MovieChat Forums > The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1991) Discussion > Brett's hair continuity

Brett's hair continuity

posted 9 years ago by Cm003325
4 replies | jump to latest

It goes without saying that Jeremy Brett is outstanding as Holmes. I often forget he's acting as his portrail is so real the line is blurred between fictional person and real Human being.
Every now and then I was slightly distracted by his hair cut and its length. I wonder if anyone knows why his hair goes from about 3-4 inches and then back to a very close crop?

I didn't see any other projects listed in his credits for around the 1990-1992 next to Sherlock Holmes. I wondered whether he'd being in a play or perhaps a mishap at the barbers? Another thought crossed my mind that if he had been exposed to young children perhaps the possibility is lice. I think the majority of adults who do catch lice catch it through kids rather than other adults.
The funny thing with this post is that I never let such matters bother me much at all.
I think the reason that it worries me so is based on the knowledge that Brett was so ill around this time and it raises questions about what he was doing and why the hair needs to be short. I can't help but think like an over protective mother. Jeremy Brett's death hurts deeply and I really hope it was just silly fun and not due to anything medical, it makes him look even more sickly.
RIP JB!

[–] Cm003325 9 years ago

Quick note-- that should have read as ' after 1992 he became ill - and his hair was longer at the end

[–] necadova-j 8 years ago

And it would unfortunately seem it worries you rightly. I read in a book called Bending the Willow (about the production itself and Jeremy as Holmes in particular)that he cut it himself in one of his manic-depressive states... Apparently, he hated playing Holmes at the time, so perhaps he saw it as some kind of rebellion against the character (the last is my own assumption).

[–] crlnrgbrght5 8 years ago

Early in the series, he fit Doyle's character perfectly, the slim build and the sleeked back hair comb. In the later episodes of the series, he had gained weight and the cropped hair, changed his appearance dramatically, to the point where I didn't enjoy those episodes as much.

[–] rickchris-141-832806 7 years ago

As one who has read all 60 stories so many times I have much of them memorized--I especially enjoy recognizing lines in the series episodes that are pulled from the stories--I must say that Brett's portrayal of Holmes, despite weight-gain and hair length--was so true to what I had imagined Holmes to be like all those years before this series developed that I forgave these departures with the tacit understanding that had Holmes been afflicted by a wasting illness, he very likely would have looked the same as Brett did.

I have avoided the various blasphemies produced in later years to ride on the coattails of the incomparable Conan Doyle and his timeless creation. They are to the Jeremy Brett productions as _Santa Claus Conquers the Martians_ might stand up against _The Ten Commandments_.