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Nigel Bruce
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William Nigel Ernle Bruce
(4 February 1895 - 8 October 1953)
"Never regret anything you have done with a sincere affection; nothing is lost that is born of the heart."
Basil Rathbone
Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed character on film, having been played by 72 actors in 204 films. The historical character most represented in films is Napoleon Bonaparte, with 194 film portrayals. Abraham Lincoln is the U.S. President to be portrayed most on film, with 136 films featuring actors playing the role.
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Trivia
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
He wrote an autobiography titled: Games, Gossip and Greasepaint which has not been published. However many extracts were published in The Sherlock Holmes Journal (London/Oxford, England) Winter issue 1998 Volume 19 Number 1.
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.
To me Nigel will always be the greatest Dr. Watson of them all.
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Biography:
William Nigel Ernle Bruce, usually credited as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor, best known as Dr. Watson in a series of films starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes.
The son of a baronet, he was born in Ensenada, Mexico, where his parents were on vacation.
He was severely wounded in World War I and spent most of the war in a wheelchair.
In 1920 he began his career on stage and eight years later started working in silent films. In 1934 he moved to Hollywood. During his career he worked on 77 movies, including Treasure Island, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Lassie Come Home, The Corn is Green, and Bwana Devil.
He played buffoonish, fuzzy-minded gentlemen and his signature role was that of Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes series beginning in 1939 with his good friend Basil Rathbone. Holmes purists objected that Watson in the books was an intelligent and capable person, just not a super detective, and that the Bruce portrayal made him seem dimmer and more bumbling than he was. But for millions of fans, Bruce was the definitive Watson. There were 14 films made and he also played Watson on the radio.
Bruce died in 1953, aged 57, in Santa Monica, California. His last movie, World for Ransom, was released in 1954.
