Maurice Costello
Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants Ellen (née Fitzgerald; born 1853) and Thomas Costello (born 1852). He made his film debut in 1908, but was long believed to have debuted in "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom" (1905), supposedly playing the lead in what is regarded as the first serious film to feature the character of Sherlock Holmes, since it was preceded only by the 30-second comedy film "Sherlock Holmes Baffled" (1900). However, Holmesian scholar Leslie S. Klinger has written that the identification of Costello in the role is flawed. Klinger states that the first identification of Costello with the role was in Michael Pointer's "Public Life of Sherlock Holmes" published in 1975 but Pointer later realized his error and wrote to Klinger stating
Douglas Wilmer
He is mainly associated with the role of Sherlock Holmes, which he first played in the BBC's 1964 production of "The Speckled Band". Together with co-star Nigel Stock, who played Doctor Watson, Wilmer was brought back for a further twelve episodes of the "Sherlock Holmes" series. In 1973, Wilmer played author Jacques Futrelle's Holmesian detective Professor Van Dusen in "The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes" for ITV. In 1975, he once again appeared as Holmes (albeit in a supporting role) in Gene Wilder's "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother", with Thorley Walters as Dr. Watson. Wilmer also played Sir Denis Nayland Smith in two of Harry Alan Towers' Fu Manchu films, "The Brides of Fu Manchu" (1966) and "The Vengeance of Fu Manchu" (1967).