Sherlock Holmes

Herbert Bradford – Appeared in the UK provincial tour of
Doyle’s play The Speckled Band from July 1910.
James Bragington – In 1914, Birmingham filmmaker GB
Samuelson was casting around for a suitable Holmes for his
adaptation of A Study in Scarlet. He eventually settled on an
accountant at his Birmingham office for the simple reason that
he physically resembled the part. (In the silent film era, looks
were everything.) A glass studio was built at Worton Hall,
Isleworth, and location filming – a rare luxury – took place at
Cheddar Gorge (representing the Rockies) and Southport
beach (the Salt Lake plains). Released in December 1914, this
first British adaptation of a Sherlock Holmes story garnered
rave reviews, and led to another first for Samuelson in 1916 –
the first film version of The Valley of Fear (see HA Saintsbury).