Jeremy Brett (3 November 1933 – 12 September 1995), born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, was an English actor, best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series.
Peter Jeremy William Huggins was born at Berkswell Grange in Berkswell in December 1933. He was the son of a Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire and an heir of the Cadbury chocolate family. Educated at Eton College, he claimed to have been an "academic disaster", attributing his learning difficulties to dyslexia.
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 practicing. Much later he claimed that he practiced all of his speech exercises daily, whether he was working or not.[citation needed]
However, while at Eton he excelled at singing and was a member of the college choir. He trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, graduating in 1954, but his father had demanded that he change his name for the sake of family honour.
The Greek is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Bill Raymond. The Greek is the head of an international criminal organization involved in narcotics and human trafficking. The Greek is a mysterious figure involved in numerous criminal activities. His given name is never mentioned on the show, and though he is known only as "The Greek", he has stated (in the episode Port in a Storm) that he is not actually Greek. A quiet and unassuming man, the Greek prefers to keep a low profile, operating all of his business through his lieutenant Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos. His smuggling organization operated from a small diner in Baltimore for years, and while Vondas would conduct business the Greek would listen in quietly at the counter. Nick Sobotka, upon seeing the Greek identify himself, was amazed that the shadowy figure had been in plain sight the entire time.
Despite his calm appearance, the Greek is cunning and ruthless, and only interested in facts that make him more money. Series creator David Simon has said that The Greek is an embodiment of raw unencumbered capitalism. Anyone interfering in this process is eliminated immediately, and he prefers to leave victims headless and handless to hinder identification.
Sherlock Holmes ( /ˈʃɜrlɒk ˈhoʊmz/) is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to adopt almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve difficult cases.
Holmes, who first appeared in publication in 1887, was featured in four novels and 56 short stories. The first novel, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887 and the second, The Sign of the Four, in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. The character grew tremendously in popularity with the first series of short stories in Strand Magazine, beginning with A Scandal in Bohemia in 1891; further series of short stories and two novels published in serial form appeared between then and 1927. The stories cover a period from around 1880 up to 1914.
All but four stories are narrated by Holmes's friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson; two are narrated by Holmes himself ("The Blanched Soldier" and "The Lion's Mane") and two others are written in the third person ("The Mazarin Stone" and "His Last Bow"). In two stories ("The Musgrave Ritual" and "The Gloria Scott"), Holmes tells Watson the main story from his memories, while Watson becomes the narrator of the frame story. The first and fourth novels, A Study in Scarlet and The Valley of Fear, each include a long interval of omniscient narration recounting events unknown to either Holmes or Watson.
Edward Hardwicke (7 August 1932 – 16 May 2011), sometimes credited as Edward Hardwick, was an English actor, possibly best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in the Granada TV series Sherlock Holmes.
Hardwicke was born in London, England, the son of actors Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Helena Pickard. He began his film career in Hollywood at the age of 10, in Victor Fleming’s film A Guy Named Joe, with Spencer Tracy. He returned to England, attended Stowe School, and did his military service as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force. He joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and trained as an actor.
Hardwicke played at the Bristol Old Vic, The Oxford Playhouse and the Nottingham Playhouse, before joining Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre in 1964. He performed regularly there for seven years. He appeared with Olivier in William Shakespeare’s Othello and Ibsen’s The Master Builder. He also appeared in Peter Shaffer’s The Royal Hunt of the Sun (with Robert Stephens), Charley's Aunt, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Congreve's The Way of the World, Georges Feydeau’s A Flea In Her Ear (directed by Jacques Charon of the Comédie Française), The Crucible, Luigi Pirandello's The Rules Of The Game, Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot and George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession. He returned to the National in 1977 for a production of Feydeau's The Lady from Maxim's.