I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Stephen Fry to Play Mycroft Holmes in Upcoming Film

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"Mycroft one of the queerest men" [GREE]</h4>
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As anticipation for the sequel to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Robert-Downey-Jr/dp/B001OQCV6A?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><b><i>Sherlock Holmes</i></b></a> mounts, another detail has been made public: Stephen Fry will play the part of Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older brother.<br />
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There are a number of interesting tie-ins that make this particularly interesting, but we'll start with the announcement first. Mr. Fry himself broke the news on the Danny Baker show on BBC 5 Live, and the news was <a href="http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/09/25/stephen-fry-is-mycroft-holmes-see-his-resemblance-to-guy-ritchie/">immediately shared by Bleeding Cool</a>. The direct quote from Fry was:<br />
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I’m playing Mycroft in the sequel to the Sherlock Holmes film Guy Ritchie directed with Robert Downey Jr., and that sort of part is fun, but just once in a while to play a genuine all round sort of lead figure with complexity and tragedy and wit and all the sort of things that Oscar [Wilde] had was a once in a lifeftime thrill.</blockquote>
The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/09/26/arts/entertainment-us-stephenfry.html?src=twt&twt=nytimesarts">New York Times (via Reuters) also reported on it</a> and Fry confirmed it on his own <a href="http://twitter.com/stephenfry/status/25610767520">Twitter account</a>:<br />
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We think it's an inspired casting decision for a number of reasons:<br />
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<li>Fry has often played opposite Hugh Laurie (now on the Sherlock Holmes-insipired <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/House-M-D-Seasons-1-5-Collection/dp/B002C3GTLM?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>House, MD</i></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002C3GTLM" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></b>), including the braniac gentleman's gentleman in <b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jeeves-Wooster-Complete-Hugh-Laurie/dp/B001V7UXG2?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jeeves & Wooster</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001V7UXG2" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i></b>, who has often been compared to one or both of the Holmes brothers.</li>
<li>He played Oscar Wilde in the 1997 film <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wilde-Special-Stephen-Fry/dp/B00005V5NU?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Wilde</i></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00005V5NU" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></b>. Wilde made an appearance in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/West-End-Horror-Posthumous-Memoir/dp/0393311538?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i><b>The West End Horror</b></i></a>, the follow-on novel to <b><i>The Seven Per-Cent Solution</i></b> by Nicolas Meyer, BSI ("A Fine Morocco Case").</li>
<li>Mr. Fry was also deeply interested in the <a href="http://www.conandoylecollection.co.uk/">bequest of Richard Lancelyn Green to the city of Portsmouth</a> and he narrated the BBC 4 documentary "The Man Who Loved Sherlock Holmes." We initially referenced him in the November 19, 2006 entry <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2006/11/his-voice-was-gentle-iden_19.html#.Vh6HbHpViko" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"Even His Voice Was Gentle" [IDEN]</a>.</li>
<li>We know that Holmes referred to his brother as "one of the queerest men" in London. That term can be taken in a couple of ways - one being quirky and the other meaning gay. Well, Stephen Fry's <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000410/bio">IMDb biography</a> includes both kinds of references: "Writer, actor, comedian, doer of good works, excellent good friend to the famous and not...Emma Thompson has characterised her friend as '90 percent gay, 10 percent other.'" He is also credited as "Cricket fan, Sherlockian, charter member Groucho Club (Soho)."</li>
<li>Stephen Fry is a noted author in his own right, so we can be sure that he is a reader as well (and we're assuming this means the Canon). He has written a number of books, including <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ode-Less-Travelled-Unlocking-Within/dp/1592403115?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b><i>The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within</i></b></a><b><i><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1592403115" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i></b>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Moab-My-Washpot-Stephen-Fry/dp/1569472025?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i><b>Moab Is My Washpot</b></i></a><i><b><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1569472025" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></b></i>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hippopotamus-Stephen-Fry/dp/1569470545?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i><b>The Hippopotamus</b></i></a><i><b><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1569470545" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></b></i>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Liar-Stephen-Fry/dp/156947012X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b><i>The Liar</i></b></a><b><i><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=156947012X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i></b>, and most recently <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Fry-America-Fifty-States/dp/0061456381?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b><i>Stephen Fry in America: Fifty States and the Man Who Set Out to See Them All</i></b></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0061456381" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />.</li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhwYlYKrHCn_BqpDDdNOB4crz4Ph5mnLb0bfYlJ4e5bzKJySfvFPPCneDCh8uqIrA_Myn7ZILTPKeP1FfOmPw5aa7zo5s0E-sBp-JfpzwVWewiWHj62o7ByHh1klIgZY7u6jeqlFs9qLF/s1600/Stephen+Fry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhwYlYKrHCn_BqpDDdNOB4crz4Ph5mnLb0bfYlJ4e5bzKJySfvFPPCneDCh8uqIrA_Myn7ZILTPKeP1FfOmPw5aa7zo5s0E-sBp-JfpzwVWewiWHj62o7ByHh1klIgZY7u6jeqlFs9qLF/s640/Stephen+Fry.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephen Fry (Photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/christianpayne/3523758590/">Christian Payne - Flickr</a>)</td></tr>
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We hope that his turn as Mycroft - a infrequently appearing role that has been played by the likes of Christopher Lee, Charles Gray, Robert Morley and a handful of others - will be a memorable one. On paper, he would seem to have the pedigree for it. Let's hope that the script and direction makes it at least palatable.<br />
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Stephen Fry to Play Mycroft Holmes in Upcoming Film

"Mycroft one of the queerest men" [GREE] As anticipation for the sequel to Sherlock Holmes mounts, another detail has been m...

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by Scott Monty

Remembering Bernard Davies, BSI

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"the finest study I ever came across" [STUD]</h4>
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We received news of the passing of a legendary Holmesian earlier this week. Bernard Davies, BSI ("<i>A Study in Scarlet</i>") passed beyond the Reichenbach. Chairman of the <a href="http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/press_cutting.php?id=232">Sherlock Holmes Society of London</a> from 1983-86, he was a member of the Society since 1959 and an Honorary Member. He received the investiture "<i>A Study in Scarlet</i>" from the Baker Street Irregulars in 1985 - an exalted title, as it is one of only four investitures of the original novels, and also because it was previously held by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Private-Life-Sherlock-Holmes-Anniversary/dp/093850147X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Vincent Starrett</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=093850147X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />.<br />
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Davies was a prolific writer - such that in 2008, the SHSL compiled his scholarship in the two volume collection<b><i> </i></b><a href="http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/shop_item.php?item_id=0"><b><i>Holmes and Watson Country</i></b></a>, which is still available for sale from the Society. One of his landmark pieces is on the location of 221B Baker Street.<br />
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But his interests didn't begin and end with Holmes; Davies was also an avid scholar of Dracula, having served as Co-President and Co-Founder of the Dracula Society. As <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fentity%2FLeslie-S.-Klinger%2FB002LABYP2%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Dntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_2&tag=thebakerstree-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">Les Klinger</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=ur2&o=1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> put it in the introduction of the two-volume work: "Davies's breadth of interests, research skills, and writing ability make him a national treasure."<br />
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A personal remembrance from Roger Johnson, BSI ("'Pall Mall Gazette'"), Press & Publicity Officer for the SHSL:<br />
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I knew Bernard for nearly forty years, and liked and respected him immensely. A couple of years ago, when the Sherlock Holmes Society decided to publish a collection of Bernard's collected Holmesian writings I immediately volunteered to act as editor. It was a pleasure and an honour to help prepare the book for publication. <br />
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In a reasonably full acting career, he appeared just once in a professional production of a Sherlock Holmes story, when he played Norlett and Bert Stevens in Michael & Mollie Hardwick's audio dramatisation of "Shoscombe Old Place" in 1970. Robert Hardy and Nigel Stock were Holmes and Watson.<br />
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Bernard was one of the giants in our peculiar field - and in others, such as the Dracula Society. He was also a dear friend, who will be greatly missed.</blockquote>
If you have a personal memory of Bernard Davies that you'd like to share, please feel free to leave it as a comment below.<br />
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