Who played Dr. John Watson in the 1939 film 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'?

Who played Dr. John Watson in the 1939 film 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'? Nigel Bruce played Dr. John Watson.

The film was directed by Sidney Lanfield and released by 20th Century Fox in 1939. Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes, beginning the famous screen partnership in which Bruce portrayed Watson across fourteen films made between 1939 and 1946.

Nigel Bruce’s Watson is often remembered as more comic and bumbling than Doyle’s original character, although he remains Holmes’s loyal companion and narrator-like partner. That interpretation strongly influenced later public perceptions of Watson.

A common mix-up is confusing this casting with later adaptations. Jude Law played Watson opposite Robert Downey Jr., while Martin Freeman played him in the BBC series 'Sherlock.' John Gielgud also portrayed Watson in other screen work, but not this 1939 film.