Basil Rathbone starred as Sherlock Holmes in 14 films.
His film series began with The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1939, followed later that year by The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Those first two productions were made by 20th Century Fox and used the Victorian-era setting associated with Conan Doyle’s original stories. Universal Pictures then continued the series with 12 additional films between 1942 and 1946.
Nigel Bruce played Dr. Watson in all 14 films. The Universal entries shifted Holmes into contemporary wartime settings, with several plots involving Nazi agents, espionage, and threats connected to the Second World War. This change sometimes causes confusion when people count only the Fox films or include Rathbone’s radio, television, and stage appearances. The accepted total refers specifically to the 14 feature films in the Rathbone-and-Bruce film series.