Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone's acting career spanned from Shakespeare to low-budget horror and in fact included both at once in the Comedy of Terrors, where he recites every Shakespeare line there is about dying. Reciting was his specialty, because he had one of the greatest voices in the history of the acting profession. There is little one could do with the human voice to make it sound more dignified than Rathbone. It is also hard to sound more intelligent than Rathbone, a skill he put to good use in his many performances as master detective Sherlock Holmes. He recorded a great deal of the Holmes tales in spoken word form, as well as the complete writings of Edgar Allan Poe, because yet another attribute of this lavishly praised voice was its ability to sound incredibly sinister. Among the bad guys portrayed by the actually charming Rathbone were the evil nemesis of Robin Hood, Sir John, and two of Charles Dickens' creepiest creations: Scrooge and Fagin. He did many of his recordings for the Caedmon label, but ventured into the recording studio at the bequest of many other labels and organizations as well. He even recorded tours of famous museums and great cities of the world for the Columbia Record Club, to be presented in conjunction with slide shows. Rathbone was also in demand for personal appearances as a narrator with symphony orchestras and chamber groups. During his career, he took part in performances of King David, Arthur Honegger's oratorio and symphonic psalm, the inevitable Peter and the Wolf, and a gala presentation of Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. He worked with classical performers such as soprano Helen Boatwright, contralto Beatrice Krebs, tenor Robert Price, and conductor Manfred Schumann. He was fond of collaborating with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, perhaps not coincidentally Edgar Allan Poe's hometown. Another musical era friendly to his on-stage presence was early music, and he took part in performances with several instrumental groups specializing in this genre, combining their musical performances with his recitation of poems from the same era.
His acting career took off following his return from the first World War, and he was launched into the British public consciousness by a series of impressive roles in Shakespeare productions at Stratford on Avon. In the '20s, he relocated to New York City, continuing a theater career, but made a drastic switch to the film industry the following decade. In 1930 alone, he cranked out seven different films. He established his authority in the role of Sherlock Holmes at the end of that decade in a series of films that seemed to never end, the role of faithful assistant Dr. Watson essayed fabulously by the lovable Nigel Bruce. In the '40s and '50s, he remained a character actor in films but concentrated more on his first love, the stage. In the '60s, he was one of many older Hollywood actors lured into horror films, amassing enormous new cult followings as a result. He was not particularly happy about this part of his career, however, he did enjoy the chance to hang out with old friends such as Boris Karloff. He did do some fine recordings in the '60s, however, and in the end was more consistently comfortable in the recording medium than any other.
© Eugene Chadbourne /TiVo
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Nathaniel Hawthorne
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Performance on 30 jan. 1900
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Oscar Wilde Fairy Tales
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Music Manager on 16 sep. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sherlock Holmes - Tales From Baker Street
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Saland Publishing on 2 sep. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Oliver Twist
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Saland Publishing on 26 aug. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fairy Tales
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Saland Publishing on 4 mrt. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 2
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Music Manager on 16 sep. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sherlock Holmes - The Scarlet Claw
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Saland Publishing on 24 jun. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Three Musketeers & Oliver Twist
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Soundtrack Classics on 1 apr. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hansel and Gretel
Basil Rathbone, Jane Powell, Philharmonia Orchestra
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Saland Publishing on 4 jul. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classic Christmas Stories
Ted Malone, Milton Cross, Basil Rathbone
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Saland Publishing on 10 jul. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Idylis of the King - The Passing of Arthur
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Saland Publishing on 21 jan. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Minister's Black Veil By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Saland Publishing on 1 okt. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hawthorne: Young Goodman Brown
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Saland Publishing on 1 okt. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Basil Rathbone Reads Edgar Allan Poe
Literature - Released by Soundtrack Classics on 1 jul. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sherlock Holmes - The Unfortunate Tobacconist / The Paradol Chamber
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Saland Publishing on 2 jan. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Terrifying Tales For Halloween
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Music Manager on 20 aug. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tales Of Edgar Allan Poe
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Music Manager on 26 jul. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Raven (Read by Basil Rathbone) [Remastered]
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Wyte Myce on 8 mei 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Sherlock Holmes Chronicles, Vol. 3
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Wyte Myce on 4 sep. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo