Jeremy Brett

Peter Jeremy William Huggins (3 November 1933 – 12 September 1995), known professionally as Jeremy Brett, 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.

Jeremy Brett
Born
Peter Jeremy William Huggins

(1933-11-03)3 November 1933[1][2]
Died12 September 1995(1995-09-12) (aged 61)
Clapham, London, England
Years active1954–1995
Spouse(s)
(m. 1958; div. 1962)

Joan Wilson
(m. 1976; died 1985)
Partner(s)Gary Bond (1969–1976)
Paul Shenar (late 1970s)
Children1

Early life

Jeremy Brett was born Peter Jeremy William Huggins at Berkswell Grange in Berkswell, then in Warwickshire. His birthdate was actually 3 November 1933[1] but it has also been stated as December 1933[3] or 1935, according to many sources.[4] He was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Henry William Huggins, DSO, MC, DL (1890–1965), an Army officer, and Elizabeth Edith Cadbury Butler (of the confectionery dynasty).[5][6] He had one sister and three older brothers: John, Patrick and Michael. The actor Martin Clunes is his nephew[7] (or, according to other sources, either his cousin or cousin, once removed).[8][9][10] Educated at Eton College, he claimed to have been an "academic disaster", attributing his learning difficulties to dyslexia. Brett belonged to the Woodmen of Arden, an archery club established in 1785. His father and brothers were also members.

Although he eventually developed precisely honed diction, he was born with "rhotacism", a speech impediment which prevented him from pronouncing the "R" sound correctly. He underwent corrective surgery as a teenager and followed it with years of practising.

However, while at Eton he excelled at singing and was a member of the college choir. He was trained by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall[11][12] in London, graduating in 1954, but his father had demanded that he change his name for the sake of family honour, so he took his stage name from the label of his first suit, "Brett & Co."[13]

In 1959, while Brett was playing Hamlet, his mother was killed in a car crash in the Welsh mountains. This had a tremendous effect on Brett. Later in life, he spoke about the accident, its impact on him and consequently his performance; "my mother had been killed savagely in a car accident in 1959, and I was very angry about that, because my son, when she was killed, was only three months old. There was anger—it was interesting ... there was anger in me. And I think that came through. I felt cheated—I felt my mother had been cheated—the rage of that came through". He could not believe the circumstances and channelled his anger into his performance.

Career

Stage and screen

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.[14] He made his first appearance in a major film with War and Peace (1956), which starred Audrey Hepburn.[15]

Hamlet (1960)

Also in 1956, he appeared on Broadway as the Duke of Aumerle in Richard II.[16] 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.[17]

Young Jeremy Brett

From the early 1960s, Brett was often on British television. He starred in several serials, including as d'Artagnan in an adaptation of The Three Musketeers (1966). His highest profile film appearance was as Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady (1964), again with Audrey Hepburn. Although Brett sang well, as he later demonstrated when he played Danilo in a BBC Television broadcast of The Merry Widow (Christmas Day 1968), his singing in My Fair Lady was dubbed by Bill Shirley. Around this time, Brett was considered to replace Sean Connery as James Bond (007), but turned the part down, feeling that playing 007 would harm his career. George Lazenby was subsequently cast instead.[18]

Some of his appearances were in classical comedic roles, such as Captain Absolute in a television version of The Rivals (1970) and Bassanio in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (1970) in a National Theatre Company production directed by Jonathan Miller, which also featured Laurence Olivier (as Shylock) and Joan Plowright (as Portia). This was adapted for television in 1973 with the same three leads. Brett joked that, as an actor, he was rarely allowed into the 20th century and never into the present day. He did, though, appear in a few contemporary guest roles, in a couple of the ITC series such as The Baron (1967) and The Champions (1969), wherein he was cast as swarthy, smooth villains. Brett also appeared in The Incredible Hulk ("Of Guilt, Models and Murder", 1977) and starred as Maxim in the 1979 adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca opposite Joanna David.

Jeremy Brett's final, posthumous film appearance was an uncredited bit part as the artist's father in Moll Flanders, a 1996 Hollywood feature film starring Robin Wright Penn in the title role. The film (not to be confused with the 1996 ITV adaptation starring Alex Kingston) was released nearly a year after Brett's death.[15]

Sherlock Holmes

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 41 episodes of the Granada series, 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"[19]) 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.[20][fn 1]

Brett had been 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.[29] 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.[30] 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".[31]

Brett was obsessed with bringing more passion to the role of Holmes. He introduced Holmes' 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."[32]

Holmes' obsessive and depressive personality fascinated and frightened Brett. In many ways Holmes' personality resembled the actor's own, with outbursts of passionate energy followed by periods of lethargy. It became difficult for him to let go of Holmes after work. He had always been told that the only way for an actor to stay sane was for him to leave his part behind at the end of the day, but Brett started dreaming about Holmes, and the dreams turned into nightmares.[33] Brett began to refer to Holmes as "You Know Who" or simply "HIM":

"Watson describes You Know Who as a mind without a heart, which is hard to play. Hard to become. So what I have done is invent an inner life".[34] Brett invented an imaginary life of Holmes to fill the hollowness of Holmes' "missing heart", his empty emotional life. He imagined: "... what You Know Who's nanny looked like. She was covered in starch. I don't think he saw his mother until he was about eight years old ..." etc.[34]

While the other actors disappeared to the canteen for lunch, Brett would sit alone on the set reading the script, looking at every nuance,[35] reading Holmes in the weekends and on his holidays.

"Some actors fear if they play Sherlock Holmes for a very long run the character will steal their soul, leave no corner for the original inhabitant", he once said,[36] but: "Holmes has become the dark side of the moon for me. He is moody and solitary and underneath I am really sociable and gregarious. It has all got too dangerous".[19]

A theatrical adaptation, The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, by Brett's friend playwright Jeremy Paul ran at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End with Brett and Edward Hardwicke during 1988 and 1989; the production subsequently toured.[17]

Brett's performance is regarded by many critics to have been their favourite rendition of Sherlock Holmes.[37][38][39][40]

Private life and health problems

On 24 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.[41] Brett and Massey divorced on 22 November 1962 after she claimed he left her for a man.[42][43] From 1969 until 1976 Brett was in a romantic relationship with the actor Gary Bond, who died exactly one month after Brett.[44] In the late 1970s he was involved with actor Paul Shenar.[45] In 1976, Brett married Joan Sullivan Wilson, who died of cancer in July 1985.[46]

In the latter part of 1986, Brett exhibited wild mood swings that alarmed his family and friends, who persuaded him to seek diagnosis and treatment for manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder.[47] Brett was prescribed lithium tablets to fight his manic depression. He suspected that he would never be cured, and would have to live with his condition, look for the signs of his disorder, and then deal with it.[48] He wanted to return to work, to play Holmes again.

The first episode to be produced after his discharge was a two-hour adaptation of The Sign of Four in 1987. From then on the changes in Brett's appearance and behaviour slowly became more noticeable as the series developed. One of the side effects of the lithium tablets was fluid retention; he was putting on weight and retaining water. The drugs were also slowing him down.[49] According to Edward Hardwicke, Brett smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day, which "didn't help his health."[50] He also had heart troubles. His heart was twice the normal size;[51] he would have difficulties breathing and would need an oxygen mask on the set. "But, darlings, the show must go on", was his only comment.[52]

During the last 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.[53] During his last years he discussed the illness candidly, encouraging people to recognise its symptoms and seek help.

Death

Brett died on 12 September 1995 at his home in Clapham, London, from heart failure. His heart valves had been scarred by rheumatic fever contracted as a child.[51] He was cremated and his ashes were given to his family.

One of his elder brothers, John, who was a minister, spoke at his youngest brother's memorial service on 29 November 1995.

Mel Gussow wrote in an obituary for The New York Times, "Mr. Brett was regarded as the quintessential Holmes: breathtakingly analytical, given to outrageous disguises and the blackest moods and relentless in his enthusiasm for solving the most intricate crimes."[54]

Work

Stage

Year Name Role Place
1956King Richard IIDuke of Aumerle  Winter Garden Theatre
1956MacbethMalcolm  Winter Garden Theatre
1956Romeo and JulietParis  Winter Garden Theatre
1957Troilus and CressidaTroilus  Winter Garden Theatre
1961HamletHamletOxford Playhouse/Royal Strand Theatre
1964The DeputyFather Riccardo Fontana, S.J.  Brooks Atkinson Theatre
1967As You Like ItOrlando  Royal National Theatre
1978DraculaCount DraculaMartin Beck Theatre
1985Aren't We All?Hon. William Tatham  Brooks Atkinson Theatre
1988The Secret of Sherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes  Wyndham's Theatre

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1954SvengaliPierreUncredited
1956War and PeaceNikolai Rostov
1962The Wild and the WillingAndrew Gilby
1963The Very EdgeMullen - The Intruder
1963Girl in the HeadlinesJordan Barker
1964My Fair LadyFreddy Eynsford-Hill
1964Act of ReprisalHarvey Freeman
1971Nicholas and AlexandraUncredited
1978The Medusa TouchEdward Parrish
1981The Secret of Seagull IslandDavid Malcolm
1995Mad Dogs and EnglishmenTony Vernon-Smith
1996Moll FlandersArtist's Father(final film role)

Television films

Year Name Role Notes
1957Meet me by MoonlightRoderick
1962The Ghost SonataThe Student
1962Dinner with the Family
1966Chopin and George Sand - The Creative YearsChopin
1968The Merry Widow
1969An Ideal HusbandViscount Goring
1973The Merchant of VeniceBassanio
1974Affairs of the HeartCaptain Yule
1974Jennie: Lady Randolph ChurchillCount Karel Kinsky2 episodes
1974Haunted: The FerrymanSheridan Owen
1975The Prodigal DaughterFather Daley
1976Picture of Dorian GrayBasil Hallward
1979RebeccaMax DeWinter
1981Madame XDr. Terrence Keith
1981MacbethMacbeth
1981The Good SoldierEdward Ashburnham
1982The Barretts of Wimpole StreetRobert Browning
1983Number 10William Pitt the Younger
1984Morte d'ArthurKing Arthur
1985Florence NightingaleWilliam Nightingale
1985DeceptionsBryan Foxworth
1987The Sign of FourSherlock Holmes
1988The Hound of the BaskervillesSherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes television series
  • 1984: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Blue Carbuncle
The Speckled Band
The Crooked Man
The Solitary Cyclist
The Naval Treaty
The Dancing Men
A Scandal in Bohemia
  • 1985: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Final Problem
The Red Headed League
The Resident Patient
The Norwood Builder
The Greek Interpreter
The Copper Beeches
  • 1986: The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Six Napoleons
The Priory School
The Man with the Twisted Lip
The Second Stain
The Musgrave Ritual
The Abbey Grange
The Empty House
  • 1988: The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Bruce Partington Plans
Wisteria Lodge
Silver Blaze
The Devil's Foot
  • 1987—1988: Masterpiece Mystery
The Return of Sherlock Holmes: The Priory School
The Return of Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four
  • 1992: ITV Telethon [Sherlock Holmes]
  • 1991—1993: The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
1991: Shoscombe Old Place
1991: The Problem of Thor Bridge
1991: The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
1991: The Boscombe Valley Mystery
1991: The Problem of Thor Bridge
1991: The Illustrious Client
1991: The Creeping Man
1992: The Master Blackmailer
1993: The Last Vampyre
1993: The Eligible Bachelor
  • 1994: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Three Gables
The Dying Detective
The Golden Pince-Nez
The Red Circle
The Mazarin Stone
The Cardboard Box
Other television series
Romeo and Juliet
  • 1960: Saturday Playhouse [Nigel Lorraine]
The Guinea Pig
  • 1961: Beauty and the Beast [The Prince]
2 episodes
A Kind of Strength
  • 1962: The Bacchae [Dionysus]
  • 1960—1963: ITV Play of the Week
1960: Tess [Angel Clare]
1962: The Typewriter [Pascal / Maxime]
1963: Three Roads to Rome [Tonino]
Close Season
The Lost Stradivarius
  • 1966—1967: The Three Musketeers [D'Artagnan]
1966: Branded
1966: At Night All Cats Are Grey
1967: The Cardina
1967: Assassin
1967: Walk to the Scaffold
The Seven Eyes of Night [Jeff Walker]
1961: The Picture of Dorian Gray [Dorian Gray]
1964: Something to Declare [Plinio Ceccho]
1967: Quite an Ordinary Knife [Gino]
  • 1967: Kenilworth [Edmund Tressilian]
The Sparrow's Lure
The Black Arts
The Tide Turns
The Wrath of Lions
1966: The Queen & the Welshman [Villiers]
1967: The Magicians: The Incantation of Casanova [Giacomo Casanova]
  • 1968: For Amusement Only [Henry]
Time for the Funny Walk
Desert Journey
With a Little Help from My Friends
  • 1973: Country Matters [Captain Blaine]
An Aspidistra in Babylon
4 episodes
Recovery
Triumph and Tragedy
  • 1974: Affairs of the Heart [Captain Yule]
  • 1974: The Wide World of Mystery [Peter Tower]
One Deadly Owner
  • 1975: A Legacy [Eduard Merz]
4 episodes
  • 1975: Ten from the Twenties [Willie Edwardes]
  • 1975: Twiggy - 15 October episode
  • 1976: Piccadilly Circus [Host]
  • 1977: Supernatural [Mr. Nightingale]
  • 1977: Young Dan'l Boone [Langford]
  • 1978: The Incredible Hulk [James Joslin]
  • 1979: Rebecca [Maxim de Winter]
4 episodes
4 episodes
1969: An Ideal Husband [Lord Goring]
1970: The Rivals [Captain Jack Absolute]
1975: The School for Scandal [Joseph Surface]
1975: Love's Labour's Lost [Berowne]
1976: The Picture of Dorian Gray [Basil Hallward]
1982: On Approval [George, Duke of Bristol]

See also

Footnotes

  1. Eyles mentions three other actors who played both Holmes and Watson: Reginald Owen (who played Watson in a 1932 film and Holmes in a 1933 film),[21] Howard Marion-Crawford (who played Holmes in a radio production and Watson in a television series), and Carleton Hobbs (who portrayed both roles on the radio).[20] Other actors who played both roles include Patrick Macnee,[22] Edward Woodward,[23][24] Kenneth Rivington,[25][26] H. Lawrence Leyton,[27] and John Bell.[28]

References

Citations

  1. Birth Record on 3 November 1933 for Peter Jeremy William Huggins in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2005
  2. "Jeremy Brett, an Unnerving Holmes, Is Dead at 59". The New York Times. 14 September 1995. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  3. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
  4. "Jeremy Brett biography". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012.
  5. Pease, Charles E. G. (19 November 2015). "The Descendants of James Cadbury" (PDF). pennyghael.org.uk. p. 19. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  6. "Huggins of Berkswell Grange". Burke's Landed Gentry. 1952.
  7. Palmer, Camilla (28 March 2014). "Martin Clunes: My family values". The Guardian.
  8. Gilbert, Gerard (25 February 2015). "Martin Clunes to star as Sherlock creator in Arthur & George". The Independent. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  9. Nikkah, Roya (18 September 2011). "Martin Clunes tells of boarding school beatings and childhood traumas". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  10. Dowell, Ben (16 February 2015). "Conan Doyle Investigates? Martin Clunes wants a full series as the sleuthing Sherlock Holmes creator". Radio Times. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  11. V&A, Theatre and Performance Special Collections, Elsie Fogerty Archive, THM/324
  12. Angelini, Sergio (1981). "Brett, Jeremy (1933–1995)". Who's Who in the Theatre (17th ed.). Gale Research via BFI Screenonline.
  13. Morley, Sheridan (27 April 1997). "The curse of being Conan". The Sunday Times. p. 5.
  14. Slide, Anthony (1996). Some Joe You Don't Know: An American Biographical Guide to 100 British Television Personalities. Greenwood Press.
  15. "Filmography: Brett, Jeremy". Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  16. "Richard II". Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television. GALE. 15. 1996.
  17. "Jeremy Brett his work: Theatre listing". bafta4jb. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. Manners (2001), p. 212.
  20. Eyles, Allen (1986). Sherlock Holmes: A Centenary Celebration. Harper & Row. p. 86. ISBN 0-06-015620-1.
  21. Barnes (2002), p. 39.
  22. Barnes (2002), p. 60.
  23. "Hands of a Murderer (1990)". BFI. British Film Institute. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  24. "USH Volume 4, Section X K -- Actors, Performances, and Recordings: Plays (continued)". University of Minnesota Libraries. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  25. Anthony, Barry (2012). Chaplin's Music Hall: The Chaplins and their Circle in the Limelight. I. B. Tauris & Co. p. 175.
  26. "USH Volume 3, Section X K -- Actors, Performances, and Recordings: Plays". University of Minnesota Libraries. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  27. Pointer, Michael (1976). The Sherlock Holmes File. Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. pp. 30–31. ISBN 0-517-52560-7.
  28. "Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  29. Manners (2001), p. ?.
  30. Manners (2001), p. 122.
  31. Manners (2001), p. 217.
  32. Cox (1999), p. 22.
  33. Manners (2001), p. 121.
  34. Manners (2001), p. 134.
  35. Manners (2001), p. 133.
  36. Manners (2001), p. 216.
  37. Richards, Andy (18 September 2016). "Did Sherlock Holmes kill Midland actor Jeremy Brett, the man who played him?". Birmingham Mail. Reach PLC. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  38. Sirkin, Austin. "Which Actor Is the Best Sherlock Holmes?". steampunk.wonderhowto.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  39. Morris, Jonathan. "Sherlock Holmes: His Best and Worst – The Antiscribe Overview". antiscribe.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  40. Kirby, William. "My Best Sherlock Holmes". criminalelement.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  41. Hagestadt, Emma (3 November 2001). "David Huggins: Public faces in private places". The Independent. Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  42. Massey, Anna (2006). Telling Some Tales. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-179645-8.
  43. Davies, David Stuart (2006). Dancing in the Moonlight: Jeremy Brett. London: MDF The BiPolar Organisation.
  44. Manners (2001), p. 130.
  45. Graham, David (2007). Casting About: A Memoir. iUniverse. p. 265.
  46. Manners (2001), p. 144.
  47. Cox (1999), p. 112.
  48. Manners (2001), p. 160.
  49. Manners (2001), p. 204.
  50. "Elementary My Dear Watson: An Interview with Edward Hardwicke (Part 2/2)". YouTube. 21 January 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  51. Manners (2001), p. 26.
  52. Manners (2001), p. 207.
  53. Blau, Peter (March 1994). "Mar 94 #1" (PDF). Scuttlebutt. Spermaceti Press. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  54. Gussow, Mel (14 September 1995). "Jeremy Brett, an Unnerving Holmes, Is Dead at 59". The New York Times. p. B15.

Bibliography

  • Barnes, Alan (2002). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 1-903111-04-8.
  • Cox, Michael (1999). A Study in Celluloid: A Producer's Account of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes. Rupert Books. ISBN 1-902791-04-5.
  • Manners, Terry (2001). The Man Who Became Sherlock Holmes - The Tortured Mind of Jeremy Brett. London: Virgin Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7535-0536-3.
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