Jeremy Brett was an English actor who played fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series from 1984 to 1994 in all 41 episodes. His career spanned from stage to television and film, to Shakespeare and musical theatre. He also played the smitten Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the 1964 Warner Bros. production of My Fair Lady.
Early life[]
Jeremy Brett was born Peter Jeremy William Huggins at Berkswell Grange in Berkswell, then in Warwickshire. His birthdate was actually 3 November 1933 but it has also been stated as December 1933 or 1935, according to many sources. He was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Henry William Huggins, DSO, MC, DL (1890–1965), an Army officer, and Elizabeth Edith Cadbury Butler (of the confectionery dynasty). He had one sister and three older brothers: John, Patrick, and Michael. The actor Martin Clunes is his nephew (or, according to other sources, either his cousin or cousin, once removed). Educated at Eton College, he claimed to have been an "academic disaster", attributing his learning difficulties to dyslexia. Brett belonged to the Woodmen of Arden, an archery club established in 1785. His father and brothers were also members.
Although he eventually developed precisely honed diction, he was born with "rhoticism", a speech impediment which prevented him from pronouncing the "R" sound correctly. He underwent corrective surgery as a teenager and followed it with years of practicing.
However, while at Eton he excelled at singing and was a member of the college choir. He was trained by Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall in London, graduating in 1954, but his father had demanded that he change his name for the sake of family honor, so he took his stage name from the label of his first suit, "Brett & Co."
In 1959, while Brett was playing Hamlet, his mother was killed in a car crash in the Welsh mountains. This had a tremendous effect on Brett. Later in life, he spoke about the accident, its impact on him and consequently his performance; "my mother had been killed savagely in a car accident in 1959, and I was very angry about that, because my son when she was killed, was only three months old. There was anger—it was interesting—there was anger in me. And I think that came through. I felt cheated—I felt my mother had been cheated—the rage of that came through". He could not believe the circumstances and channeled his anger into his performance.
Role[]
(My Fair Lady)
External links[]
Jeremy Brett at the Internet Movie Database
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