Tuesday, March 10, 2009

My Fair Lady meets Sherlock Holmes?

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Lately I've been watching old episodes of Sherlock Holmes on YouTube. I love this casting of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Homes and the other characters, I think they are the best I've ever come across, yes even better than Basil Rathbone! I've watched this series on my local Public Television station for years now, and always enjoyed it but it wasn't until recently that I started wondering about the actors.

Last night I went to my favorite actor's search engine and looked up actor Jeremy Brett's rather lengthy filmography, his films and TV movies number roughly 70. After thinking what a great gruff, bold, and almost evil Holmes he makes I was very surprised to see that his early acting credits include a role in My Fair Lady. I couldn't imagine who he could of played and was surprised beyond belief when I discovered that he had played Freddy Eynsford-Hill!

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Not only did he do a wonderful job playing Eliza Doolittle's love interest but it was actually his own voice that sang On The Street Where You Live for the film! So of course I had to find a snip it of him singing the song:



I watched the clip in total disbelief as tears rolled down my face. I've always loved Freddy Eynsford-Hill and On The Street Where You Live has always been my favorite song in the whole movie, it's just so romantic! You really could have knocked me over with a feather. Sherlock Homes and Freddy Eynsford-Hill just seem like totally different characters to me, one gruff and brisk, the other carefree and boyishly romantic. But both of these character were portrayed by one great British actor. I was also in awe when I discovered through reading a short bio on Jeremy Brett that he was married for a time to veteran period actress Anna Massey (who was just a gem in Mansfield Park, Importance of Being Earnest, Oliver Twist, new Tess of the D'Urbevilles) and also to Mystery! and Masterpiece Theatre producer Joan Wilson who died of cancer. Truly an interesting man and a great period actor!

Mood
impressed
Impressed

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was not his voice in that song, his singing was was dubbed. He's also played a great Maxim de Winter in a BBC production of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.

Unknown said...

It was not his own voice -however- the dubbing over him was proven to be without reason as Jeremy Brett was shown to have a very powerful and beautiful singing voice himself as evidenced here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrMBdQm9P10

Hamlette (Rachel) said...

I actually have this theory that Sherlock Holmes was disappointed in love as a young man, which is why he's so indifferent to women as an adult. So perhaps losing Eliza could have disillusioned Freddy and sent him on a similar path, in that way?

Anyway, I LOVE Jeremy Brett as Holmes -- I can't imagine a better.

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Anonymous said...

I too, have just made this surprising but delightful connection this evening! Having loved both characters separately, I fairly swooned to see this post! love love love!

sam_a said...

Just seen this, I realize the other comments are 5 years old, but...as a huge fan of Jeremy Brett since his 3 Musketeers days - yes, he was D'Artagnan in a mid-60s BBC production - I was thrilled when he played Holmes and was,for me, the best of them all. The Musketeers is all on Youtube, btw. He was very good in Lady Windermere's Fan on TV too, and so many others not mentioned here.

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