British actor Edward Hardwicke (TV's Dr. Watson) dies.

[CBHagman]

The man did everything -- theater, films, television, voices for video games.

Shown here with his co-star in the Sherlock Holmes series, Jeremy Brett.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/may/18/edward-hardwicke-obituary

For eight years from 1986, Edward Hardwicke, who has died aged 78, was the face of Dr Watson on television, proving a valiant and reliable foil to the dashing, neurasthenic Holmes of Jeremy Brett in the Granada series The Return of Sherlock Holmes, followed by the Casebook and the Memoirs, as well as stand-alone versions of The Sign of Four (1987) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1988). The role was a perfect fit for an actor who had played important supporting roles for a similar length of time in Laurence Olivier's National theatre company at the Old Vic, but it also demonstrated his lightness of touch as well as his sturdiness.

His Watson was not an amiable old pudding-faced duffer in the style of Nigel Bruce in the series of films and radio series opposite Basil Rathbone in the 1940s; instead, he was much more the intelligent, likeable army doctor whom Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had first created. He painted this portrait in broader brush strokes when he and Brett appeared in a stage spin-off in 1988, The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, at Wyndham's theatre in the West End; this Watson, said one critic, was so stalwartly genuine that not even Holmes's hawk-like gaze could spot a hint of falsity in it.

See the article for more on his career (and his heritage!).

[bif]

1. He was great. I loved the two of them!

They worked so well together. Brett was the ultimate Sherlock Holmes.

[Tom_Foolery]

2. My thoughts exactly.

[kentauros]

3. Brett was definitely the best Holmes ever!

And so true for Hardwicke, too. As you say, they were the best pairing yet :D

R.I.P. Mr. Hardwicke.

[sarge43]

6. They were a perfect team. They brought Holmes and Watson to life.

I understand they were good friends, too.

Rest in peace, Mr Hardwicke and thank you.

[Sequoia]

5. You said it !! Best ever.

Bless you Doctor Watson !!

[ceile]

4. That's too bad

I loved that pairing...

[Ikonoklast]

7. A man who was born for the role, as was Brett.

Hardwicke's Watson was just as I imagined he should have been portrayed.

[CBHagman]

8. More of his credits.

I remembered he'd been in Elizabeth, with Cate Blanchett, and of course played Anthony Hopkins' brother in Shadowlands, but I'd forgotten he was in Richard III and Love Actually.

IMDB credits:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0362570/