6. Basil Rathbone:
He was the ultimate Sherlock Holmes on the silver screen and also on the Silvertone Radio, from Sears and Roebuck. Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson made only 14 films, but acted in over 200 Sherlock Holmes radio stories between 1939 and 1946 on NBC and later the Mutual Broadcasting System.
The writing was based on names and incidents suggested by Conan Doyle’s original stories, and was done expertly by Dennis Green and Anthony Boucher. There were occasional contributions from Leslie Charteris, who was the author of the hit chain of novels (also a radio & tv series) featuring “The Saint”.
Unhappily for fans of 221B, Rathbone tired of the radio series in 1946 and quit, even though he was offered a huge amount of money if he would continue. Nigel Bruce did not want to quit, so he partnered with Tom Conway and the New, New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes aired in 1947. Conway did a fine job and Nigel Bruce was, as always, Nigel Bruce...but the ratings were nowhere near what they were with Rathbone, so the show was dropped from the 1948 schedule.
Almost all of the Rathbone-Bruce radio adventures are available cheaply and in excellent quality. Many are available to listen to and download for free at the Internet Archives Old Radio section.
Even today, after dozens of others have played the roles, Rathbone and Bruce are considered by many people to be the real Holmes and Watson.