 | ||||||
| ||||||
Nigel Bruce
| ||||||
William Nigel Ernle Bruce
4 February 1895, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
8 October 1953, Santa Monica, California
"Never regret anything you have done with a sincere affection; nothing is lost that is born of the heart."
Basil Rathbone
In late 1944 Nigel Bruce began writing an autobiography entitled "Games, Gossip and Greasepaint" which was never published. However many extracts were published in The Sherlock Holmes Journal (London/Oxford, England) Winter issue 1998 Volume 19 Number 1.
To me Nigel Brucewill always be the greatest Dr. Watson of them all.
-- Opossum Sally
| ||||||
| ||||||
| ||||||
William Nigel Ernle Bruce (4 February 1895 – 8 October 1953), best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes). Bruce is also remembered for his roles in the Alfred Hitchcock films Rebecca and Suspicion.
Bruce was the second son of Sir William Waller Bruce, 10th Baronet (1856–1912) and his wife Angelica (died 1917), daughter of General George Selby, Royal Artillery. Bruce was born in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico while his parents were vacationing there. He was educated at The Grange, Stevenage, and at Abingdon School, Oxfordshire. He served in France from 1914 as a lieutenant in the 10th Service Battalion - Somerset Light Infantry, and the Honourable Artillery Company, but was severely wounded at Cambrai the following year, with eleven bullets in his left leg, and spent most of the remainder of the war in a wheelchair.
He made his first appearance on stage on 12 May 1920 at the Comedy Theatre as a footman in Why Marry?. In October that year, he went to Canada as stage manager to Henry V. Esmond and Eva Moore, and also playing "Montague Jordan" in Eliza Comes to Stay; upon returning to England, he toured in the same part. He appeared constantly on stage thereafter, and eight years later, also started working in silent films. In 1934, he moved to Hollywood, later setting up home at 701 North Alpine Drive, Beverly Hills.
Nigel Bruce typically played buffoonish, fuzzy-minded gentlemen. During his film career, he worked in 78 movies, including Treasure Island (1934), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Lassie Come Home (1943), and The Corn Is Green (1945). Bruce participated in two landmark films: Becky Sharp, the first feature film in full Technicolor, and Bwana Devil, the first 3-D feature. He uncharacteristically played a detestable figure in 1939's The Rains Came, which became the first film to win an Oscar for special effects.
Bruce's signature role was that of Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes series with his good friend Basil Rathbone. Bruce starred as Watson in 14 films (from 1939 to 1946) and over 200 radio programs. Although Watson often appears to be the older of the two main characters, Bruce was actually three years younger than his co-star Rathbone. Though for most viewers Nigel Bruce formed their vision of Dr. Watson, Holmes purists have long objected that the Watson of the books was intelligent and capable (although not an outstanding detective), and that Bruce's portrayal made Watson far dimmer and more bumbling than his literary original. (A nickname resulting from this portrayal was "Boobus Britannicus.") Rathbone spoke highly of Bruce's portrayal, saying that Watson was one of the screen's most lovable characters. The Rathbone-Bruce film series lapsed with the death of producer-director Roy William Neill in 1946. Since then, most major modern adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, especially since the 1970s, have consciously defied the popular stereotype to depict Watson faithfully as a capable man of action.
Bruce, known as "Willie" to his friends, was a leading member of the British movie colony in Los Angeles, and was captain of the (mostly British) Hollywood Cricket Club. Unlike some of his contemporaries, he never renounced his British citizenship despite his long residence in the United States, and he retained his membership of London's Garrick Club and Buck's Club until his death. His final film, World for Ransom, was released posthumously in 1954.
Nigel Bruce was married from 1921 until his death to British actress Violet Campbell (née Violet Pauline Shelton; 1892–1970); they had two daughters, Jennifer and Pauline. Pauline married in 1946 the British flying ace Alan Geoffrey Page.
Bruce died from a heart attack in Santa Monica, California in 1953, aged 58. He was cremated, and his ashes stored in the vault at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.
He wrote an autobiography called Games, Gossip and Greasepaint which has never been published; however, excerpts have been printed in the Sherlock Holmes Journal, and these have been posted online, with permission.
Best known for his inimitable, forever-indelible portrayals of a most blithering Dr. John Watson opposite Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes in Universal's World War II-era Holmes films.
Two daughters: Jennifer and Pauline
Younger brother of Sir Michael William Selby Bruce, 11th Baronet of Stenhouse and Airth, a descendant of Robert the Bruce and of the Royal Stuarts. Source: Book entitled 'Tramp Royal' by Sir Michael Bruce of Stenhouse. Published 1945 by Elek Books Ltd, 14 Great James St, London.
Fought in the British army during World War I and was seriously wounded in action.
In May 1945 Bruce underwent surgery for varicose veins in his legs as a result of his war injuries.
Began his acting career on stage in 1920.
Although he played the seemingly older Dr. Watson opposite Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, he was actually 2 1/2 years younger.
Personal Quotes
I am in no way a distinguished man, but if I died tomorrow, I can honestly claim to have been what few men can call themselves - a really happy one. For 26 years I have been blessed with the love and friendship of a very wonderful woman. I have two attractive and splendid daughters of whom I am very proud, and my two sons-in-law I respect and like enormously. Except for a groggy leg I have been given excellent health, and all through my life I have had the friendship of many attractive and worthwhile people, for all this I am very grateful. I have made a few enemies and for their opinions I care not a fig. I may be broke or ill again, but as long as I have Bunny beside me I shall be happy, and I can only hope that our two daughters will enjoy their lives as much as their father has enjoyed every minute of his. (1947)
The stories we did were modernised but the characters of the famous detective and his biographer were kept more or less as originally written by Conan Doyle. Watson, however, in the films was made much more of a 'comic' character than he ever was in the books. This was with the object of introducing a little light relief. The doctor, as I played him, was a complete stooge for his brilliant friend and one whose intelligence was almost negligible. Many of the lovers of Conan Doyle must have been shocked, not by this caricature of the famous doctor but by seeing the great detective alighting from an aeroplane and the good doctor listening to his radio. To begin with, Basil and I were much opposed to the modernising of these stories but the producer, Howard Benedict, pointed out to us that the majority of youngsters who would see our pictures were accustomed to the fast-moving action of gangster pictures, and that expecting machine guns, police sirens, cars travelling at 80 miles an hour and dialogue such as 'Put em up bud', they would be bored with the magnifying glass, the hansom cabs, the cobblestones and the slow tempo of an era they never knew and a way of life with which they were completely unfamiliar.
