- published: 10 Jan 2012
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Halliwell Hobbes (16 November 1877; Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire – 20 February 1962; Santa Monica, California) was an English actor.
His stage debut was as a member of Frank Benson's company in 1898, playing in Shakespearean rep alongside actors such as Ellen Terry and Mrs Patrick Campbell. His earliest American work was as an actor and director from 1906, before moving to Hollywood in early 1929 (aged 51) to play old men's roles such as clerics, butlers, doctors, lords and diplomats.
Receiving fewer film roles during the 1940s (though he still managed to have been in over 100 films by 1949), he moved back to Broadway by mid 1940, appearing in Romeo and Juliet as Lord Capulet and continuing there until late 1955. By 1950 he had moved to American television in the diverse playhouse format. He married Nancie B. Marsland. He increased the sunkenness of his cheeks by having his four 12-year-molars removed. When he died from a heart attack he was buried at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.
Sherlock Holmes (/ˈʃɜːrlɒk ˈhoʊmz/) is a fictional character created by British author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A London-based "consulting detective" whose abilities border on the fantastic, Holmes is known for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to adopt almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science to solve difficult cases. The character first appeared in print in 1887, and was featured in four novels and 56 short stories by Conan Doyle, as well as later works by other authors. 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's popularity grew with the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891; additional short-story series and two novels (published in serial form) appeared from then to 1927. The events in the stories take place from about 1880 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 Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" and "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane"), and two others are written in the third person ("The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" and "His Last Bow"). In two stories ("The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" and "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott"), Holmes tells Watson the story from memory, with Watson narrating the frame story. The first and fourth novels, A Study in Scarlet and The Valley of Fear, include long passages of omniscient narrative of events unknown to either Holmes or Watson.
Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was a "distinguished stage actor and one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 40s." He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and in 1947 for The Best Years of Our Lives. March is the only actor to have won both the Academy Award and the Tony Award twice.
March was born in Racine, Wisconsin, the son of Cora Brown Marcher (1863–1936), a schoolteacher, and John F. Bickel (1859–1941), a devout Presbyterian Church elder who worked in the wholesale hardware business. March attended the Winslow Elementary School (established in 1855), Racine High School, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi. He began a career as a banker, but an emergency appendectomy caused him to reevaluate his life, and in 1920 he began working as an extra in movies made in New York City, using a shortened form of his mother's maiden name. He appeared on Broadway in 1926, and by the end of the decade signed a film contract with Paramount Pictures. March served in the United States Army during World War I as an artillery lieutenant.