Jeremy Brett

Peter Jeremy William Huggins, known professionally as Jeremy Brett, was born on 3 November 1933 at Berkswell Grange in Berkswell, Warwickshire, England. He was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Henry William Huggins, DSO, MC, DL, an Army officer, and Elizabeth Edith Cadbury, of the Cadbury confectionery family. Brett had three older brothers: John Henry, Michael William, and Patrick William. The actor Martin Clunes is his nephew. Brett was educated at Eton College, where he excelled at singing and participated in the college choir, though he described himself as an academic disaster and attributed his difficulties to dyslexia. He was born with rhotacism, a speech impediment affecting his pronunciation of the letter R, which he addressed through corrective surgery as a teenager and years of subsequent practice. His father required him to adopt a stage name to protect the family's reputation, and Brett took the name from the label of his first suit, made by Brett and Co. He trained under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then located at the Royal Albert Hall in London, graduating in 1954. Brett also belonged to the Woodmen of Arden, an archery club founded in 1785, as did his father and brothers.

Brett made his professional acting debut in repertory theatre at the Library Theatre in Manchester in 1954. His London stage debut came with the Old Vic company in a production of Troilus and Cressida in 1956, the same year he made his first major film appearance in War and Peace, starring Audrey Hepburn. That same year he arrived on Broadway, where his career would span from 1956 to 1985. His Broadway debut came in Richard II, in which he played the Duke of Aumerle. He went on to appear in a range of productions on Broadway, including Troilus and Cressida, Macbeth, Dracula, The Deputy, and Aren't We All. In 1959, Brett took on the role of Hamlet, a performance he later reflected on critically in the BBC2 documentary Playing the Dane, stating he felt too young intellectually and philosophically for the part. Theatre critic Harold Hobson, however, wrote that the incestuous bed was the center of Brett's portrayal. That same year, Brett's mother was killed in a car crash in the Welsh mountains, an event he described as having a direct influence on the anger he brought to his 1959 Hamlet performance. Also in 1959, he played the romantic lead of Archie Forsyth in the West End musical Marigold. Brett was a member of the National Theatre Company from 1967 to 1970, during which time he performed approximately a dozen Shakespearean roles at the Old Vic, in New York, and elsewhere.

His film career included a prominent role as Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the 1964 Warner Bros. production of My Fair Lady, again alongside Audrey Hepburn, though his singing in that film was dubbed by Bill Shirley. Brett had demonstrated his own vocal abilities in a BBC Television broadcast of The Merry Widow on Christmas Day 1968, in which he played Danilo. Around the time of My Fair Lady, Brett was considered as a replacement for Sean Connery in the role of James Bond but declined, believing the part would be damaging to his career. George Lazenby was subsequently cast. His television work from the early 1960s onward was extensive and included the role of d'Artagnan in a 1966 adaptation of The Three Musketeers, Captain Absolute in a 1970 television version of The Rivals, and Bassanio in a National Theatre Company production of The Merchant of Venice in 1970, directed by Jonathan Miller and featuring Laurence Olivier as Shylock and Joan Plowright as Portia, which was adapted for television in 1973 with the same cast. He also appeared in The Incredible Hulk in 1977 and starred as Maxim in a 1979 television adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca opposite Joanna David. Before taking on the role of Sherlock Holmes, Brett had played Dr. Watson on stage opposite Charlton Heston as Holmes in the 1980 Los Angeles production of The Crucifer of Blood, making him one of a small number of actors to have professionally portrayed both characters.

In February 1982, Granada Television approached Brett to play Sherlock Holmes in a series of adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. He accepted the role and conducted extensive research on both the detective and Conan Doyle himself, maintaining a 77-page document he called his Baker Street File, which catalogued details of Holmes's mannerisms, eating habits, and drinking habits. Brett appeared in all 41 episodes of the Granada series, which ran from 1984 to 1994, alongside David Burke and later Edward Hardwicke as Dr. Watson. He and Hardwicke also appeared together on stage in 1988 and 1989 in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, directed by Patrick Garland. Brett described Holmes as the hardest part he had ever played, harder than Hamlet or Macbeth. He introduced specific physical choices to the role, including eccentric hand gestures and a short, sharp laugh. Brett and Hardwicke also appeared on stage together in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes. His final film appearance was a posthumous, uncredited bit part as an artist's father in the 1996 Hollywood feature Moll Flanders, starring Robin Wright Penn, released nearly a year after his death.

Jeremy Brett died on 12 September 1995.