduce his public age. He was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Henry William Huggins, an Army officer, and Elizabeth Edith Cadbury Butler (of the confectionery dynasty). He had three older brothers: John, Patrick and Michael. The actor Martin Clunes is his nephew (or according to other sources, either his cousin or cousin, once removed). Educated at Eton College, he claimed to have been an "academic disaster", attributing his learning difficulties to dyslexia.
Although he eventually developed precisely honed diction, he was born with "rhotacism", a speech impediment which prevented him from pronouncing the "R" sound correctly. He underwent corrective surgery as a teenager and followed it with years of practising. Much later he claimed that he practised all of his speech exercises daily, whether he was working or not.
However, while at Eton he excelled at singing and was a member of the college choir. He was trained by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall in London, graduating in 1954, but his father had demanded that he change his name for the sake of family honour, so he took his stage name from the label of his first suit, "Brett & Co."
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