Stage Whispers [Kindle Edition]

Fans of Sherlock Holmes got a double dose of excitement in 1998 when English actor Douglas Wilmer came to America to promote a series of Sherlock Holmes stories he'd recorded for Penguin Audiobooks. Not only did Wilmer -- the definitive Holmes on BBC television in the mid 1960s -- entertain with dramatic readings from the Canon, but he provided anecdotes from his long career that left everyone from Boston to Washington, D.C., hungry for more.

Eleven years later, Wilmer -- at 89 years young -- provided a veritable feast with the publication of STAGE WHISPERS: DOUGLAS WILMER, THE MEMOIRS. In a fast-paced, episodic narrative, the reader encounters not merely a staggering amount of work in theatre, film, television, and even a wine bar in Suffolk, but a wealth of witty, often caustic, observations about some grand names indeed, including the author himself.

Wilmer's approach to his life story is virtually the same he brought to Sherlock Holmes -- warts and all. Without undue emphasis on his or anyone's failings, he recounts simply what happened on- and off-set, leavening each story with admirable balance. He may, for instance, touch on George C. Scott's fall-down booziness when filming PATTON, but he also praises co-star Karl Malden as "ever reliable, a lovely fellow and a great film actor." Similarly, Richard Harris brought many hangovers from his angry young man days to his portrayal of Cromwell in 1969 (and method resentment toward Wilmer, whose character opposed him in the film); but Alec Guinness as King Charles was the model of professionalism. With Wilmer, we not only learn what behaviors and concepts don't work in the biz, but what DO work.

This is a marvelous book for a variety of audiences, not just Sherlockians. Aficionados of the Bard will enjoy stories of Laurence Olivier, Charlton Heston, Eric Porter, Kenneth Williams, and others in productions good, bad, and indifferent. (The story of Wilmer sword-fighting with the blind Esmond Knight in a production of ROMEO AND JULIET is, ahem, a real eye opener.) If tastes run to the epic, one can appreciate his butting heads with the director of EL CID (who said Wilmer was finished in the business and then hired him for his next picture), or the machinations behind CLEOPATRA as the Burton-Taylor comedy raised its curtain before a shocked/titillated world.

Then there are Ray Harryhausen adventures, Hammer Horrors, turns as Nayland Smith opposite Christopher Lee's Fu Manchu, and the James Bond film OCTOPUSSY (which brought Wilmer his greatest amount of fan mail). Followers of English theater will likewise appreciate reading about such all-too-human luminaries as John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Michael Redgrave, Donald Wolfit, Daniel Massey, Anthony Quayle, Joe Orton, and many others.

Early in Wilmer's career, Dame Sybil Thorndike cautioned him that the acting profession "gets worse as you get older." Fortunately for us, the man once called one of director Tyrone Guthrie's "young lions" can still roar, and his wit and ability to tell a good story will have readers likewise roaring with delight.
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For almost all non-American English-speaking Sherlockians of a certain age, Douglas Wilmer is Sherlock Holmes. In the 1964-1965 season, he was Holmes for 13 episodes for the BBC. He also played Holmes in Gene Wilder's Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. But these were just milestones along the way in Wilmer's long career on stage, screen, television, and radio, and in talking books. This book is heavily larded with dropped names, of course--that is what theatrical memoirs consist of. But what makes this of interest to everyone, not just the die-hard Sherlockian, is its author's unstinting honesty in his portrayal of his life. Wilmer, though the central character, is not always the hero. The author is aware of his lead's flaws. There are wonderful anecdotes about Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, John Gielgud, Christopher Lee, Edith Evans, and Wendy Hiller, to name just a few. In addition, his recounting of his Shanghai boyhood, Canterbury school days, apprenticeship, and army service are all great stories. Wilmer is--as befits a Sherlockian actor--a gifted and intelligent observer, and his voice sounds forth strongly and entertainingly from the page. A must for anyone interested in the theatrical Holmes or theatrical gossip generally.