The first truly notable Sherlock Holmes was played by Basil Rathbone starting with 1939's "The Hound of the Baskervilles." Accompanied by Nigel Bruce as Watson, Rathbone spent much of the 1940s in Holmes' trademark deerstalker in a series of films such as "The Woman in Green" and "Sherlock Holmes Faces Death." Although some were better than others, the majority of the films were of a similar quality with no particular stand-outs or bombs.
Although not well-received when it debuted, Billy Wilder's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" with Robert Stephens as Holmes and Colin Blakely as Watson has come to be regarded as one of the best film versions of the duo. The 1970 movie, which has Holmes searching for a missing husband and tangling with his brother Mycroft, also injects some humor into the proceedings.
While it may be too soon to tell if Guy Ritchie's current Holmes collaborations with Robert Downey Jr. as the titular character and Jude Law as his sidekick will be legendary, it proved to be popular enough to warrant a second entry with 2011's "A Game of Shadows." These movies take a bit of license with the character, turning what is usually a stuffy, thoughtful Holmes who spends much time in his study into a more physical, action-oriented sleuth.
There have been several small-screen Holmes series, but the man widely considered to give the best portrayal of the detective is Jeremy Brett. Brett wore the cape and hat for a decade until his death in 1995 in the series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "The Return of Sherlock Holmes'" "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" as well as several individual television movies.