I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere: Douglas Wilmer

Showing posts with label Douglas Wilmer. Show all posts

Remembering Gene Wilder

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"in Mr. Wilder's absence" [PRIO]</h4>
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Gene Wilder has passed away at the age of 83, <a href="http://variety.com/2016/film/news/gene-wilder-dead-dies-willie-wonka-young-frankenstein-1201846745/" target="_blank">according to Variety</a>.</div>
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He was a legendary comedic actor, and his roles took him from the ridiculous (Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks' film <i>The Producers</i>) to the sublime (the lead in <i>Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory</i>). His association with Mr. Brooks spanned such other comedies as <i>Blazing Saddles</i> and <i>Young Frankenstein</i>, which have both reached legendary status.</div>
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The success of those films led Wilder to write and direct his own, including the less-than-acclaimed <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3Awaa0D" target="_blank">The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother</a> </i>in 1975. In this spoof, he starred as Sigerson Holmes, the youngest of the three Holmes brothers, who was eternally jealous of Sherlock's success. Marty Feldman co-starred as Orville Sacker (an homage to Ormond Sacker, the original name Sir Arthur Conan Doyle planned to give Watson). They met under the following circumstances:</div>
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001204/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Orville</a>: Are you Mister S., for Sigerson, Holmes?<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000698/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Sigerson Holmes</a>: Perhaps.<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001204/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Orville</a>: Do you have a brother whose first name is Sherlock?<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000698/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Sigerson Holmes</a>: I do not.<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001204/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Orville</a>: You do have a brother?<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000698/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Sigerson Holmes</a>: I do.<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001204/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Orville</a>: Might I inquire as to his first name?<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000698/?ref_=tt_trv_qu">Sigerson Holmes</a>: "Sheer luck."</blockquote>
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It's not the greatest of Sherlock Holmes films — not by a long shot — but it's one in the pantheon of hundreds of movies about the great detective. And it's the one through which Gene Wilder left his mark (and his passing knowledge of the Canon, incidentally).<br />
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The film also starred Madeline Kahn and Dom Deluise, with Leo McKern as Professor Moriarty. Nicholas Smith of <i>Are You Being Served?</i> fame appeared as the landlord, and <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/12/nicholas-smith-had-two-sherlock-holmes.html#.V8SVrpgrLb0" target="_blank">passed away last December</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>And of course, Thorley Walters and Douglas Wilmer made cameo appearances as Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes. <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2016/03/remembering-douglas-wilmer-bsi.html#.V8SVrpgrLb0" target="_blank">We also remembered Wilmer</a> after he passed away earlier this year.</div>
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With Wilder's death, all of the principal actors in <i>Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother</i> have now left the stage.</div>
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R.I.P. Gene Wilder (1933-2016)<br />
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Remembering Gene Wilder

"in Mr. Wilder's absence" [PRIO] Gene Wilder has passed away at the age of 83, according to Variety . He was a lege...

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by Scott Monty

Remembering Douglas Wilmer, BSI

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"At the Lyceum Theatre, the crowds were already thick" [SIGN]</h4>
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Douglas Wilmer, BSI ("The Lyceum Theatre"), who portrayed Sherlock Holmes on the BBC in the 1960s, passed away after a short illness today, aged 96. He received his investiture in the Baker Street Irregulars in 2000.<br />
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Douglas Wilmer's mark on the Sherlockian world cannot be overstated. For an entire generation of British television viewers, he <i>was</i> Sherlock Holmes. Wilmer had the same impact that Jeremy Brett did in the mid-1980s and early 1990s and that Benedict Cumberbatch has today.<br />
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Just a little over a year ago, we reflected on <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/02/celebrating-50-years-of-douglas-wilmer.html#.Vv0wK6QrLb1" rel="nofollow">50 years of Douglas Wilmer as Sherlock Holmes</a>, which included a nod to the 2014 <i>Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual</i>, edited by Jonathan ("Barrymore") and Elaine McCafferty ("Eliza Barrymore"), BSIs. The volume's titled came from longtime Sherlockian entertainment critic David Morrill, BSI ("Count Von Kramm") who called him "The only actor who ever got it right." [Listen to David's take on Sherlock Holmes of the screen on Episodes <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose21" rel="nofollow">21</a> and <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose22" rel="nofollow">22</a>]<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjw1cIsnjp_2aI5NOuwTRLUuc1mmbf70n1Sn2qy9YiOlYmpZBXkB1jTvZrjqxA_lploXIu7w5kaJE2f9QHFPAIsFnn4N5q5z5NMAjuWdRoynKNhoeMv92w_UKKKX1f8JSybf9ZM8SoGxfS/s1600/BSJ+Christmas+Annual+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #006f85; font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Douglas Wilmer, subject of the 2014 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual" border="0" class="amzn_view_checked" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjw1cIsnjp_2aI5NOuwTRLUuc1mmbf70n1Sn2qy9YiOlYmpZBXkB1jTvZrjqxA_lploXIu7w5kaJE2f9QHFPAIsFnn4N5q5z5NMAjuWdRoynKNhoeMv92w_UKKKX1f8JSybf9ZM8SoGxfS/s1600/BSJ+Christmas+Annual+2014.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" title="2014 BSJ Christmas Annual" width="267" /></a></div>
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That remembrance also included some wonderful <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/02/celebrating-50-years-of-douglas-wilmer.html#.Vv0wK6QrLb1" rel="nofollow">photos of Wilmer's trip to the Sherlock Holmes exhibit</a> at the London Museum — do be sure to click through.<br />
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A More Personal Connection</h3>
For our part, we'd like to share some personal memories about Douglas. In 1998, Douglas made a tour of some American cities to promote his audiocassette recordings of some Sherlock Holmes stories. Your editor was fortunate enough to be the ambassador who accompanied him in Boston (more on that anon).<br />
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But since that trip, we fell into a bit of a correspondence together. After learning about Douglas' love of watercolors, your editor picked up a set of notecards at a museum shop, and subsequently every letter we sent off to Douglas were on those cards. And for every note sent, he was diligent about replying. We'll treasure those few missives greatly and we'll miss Douglas the man even more.<br />
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Below, we reproduce our contribution to <i>The Holmes and Watson Report</i>, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Sept. 1998) titled "Sherlock Holmes In My Car." We've included additional assets to bring the story to life.<br />
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Sherlock Holmes In My Car</h3>
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Monday, April 20, 1998 dawned like any other day.  As the sun began to rise effortlessly over the Boston Harbor, school buses were hauling their cargo from Copley Square to Hopkington, some 26.2 miles away. However, these buses did not contain the usual assemblage of screaming schoolchildren. You see, this was no ordinary day: this was the day of the Boston Marathon.<br />
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The Great Race is always held on Patriots’ Day – the day that Massachusetts celebrates Paul Revere’s midnight ride and the beginning of the Revolutionary War. What better day to welcome an Englishman to Boston, home of the Tea Party and the Shot Heard ‘Round the World? <br />
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“It is always a joy to meet an American.” [NOBL]</h4>
Approximately four months before, I received a call from Paul Singleton, BSI telling me of Douglas Wilmer’s impending visit to the United States. He would be visiting Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., in that order. Paul had been told that I was the contact person for the Boston area. Well, I couldn’t very well tell Paul that I was a mere cog in the well-greased Sherlockian world in the Hub of the Universe, could I?<br />
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I listened intently to the plan of action: Mr. Wilmer would travel with his wife and Richard Lancelyn Green, visiting with Sherlockian societies along the way. The program?  It seems that Mr. Wilmer wished to sing for his supper, and therefore would be prepared to read from the Canon.<br />
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“Ha! Nothing could be better!”  [STOC]</h4>
Preparations were made. Phone calls were placed. Dossiers and packages were received. I was to pick up Douglas, Anne and Richard at the airport. And before I knew it, the evening of April 20 was upon me. I successfully navigated the Big Dig and the constant construction at Logan Airport, where I stood in line at the international arrivals gate, awaiting my quarry.<br />
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"How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil?" [SPEC]</h4>
As soon as the party rounded the corner, I recognized my party. At 78, Douglas Wilmer is as spry as ever, just as Holmes was at that age. I held up my chauffer-esque sign that on one side read “<b>WILMER</b>.”  On the other side was hastily scrawled “<b>Ugly 6’3” murderer at keyhole</b>,” <a href="https://youtu.be/SGcEmkNaR0c?t=3m35s">a scene Wilmer had created in <i>The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother</i></a>. Rather than scare him enough to retreat to the Customs counter, I shared this with him later, and he recalled the scene with great amusement.<br />
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"He glanced swiftly over it." [HOUN]</h4>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The scene in question begins at 3:35</span></div>
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As we drove to his lodgings, I shared the information of the Boston holiday with my guests and we all agreed upon the irony. I assured them that we Yanks would nevertheless make their stay a most pleasant one in Boston. <a href="http://algonquinclub.com/">The Algonquin Club of Boston</a>, one of the oldest and most revered clubs in the city, was a perfect choice for my guests’ accommodation, since it was modeled after gentlemen’s clubs in London. In fact, Mr. Wilmer announced that it could double as the Diogenes Club.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilRbBdLYWpGaBiMNbhYylcSDdwXu-dzr3lZwlgrV0H5DiVEqq72-S8x8SBQypPuWASXoaVVm5JA3Kav750YhIQ3qI-eskuMmTbAbAewpgBgBeb9PSs5EDSRZ9dPveHcvu0I6aig6QZaaNO/s1600/Wilmer+-+Sherlock+Diogenes+Club.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilRbBdLYWpGaBiMNbhYylcSDdwXu-dzr3lZwlgrV0H5DiVEqq72-S8x8SBQypPuWASXoaVVm5JA3Kav750YhIQ3qI-eskuMmTbAbAewpgBgBeb9PSs5EDSRZ9dPveHcvu0I6aig6QZaaNO/s640/Wilmer+-+Sherlock+Diogenes+Club.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Douglas Wilmer, later, as a disgruntled Diogenes Club member in <i>Sherlock</i> ("The Reichenbach Fall") </td></tr>
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After checking in and depositing bags, I found that the Wilmers and Green were in the mood for some good American food (i.e., burgers!). We zipped from Commonwealth Avenue over to Newbury Street, where we found a parking space directly in front of our restaurant.  I informed them that this was a rarity in the entire city, even more so on Newbury Street, and even more so only hours after the completion of the marathon. They didn’t seem fazed. I guess it doesn’t mean as much to any non-Bostonian.<br />
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Well, I could go on and on about the minute details of Douglas Wilmer’s stay, but I’ll keep it brief rather than risk losing some of the loyal readership of this fine publication. Suffice it to say that I was informed that Mr. Wilmer enjoyed art and architecture, both of which Boston happens to have on hand, fortunately. Douglas, Anne, and Richard got their fill of the city, including the <a href="http://www.mfa.org/">Museum of Fine Arts</a>, the <a href="http://www.gardnermuseum.org/home">Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum</a>, the Boston Common, and Legal Sea Foods.<br />
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The event itself was a rousing success, with 50 people in attendance at the Alqonquin Club and a feast for the eyes as well as the mouth, as my good friend John Baesch as described. Wilmer’s performance was one to remember and was very well-received by the audience. All in all, the evening was a smashing success.<br />
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"Such was the remarkable narrative to which I listened on that April evening…" [EMPT]</h4>
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Amidst all of the excitement of the event and the frantic preparations, the thrill of the entire week was just talking quietly with Douglas – as he asked me to call him – and learning more about his life. There were times we chatted together at my club, in my apartment, and in my car. As I was driving through the streets of Boston, I thought to myself at one point, “My God! Sherlock Holmes is sitting in the passenger seat of my car!”<br />
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I learned that Wilmer greatly admired Leo McKern, an actor of great range and skill. I discovered that Laurence Olivier had stage fright that sometimes caused him nausea. I found that Douglas himself was a war hero, watercolor artist, a bird watcher, a former wine shop owner, and couldn’t get enough of our Boston baked scrod.<br />
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As a host, I constantly fussed and tried to ensure the comfort of my guests. I could only hope that I succeeded all week. As we prepared to part, Douglas and Anne pulled me aside and gave me a neatly wrapped gift. I opened a folio edition of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Fire-Liberty-Esmond-Wright/dp/0312292015">The Fire of Liberty</a></i>,  inscribed “Best Wishes & Thanks, Douglas Wilmer.” When I add to this a letter in May from Suffolk that ran “…we could not have got off to a better start…I can’t imagine a better introduction to America!”<br />
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I am satisfied with a job well done and a few days of memories that will last me a lifetime.<br />
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“Those are the facts of the case, Doctor, and if they are of any use to your collection, I am sure that they are very heartily at your service.” [GLOR]</h4>
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Rest well, Douglas Wilmer. You inspired us more than you knew.<br />
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Remembering Douglas Wilmer, BSI

"At the Lyceum Theatre, the crowds were already thick" [SIGN] Douglas Wilmer, BSI ("The Lyceum Theatre"), who portr...

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by Scott Monty

The Sherlock Holmes Exhibition Catalogue is Here

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"the adequate cataloguing of one of those cabinets" [3GAR]</h4>
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Did you manage to make it to London between October 2014 and April 2015? Neither did we. What we missed was the <a href="http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/archives/sherlock-holmes/" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes exhibit at the Museum of London</a>. However, we heard from many readers and listeners who did, and they were universally thrilled at the visit.<br />
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The exhibition was remarkably well done, and it included everything from props and costumes from the BBC's <i>Sherlock</i> to original Conan Doyle manuscripts and Sidney Paget illustrations. Material was culled from around the world, from collectors and institutions alike, and it made for what was probably the most heralded Sherlock Holmes display since the Festival of Britain of 1951 that brought us the recreation of the sitting rooms at 221B Baker Street - a set that is now housed by the Sherlock Holmes Pub.<br />
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But don't fret if you missed the opportunity to see all of these remarkable items together in one place. Now, courtesy of the Baker Street Irregulars Press is a remarkable catalogue - <i><a href="http://bakerstreetjournal.com/london.html" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived and Will Never Die - The Museum of London Exhibition</a>.</i></div>
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<br /><br />Compiled by Nicholas Utechin, BSI ("The Ancient British Barrow") and Catherine Cooke, BSI ("<i>The Book of  Life</i>") with a foreword by Alex Werner, the Exhibition's curator, this volume provides an illustrated record of the Exhibition and the "wonderful stuff of Sherlockian collecting fantasy." </div>
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Highlights include the two most important sheets regarding the birth of Sherlock Holmes, three original Holmes manuscripts, two Beeton's Christmas Annuals, eight Sidney Paget original drawings and one by Frederick Dorr Steele. Accompanying the illustrations are the compilers' comments, as well as selected Museum of London captions and contributions by Glen Miranker, BSI ("<i>The Origin of Tree Worship</i>") and Constantine Rossakis, BSI ("St. Bartholomew's Hospital").</div>
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The volume is 96 pages and measures 9.75" x 7.5" and is <a href="http://bakerstreetjournal.com/london.html" target="_blank">available from the <i>Baker Street Journal</i> site</a> for $20 plus shipping.</div>
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We plan to buy one, even though the BSJ (our sponsors) didn't send us a review copy. (cough)<br /><br />
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And just in case you wanted to see more, below are some images from <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shsl/sets/72157648762051964" target="_blank">Douglas Wilmer's visit</a> to the Exhibition earlier this year, courtesy of the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shsl/" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes Society of London's Flickr account</a>.<br />
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The Sherlock Holmes Exhibition Catalogue is Here

"the adequate cataloguing of one of those cabinets" [3GAR] Did you manage to make it to London between October 2014 and A...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

Celebrating 50 Years of Douglas Wilmer as Sherlock Holmes

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"fifty years back" [STUD]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglURTCUICcCtXoJNF1hfpweMzlPaqWOC75l5M7vK39IkLZadqN6klZuXe0ZD5y3wc-GzGKVgPd6qFRk5sInnKNkRj-OorRytFYq5o7jwm6-JCuJE0mIa4lIusG1MMs7bTNEL8nikad47Pi/s1600/wilmer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Douglas Wilmer, Sherlock Holmes of the 1965 BBC series" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglURTCUICcCtXoJNF1hfpweMzlPaqWOC75l5M7vK39IkLZadqN6klZuXe0ZD5y3wc-GzGKVgPd6qFRk5sInnKNkRj-OorRytFYq5o7jwm6-JCuJE0mIa4lIusG1MMs7bTNEL8nikad47Pi/s1600/wilmer.jpg" title="Douglas Wilmer as Sherlock Holmes" width="640" /></a></div>
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On 20 February 1965, Sherlock Holmes came to life on millions of flickering black and white screens across England.<br />
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Following a successful pilot episode ("The Speckled Band") the year before, Douglas Wilmer and Nigel Stock returned to their roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the BBC <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1DFNAS6" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes</a></i> series of 12 episodes, beginning with "The Illustrious Client."<br />
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From then on, he was burned in the minds of Britons as the definitive Sherlock Holmes. Or, as David Morrill, BSI ("Count Von Kramm") called him, "The only actor who ever got it right." [Listen to David's take on Sherlock Holmes of the screen on Episodes <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2010/01/episode-21-sherlock-holmes-at-movies.html#.VObLtfldWSo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">21</a> and <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2010/01/episode-22-sherlock-holmes-at-movies.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">22</a>]<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://bakerstreetirregulars.com/2014/12/27/bsj-2014-christmas-annual/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Douglas Wilmer, subject of the 2014 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjw1cIsnjp_2aI5NOuwTRLUuc1mmbf70n1Sn2qy9YiOlYmpZBXkB1jTvZrjqxA_lploXIu7w5kaJE2f9QHFPAIsFnn4N5q5z5NMAjuWdRoynKNhoeMv92w_UKKKX1f8JSybf9ZM8SoGxfS/s1600/BSJ+Christmas+Annual+2014.jpg" title="2014 BSJ Christmas Annual" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://bakerstreetirregulars.com/2014/12/27/bsj-2014-christmas-annual/"><i>The Baker Street Journal 2014 Christmas Annual</i></a></td></tr>
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Wilmer was the subject of the <a href="https://bakerstreetirregulars.com/2014/12/27/bsj-2014-christmas-annual/">2014 <i>Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual</i></a>, faithfully edited by Elaine and Jonathan McCafferty, who were raised on Wilmer as their Holmes - and who were "not unbiased" in their editing. The annual covered everything from Wilmer's self-effacing and frank speech to The Sherlock Holmes Society of London at their annual dinner on 15 January 1994, to film historian Russell Merritt, BSI ("The Trepoff Murder") noting the chasm between the U.S. and Great Britain that existed in the 1960s regarding Sherlock Holmes portrayals.<br />
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The work also contains a greeting from <i>Sherlock </i>co-creator and writer Mark Gatiss, who was a long-time Wilmer fan. He managed to work Wilmer into the production of "The Reichenbach Fall" as a Diogenes Club member who nearly had a conniption with John making noise in the club.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYG0Gyrbz2p3GeCxzKGTTL34cz4BPbVQ6zl4vA89rkH0aqE11oYneYw1Zwl60HJori4chiUCZcaMfEYd_SflGZg9kv8iu41df7NzjUxbHfKKjaSURCtg4qdO6XYRQaDgb7lJdOtmMNoUDO/s1600/Wilmer+-+Sherlock+Diogenes+Club.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Douglas Wilmer in The Reichenbach Fall at the Diogenes Club" border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYG0Gyrbz2p3GeCxzKGTTL34cz4BPbVQ6zl4vA89rkH0aqE11oYneYw1Zwl60HJori4chiUCZcaMfEYd_SflGZg9kv8iu41df7NzjUxbHfKKjaSURCtg4qdO6XYRQaDgb7lJdOtmMNoUDO/s1600/Wilmer+-+Sherlock+Diogenes+Club.jpg" title="Douglas Wilmer at the Diogenes Club" width="640" /></a></div>
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It didn't escape our notice that Wilmer managed to sneak in his own Sherlockian prop: his Baker Street Irregulars bow tie. Mr. Wilmer, who turned 95 on January 8 (two days after Sherlock Holmes's birthday!) was invested into the BSI in 2000 as "The Lyceum Theatre."<br />
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For his own part, Wilmer has long bemoaned the less than buttoned down production of the 1965 series. He was enticed to return after the well-received pilot, having been told that Robin Midgley, the director of "The Speckled Band" would direct most of the 12 episodes in the series. As it turns out, "He didn't do one of them. Not one." (<i><a href="http://amzn.to/1AqvQrH" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Starring Sherlock Holmes</a></i> by David Stuart Davies, BSI ("Reginald Musgrave")).<br />
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Wilmer did not return for the second series because the production schedule - already tight at two weeks per episode, with actors working seven days straight - was being cut to 10 days. Wilmer was "an exacting perfectionist" (Davies) and brought the collaboration to an end because he said that, even though he was a quick study, it couldn't be done in that timeframe.<br />
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To give a sense as to how the BBC undervalued the franchise, when Wilmer requested one of the BBC's better directors, he was rebuffed and told exactly where Sherlock Holmes fit within the BBC empire:<br />
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I begged the head of the serials department to lend him to us for at least one episode of our series. The man looked at me, open-mouthed at my cheek. "What?" he barked in a tones of outraged bumbledom, "You can't have him! He's serials - you're series!" For all the world as if Harvey Nichols had asked the head of Harrods for the loan of his best salesman in Christmas week.</blockquote>
We're fortunate that, despite the challenges, Douglas Wilmer rose to meet them and prevailed in some of the greatest performances of the great detective ever seen on the screen. More fortunate still are we that the series was <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2010/09/lyceum-theatre-sign_14.html#.VObHmPldWSr" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">released on DVD to the U.S. five years ago</a>.<br />
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And now, 50 years after the first airing of the classic series, <a href="http://shop.bfi.org.uk/sherlock-holmes.html#.VObVs_ldWSr" target="_blank">the British Film Institute have announced that the 13-episode series will be released on DVD</a> . The 4-DVD set is <a href="https://amzn.to/301rGco">available from Amazon</a> (affiliate link).<br />
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And then there are anecdotes that we have about our personal interaction with Mr. Wilmer during his 1998 tour of the United States. But that is a story for which the world is not yet prepared...<br />
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But until then, here are some recent images of Douglas Wilmer at the London Museum Sherlock Holmes exhibition, courtesy of Roger Johnson, BSI ("<i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>") and Jean Upton, BSI ("Elsie Cubitt").<br />
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If you have memories of seeing Mr. Wilmer's performances, please share them in a comment below.<br />
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<b>Further reading:</b></h4>
<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2016/03/remembering-douglas-wilmer-bsi.html" target="_blank">Remembering Douglas Wilmer</a><br />
<a href="http://www.movietone-news.com/2009/05/interview-with-douglas-wilmer.html" target="_blank">Interview with Douglas Wilmer</a>, May 2009 (Movietone)<br />
Sherlock Holmes Society of London's <a href="http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/conan-doyle/television/douglas-wilmer/" target="_blank">summary of Wilmer's career</a><br />
<i><a href="https://amzn.to/2N5XRlS" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stage Whispers: Douglas Wilmer, the Memoirs</a></i> by Douglas Wilmer<br />
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