JEREMY BRETT (ne Peter Jeremy William Huggins), who died on this date (b: 11/03/1933), was an English actor. He played 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 also played the smitten Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the 1964 Warner Bros. production of My Fair Lady.
He was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Henry William Huggins, DSO, MC, DL, an Army officer, and Elizabeth Edith Cadbury of the confectionery dynasty. He had three older brothers: John Henry, Michael William, and Patrick William. The actor Martin Clunes is his nephew (or, according to other sources, either his cousin or 2nd cousin, once removed). Educated at Eton College, he claimed to have been an “academic disaster”, attributing his learning difficulties to dyslexia.
Brett made his professional acting debut in rep at the Library Theatre in Manchester in 1954, and his London stage debut with the Old Vic company in Troilus and Cressida in 1956. He made his first appearance in a major film with War and Peace (1956), which starred Audrey Hepburn.
Also in 1956, he appeared on Broadway as the Duke of Aumerle in Richard II. In 1959, Brett had a singing role as the romantic lead of Archie Forsyth in the West End musical Marigold. Also in 1959, he played the part of Hamlet; however, on reflection, in a BBC2 television documentary Playing the Dane, Brett later said that “I don’t think I was very good as Hamlet. I think I was too young. I was too young intellectually. I was too young philosophically. I was Byronic. I was very handsome. I had qualities, but I’d much rather see other people’s [version]. I wasn’t convinced by me”. The respected theatre critic Harold Hobson wrote of Brett’s portrayal that “the incestuous bed was the centre of his performance”. He played many classical roles on stage, including about a dozen Shakespearean parts at the Old Vic, in New York and four while Brett was a member of the National Theatre Company from 1967 to 1970.
Although Brett appeared in many different roles during his 40-year career, he is best remembered for his performance as Sherlock Holmes in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a series of Granada Television films made between 1984 and 1994. These were adapted by John Hawkesworth and other writers from the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Even though he reportedly feared being typecast, Brett appeared in all 41 episodes of the Granada series, plus two television films alongside David Burke and, latterly, Edward Hardwicke as Doctor Watson. Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke appeared on stage in 1988 and 1989 in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes directed by Patrick Garland.
After taking on the demanding role (“Holmes is the hardest part I have ever played—harder than Hamlet or Macbeth”) Brett made few other acting appearances, and he is now widely considered to be the definitive Holmes of his era, just as Basil Rathbone was at the beginning of the 1940s and William Gillette during the first third of the 20th century. Brett had previously played Doctor Watson on stage opposite Charlton Heston as Holmes in the 1980 Los Angeles production of The Crucifer of Blood, making him one of only a small number of actors to play both Holmes and Watson professionally.
Brett was approached in February 1982 by Granada Television to play Holmes. The idea was to make a totally authentic and faithful adaptation of the character’s best cases. Eventually Brett accepted the role; he wanted to be the best Sherlock Holmes the world had ever seen. He conducted extensive research on the great detective and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, and was very attentive to discrepancies between the scripts he had been given and Conan Doyle’s original stories. One of Brett’s dearest possessions on the set was his 77-page “Baker Street File” on everything from Holmes’ mannerisms to his eating and drinking habits. Brett once explained that “some actors are becomers—they try to become their characters. When it works, the actor is like a sponge, squeezing himself dry to remove his own personality, then absorbing the character’s like a liquid”. Brett was focused on bringing more passion to the role of Holmes. He introduced Holmes’s rather eccentric hand gestures and short violent laughter. He would hurl himself on the ground just to look for a footprint, “he would leap over the furniture or jump onto the parapet of a bridge with no regard for his personal safety.”
Brett’s performance is regarded by many critics to have been their favourite rendition of Sherlock Holmes.
In May 1958, Brett married the actress Anna Massey (daughter of actor Raymond Massey). Their son, David Huggins, born in 1959, is a British cartoonist, illustrator, and novelist. Brett and Massey divorced in November 1962 after she claimed that he had left her for a man. In 1976, Brett married Joan Sullivan Wilson, who died of cancer in July 1985. Brett was in a romantic relationship with the actor Gary Bond, who died exactly one month after Brett. In the late 1970s, Brett was involved with actor Paul Shenar. Brett never disclosed his sexuality.
During the final decade of his life, Brett was treated in hospital several times for his mental illness, and his health and appearance visibly deteriorated by the time he completed the later episodes of the Sherlock Holmes series. At one point, during the final series, Brett collapsed on set. During his last years, he discussed the illness candidly, encouraging people to recognise its symptoms and seek help.
Brett died from heart failure at his home in Clapham, at age 61. A memorial tree to the actor was planted on Clapham Common – near where Brett had lived locally for many years prior to his death.