Holmes is balding in J. Frank Wiles's illustration from The Valley of Fear

Others, such as the American illustrator Frederic Dorr Steele, who based his Holmes on William Gillette, also created a compelling vision of the detective and his world. Holmes usually remained tall and thin, but not always young or handsome.

Holmes and Watson were well-represented on the radio, too. See "The Sherlock Society of London" website for a list of radio plays (including some stories not written by Conan Doyle) that can be downloaded in MP3 format: www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/radio.php. Later radio versions with John Gielgud as Holmes, Ralph Richardson as Watson, and Orson Welles as Professor Moriarty, can be found on the "Valley of Fear" website: www.cambridge-explorer.org.uk/HBWEB/VV341/JG-RR-Home.htm (ed. Hugo Brown).

Holmes in Film
During Conan Doyle's lifetime, silent film versions of the Sherlock Holmes stories were made in England and the U.S. In the U.S, John Barrymore played Holmes in a film based on one of Gillette's stage plays, and British actor Ellie Norwood played Holmes in 47 silent films between 1920 and 1923. Typing "Sherlock Holmes" into the search engine of the "Internet Movie Database" at www.imdb.com will retrieve hundreds of titles, including drama, comedy, pastiche, cartoons, and all sorts of other stories that borrow the characters of Holmes and Watson.

"Gaslight on the Web" contains links to a photo gallery of some of the many actors who played Sherlock Holmes on the stage and in film: www.mindspring.com/~tjbayne4/photogl.htm (ed. Tom Bayne). "Sherlockian.net" also maintains links to sites about actors who portrayed Sherlock Holmes on radio, TV, film, and stage: www.sherlockian.net/stage/index.html (ed. Chris Redmond).

The two best-known Holmes of our time are probably Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett. Rathbone played Holmes alongside Nigel Bruce, as a rather doddering Watson, in 14 films between 1939 and 1946; some were filmed adaptations of Conan Doyle's stories, while others used newly created plots. In the 1980's, Jeremy Brett acted opposite two excellent Watsons, David Burke and Edward Hardwicke, in 36 episodes and four films produced by Granada Television in England and shown on PBS. Most are available on DVD.