BASIL RATHBONE, A.K.A. SHERLOCK HOLMES, GARDENING

During WWI Rathbone served as an intelligence officer and excelled at disguise. Maybe that’s what led him toward the stage? He also was into his home and his family (there were two) and his garden… Here he is pruning a tree in Beverly Hills.

Basil Rathbone pruning garden

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7 Comments

  1. January 7, 2013

    Always found him incredibly sexy. (Great diction has insurmountable appeal.) 😀

    • January 7, 2013

      And he was gregarious, would garden and work around the house, and a great host — it really was the golden era of Hollywood.

  2. George Kaplan
    January 3, 2014

    Basil was fabulous. I never knew that about his espionage work, Vickie. How fascinating. Especially as he would famously play the World’s Greatest Detective, a man with a penchant for disguise.
    It’s rumoured that – two families or no – Mr Rathbone had something in common with another great (if not THE Greatest) screen Sherlock Holmes, Jeremy Brett… Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

    • January 5, 2014

      I think Leslie Howard did espionage work too… Didn’t he?

  3. January 4, 2014

    Dearest G
    Adore the composition of this photograph.
    It seems almost like a riddle. One of those picture puzzle book that if looked at the right way reveals the location of some hidden treasure.
    Yours ever
    The Perfumed Dandy

    • January 5, 2014

      He’s applying that pruning saw to an oak, if I did that now I’d be arrested (okay, not arrested, but heavily fined) — California Oaks are protected now.

  4. George Kaplan
    January 5, 2014

    Yes, Leslie Howard did espionage work. It’s rumoured that’s why he died: wasn’t his plane shot down?

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