Editing Basil Rathbone (section)

=== Film ===
He commenced his film career in Hollywood in 1921 in silent movies and appeared in 1923's ''{{film year|The School for Scandal|1923}}'', and in ''[[The Masked Bride]]'', plus a few other silents. His sound debut was in the first screen adaptation of [[Frederick Lonsdale]]'s play {{film show year|The Last of Mrs. Cheyney|1929}} opposite [[Norma Shearer]], which was his last appearance as a romantic leading man. He portrayed detective [[Philo Vance]] in the 1930 film ''{{film year|The Bishop Murder Case}}'', based on the best-selling novel. In the film, there is a coincidental reference to Sherlock Holmes. Like [[George Sanders]] and [[Vincent Price]] after him, Rathbone made a name for himself in the 1930s by playing suave villains in costume dramas and swashbucklers, including {{film show year|David Copperfield|1935}} as the abusive stepfather Mr. Murdstone; {{film show year|Anna Karenina|1935}} as her distant husband, Karenin; {{film show year|The Last Days of Pompeii|1935}} as [[Pontius Pilate]]; {{film show year|Captain Blood|1935}}; {{film show year|A Tale of Two Cities|1935}}, as the Marquis St. Evremonde; ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' (1938) playing his best-remembered villain, Sir [[Guy of Gisbourne]]; ''[[The Adventures of Marco Polo]]'' (1938); and {{film show year|The Mark of Zorro|1940}} as Captain Esteban Pasquale. He also appeared in several early horror films: {{film show year|Tower of London|1939}}, as [[Richard III of England|Richard III]], and ''[[Son of Frankenstein]]'' (1939), portraying the dedicated surgeon [[Wolf Frankenstein|Baron Wolf von Frankenstein]], son of [[Frankenstein's monster|the monster]]'s creator, and, in 1949, was also the narrator for the segment "The Wind in the Willows" in the Disney animated feature, ''[[The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad]]''.

He was admired for his athletic swordsmanship. (He listed [[fencing]] among his favourite recreations.) His character lost to [[Errol Flynn]] twice: in a duel on the beach in ''Captain Blood'' and in an elaborate fight sequence in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood''. He was also involved in noteworthy sword fights in ''Tower of London'', ''The Mark of Zorro'', and ''[[The Court Jester]].''
Rathbone earned [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nominations for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Actor in a Supporting Role]] for his performances as Tybalt in ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1936) and as King [[Louis XI]] in ''[[If I Were King]]'' (1938). In {{film show year|The Dawn Patrol|1938}}, he played one of his few heroic roles in the 1930s, as a [[Royal Flying Corps]] (RFC) squadron commander brought to the brink of a [[nervous breakdown]] by the strain and guilt of sending his battle-weary pilots off to near-certain death in the skies of 1915 France. Errol Flynn, Rathbone's perennial foe, starred in the film as his successor when Rathbone's character is promoted.

According to Hollywood legend, Rathbone was [[Margaret Mitchell]]'s first choice to play [[Rhett Butler]] in the film version of her novel ''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone with the Wind]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/1181 |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref> Rathbone actively campaigned for the role.{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Despite his film success, Rathbone always insisted that he wished to be remembered for his stage career. He said that his favourite role was Romeo.{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}}