Every Sherlockian I have met (and I tend to "work a room" pretty effectively at events) has his or her personal favorite Holmes and Watson pairing from the silver screen or small screen. And invariably, I find that the emotional attachment is linked to a first exposure to Holmes.
For example, there are many Sherlockians - of varying generations - who first discovered the Holmes of the screen through Basil Rathbone
The more dedicated and studied Sherlockians who follow one-time appearances, rarely-seen footage, or actors of less acclaim may have other favorites such as Arthur Wontner,
By way of reference, Sherlockian Bob Byrne runs a site called Sherlock Holmes on Oxford Lane, in which he has two pages of note related to the topic here:
- A comprehensive listing of actors that have portrayed Holmes on the SH Actor's Gallery
- And an article called The Definitive Holmes
