Vale: Douglas Wilmer

UK veteran Douglas Wilmer, best known for the BBC’s 1960s Sherlock Holmes series has died, aged 96.

He died in Suffolk, England, after a short illness,

Wilmer played Sherlock Holmes opposite Nigel Stock as Dr. Watson in 1964 (for a pilot episode) and then for an 11-episode season in 1965.

He also portrayed the logical Professor Van Dusen, a Holmesian detective in 1971’s The Rivals of Sherlock Holme form ITV. Later, Gene Wilder insisted Wilmer return as the famous resident of 221B Baker St. in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother.

He also had a cameo as a cranky old man who gave Watson a hard time in the Diogenes Club in the 2012 Sherlock finale “The Reichenbach Fall.”

Mark Gatiss tweeted “An honour to have known dear Douglas Wilmer. A Sherlock for all seasons. The work was something, the man was all. RIP.”

Other credits included The Brides of Fu Manchu, The Vengeance of Fu Manchu, Patton, Revenge of the Pink Panther, Octopussy, Richard III, Pursuit of the Graf Spee, El Cid, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Cleopatra, Jason and the Argonauts, A Shot in the Dark, One Way Pendulum, Khartoum, The Reckoning, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Saint, The Avengers and Space: 1999.

Source: Hollywood Reporter