Nigel Bruce

For the South African journalist and politician, see Nigel Bruce (journalist). For the 13th-century aristocrat, see Nigel de Brus.

Nigel Bruce
Bruce in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)
Born	William Nigel Ernle Bruce (1895-02-04)4 February 1895 Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Died	8 October 1953(1953-10-08) (aged 58) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting place	Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1920–1953
Spouse	Violet Pauline Shelton ​ ​ (m. 1921; died 1953)​
Children	2
Relatives	Sir Michael Bruce, 11th Baronet (brother) Julian Gilbey (great-grandson) Will Gilbey (great-grandson)

William Nigel Ernle Bruce (4 February 1895 – 8 October 1953) was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring with Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes in both. Bruce is also remembered for his roles in the Alfred Hitchcock films Rebecca and Suspicion, as well as Charlie Chaplin's Limelight and the original Lassie film Lassie Come Home.

Early life

Bruce pictured in the Abingdon School first XI cricket team in 1912

Bruce was the second son of Sir William Waller Bruce, 10th Baronet and his wife Angelica Lady Bruce, daughter of General George Selby, Royal Artillery. He was born in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, whilst his parents were touring the world. His older brother was the author and adventurer Michael Bruce.

He received his formal education at The Grange School in Stevenage, and from 1908 to 1912 at Abingdon School in Abingdon-on-Thames. At Abingdon he was a keen sportsman, playing for the first XI cricket team (for which he received Colours), the athletics' first team and the school's football 2nd XI.

In 1912, Bruce left school at the age of 17, and took up a position as a stockbroker's clerk in the City of London. In early 1914, whilst working in the City he voluntarily enlisted in the British Army's Territorial Force as an infantry soldier with the Honourable Artillery Company as its Private #852. On the outbreak of World War I in early August 1914, he was mobilized with the regiment, and went out to the Western Front with its 1st Battalion on 18 September 1914 at the age of 19. On 5 January 1915, whilst in trenches at Kemmel in Belgium, he was machine-gunned in the legs, causing multiple wounds and a fractured right thigh, and was subsequently medically evacuated to the United Kingdom, where he spent the rest of 1915 recovering in hospital. He was discharged from the British Army as medically unfit for further military service due to permanent damage to his legs in December 1915. In October 1916, he re-enlisted with the British Army and received training with an Officer Cadet Battalion in Cambridge, subsequently receiving a commission in January 1917, as a subaltern with the 10th (Service) Battalion, of the Somerset Light Infantry Regiment, a home service battalion, with which he served as a training officer for the rest of 1917, the permanent infirmity of his 1915 wounds preventing further active service at the front.

Career

After being discharged from the British Army, Bruce abandoned a career in the City of London Stock Exchange, and pursued a career as a professional actor. He made his stage debut on 12 May 1920 at London's Comedy Theatre as a footman in the play Why Marry?. In October of that year, he went to Canada as stage manager to Henry V. Esmond and Eva Moore, also playing "Montague Jordan" in Eliza Comes to Stay. Upon returning to England, he toured in the same role. He appeared regularly on-stage thereafter, and 8 years later began working in silent films. In 1926 he made his Broadway debut as Major Evelyn Bathurst in Noël Coward This Was a Man. He returned to Broadway several times during the 1930s, portraying Philip Downes in Ronald Jeans's Lean Harvest (1931), Mr. Jelliwell in Benn W. Levy's Springtime for Henry (1931–1932), His Excellency, Governor of the Colony in Arthur Schwartz's Virginia (1937), and W. S. Gilbert in Oscar Hammerstein II's Knights of Song (1938). He reprised this final role in the film Lillian Russell (1940).

In 1934, he had moved to Hollywood, U.S. As his career there became a success, he set up a home at 701 North Alpine Drive, Beverly Hills in the latter half of the 1930s.

Bruce typically played buffoonish, fuzzy-minded gentlemen. During his film career, he worked in 78 films, including Treasure Island (1934), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Rebecca (1940), and Suspicion (1941).

He appeared in two landmark films: Becky Sharp (1935), the first feature film in full Technicolor, and Bwana Devil (1952), the first 3-D feature. He uncharacteristically played a detestable figure in The Rains Came (1939) which became the first film to win an Oscar for special effects.

Dr. Watson

L. to R.: Nigel Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, and Basil Rathbone from the film Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

Bruce's career signature role was that of Dr. Watson in the 1939–1946 Sherlock Holmes film series, alongside his friend Basil Rathbone playing Holmes. Bruce starred as Watson in all 14 films of the series, and over 200 radio programs of The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Although Watson often appears to be the older of the two main characters, Bruce was three years younger than Rathbone.

Though for most viewers Nigel Bruce formed their vision of Dr Watson, Holmes purists have long objected that the Watson of the books was intelligent and capable (although not an outstanding detective), and that Bruce's portrayal made Watson intellectually dimmer and more bumbling than the literary figure. (A nickname resulting from this portrayal was "Boobus Britannicus".) Loren D. Estleman wrote of Bruce:

If a mop bucket appeared in a scene, his foot would be inside it, and if by some sardonic twist of fate and the whim of director Roy William Neill he managed to stumble upon an important clue, he could be depended upon to blow his nose on it and throw it away.

Rathbone, however, spoke highly of Bruce's portrayal, saying that Watson was one of the screen's most lovable characters. The historian David Parkinson wrote that Bruce's "avuncular presence provided the perfect counterbalance to Rathbone's briskly omniscient sleuth". Historian Alan Barnes notes that, despite the criticisms against him, Bruce rehabilitated Watson, who had been a marginal figure in the cinematic Holmes canon to that point: "after Bruce, it would be a near-unthinkable heresy to show Holmes without him". For the radio series, Bruce was allowed to play a more competent version of the character.

The Rathbone-Bruce co-star film series lapsed with the death of its producer-director Roy William Neill in 1946. Since then, most major modern adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, especially since the 1970s, have consciously defied the popular stereotype, and depicted Watson faithfully as a capable man of action.

Family

Bruce was married, from 1921 until his death, to British actress Violet Campbell (née Violet Pauline Shelton) whom he always lovingly called "Bunny"; they had two daughters:

• Jennifer, married in 1944 (divorced in 1946) Jay Gould III, son of Jay Gould II;
• Pauline, married in 1946 the British flying ace Alan Geoffrey Page.

He was also a second cousin of the Canadian actor Christopher Plummer.

Later life

Bruce, known as "Willie" to his friends, was a leading member of the British film colony in Los Angeles, and was captain of the (mostly British) Hollywood Cricket Club. Unlike some of his contemporaries, and along with other British actors such as Basil Rathbone and Charlie Chaplin, Bruce maintained his British citizenship, despite long residence in the United States. He also retained his membership of London's Garrick Club and Buck's Club until his death. His final film, World for Ransom, was released posthumously in 1954.

Death

Bruce died of a heart attack, in Santa Monica, California in 1953 at the age of 58. His body was subsequently cremated, with his ashes being placed in a niche at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.

In 1947 he began writing an autobiography entitled Games, Gossip and Greasepaint, which is unpublished; however, excerpts have been printed in the Sherlock Holmes Journal, and these have been posted online with permission.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1922	Flames of Passion	Undetermined minor role	Uncredited
1930	The Squeaker	Collie
	Escape	Constable
	Red Aces	Kinsfeather, T. B.
	Birds of Prey	Major
1931	The Calendar	Lord Willie Panniford
1932	Lord Camber's Ladies	Lord Camber
	The Midshipmaid	Major Spink
1933	I Was a Spy	Scottie
	Channel Crossing	Nigel Guthrie
1934	Coming Out Party	Troon, the Butler
	Stand Up and Cheer!	Eustis Dinwiddle
	Murder in Trinidad	Bertram Lynch
	The Lady Is Willing	Welton
	Treasure Island	Squire Trelawney
	Springtime for Henry	Johnny Jewlliwell
	The Scarlet Pimpernel	The Prince of Wales
1935	Becky Sharp	Joseph Sedley
	She	Horace Holly
	Jalna	Maurice Vaughn
	The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo	Ivan
1936	The Trail of the Lonesome Pine	Major Thurber
	Under Two Flags	Capt. Menzies
	The White Angel	Dr. West
	Follow Your Heart	Henri Forrester
	The Charge of the Light Brigade	Sir Benjamin Warrenton
	The Man I Marry	Robert Hartley
1937	Thunder in the City	Duke of Glenavon
	The Last of Mrs. Cheyney	Lord Willie Winton
1938	The Baroness and the Butler	Major Andros
	Kidnapped	Neil MacDonald
	Suez	Sir Malcolm Cameron
1939	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Dr. John H. Watson
	The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes	Dr. John H. Watson
	The Rains Came	Lord Albert Esketh
1940	The Blue Bird	Mr. Luxury
	Adventure in Diamonds	Col. J. W. Lansfield
	Rebecca	Major Giles Lacy
	Lillian Russell	W. S. Gilbert
	Susan and God	Hutchins Stubbs
	A Dispatch from Reuters	Sir Randolph Persham
1941	Hudson's Bay	Prince Rupert
	Play Girl	William McDonald Vincent
	Free and Easy	Florian Clemington
	This Woman Is Mine	Duncan MacDougall
	The Chocolate Soldier	Bernard Fischer, Critic
	Suspicion	Gordon Cochrane 'Beaky' Thwaite
1942	Roxie Hart	E. Clay Benham
	This Above All	Ramsbottom
	Eagle Squadron	McKinnon
	Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror	Dr. John H. Watson
	Journey for Margaret	Herbert V. Allison
	Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon	Dr. John H. Watson
1943	Forever and a Day	Maj. Garrow
	Sherlock Holmes in Washington	Dr. John H. Watson
	Sherlock Holmes Faces Death	Dr. John H. Watson
	Lassie Come Home	Duke of Rudling
	Crazy House	Dr. John H. Watson	Cameo
	The Spider Woman	Dr. John H. Watson
1944	Follow the Boys	Himself	Uncredited
	The Scarlet Claw	Dr. John H. Watson
	The Pearl of Death	Dr. John H. Watson
	Gypsy Wildcat	High Sheriff
	Frenchman's Creek	Lord Godolphin
1945	Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear	Dr. John H. Watson
	The Corn Is Green	The Squire
	Son of Lassie	Duke of Rudling
	The Woman in Green	Dr. John H. Watson
	Pursuit to Algiers	Dr. John H. Watson
1946	Terror by Night	Dr. John H. Watson
	Dressed to Kill	Dr. John H. Watson
1947	The Two Mrs. Carrolls	Dr. Tuttle
	The Exile	Sir Edward Hyde
1948	Julia Misbehaves	Col. Bruce "Bunny" Willowbrook
1950	Vendetta	Sir Thomas Nevil
1952	Hong Kong	Mr. Lighton
	Limelight	Postant, an Impresario
	Bwana Devil	Dr. Angus McLean
1954	World for Ransom	Governor Sir Charles Coutts	Released posthumously

See also

• List of Old Abingdonians

Citations

General sources

• Barnes, Alan (2011). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Titan Books. ISBN 9780857687760.
• Parkinson, David (2004). "Bruce, (William) Nigel Ernle (1895–1953)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/57390. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Plummer, Christopher (2008). In Spite of Myself: A Memoir. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-39679-2. Retrieved 30 October 2020 – via Google Books.

Further reading

• Alistair, Rupert (2018). "Nigel Bruce". The Name Below the Title: 65 Classic Movie Character Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age (softcover) (First ed.). Great Britain: Independently published. pp. 54–56. ISBN 978-1-7200-3837-5.
• Parker, John, ed. (1947). Who's Who in the Theatre (10th revised ed.). London: Pitman. pp. 341–2. OCLC 6344958.
• Townend, Peter, ed. (1970). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage (105th ed.). London: Burke's Peerage. p. 389. OCLC 8948585.

External links

• Nigel Bruce at IMDb
• Nigel Bruce at the Internet Broadway Database
• Nigel Bruce at Find a Grave
• Extracts from Bruce's memoirs: 'Games Gossip and Greasepaint'