John Stanley
Sundays, 7 P.M. EST, MBS stations.
When you hear the clipped, British
accent of John Stanley as Sherlock Holmes (Mutual, Sundays, 7 PM, EST) you can
almost see the fog swirling and eerie as it blanket Baker Street. It’s a cinch
for actor Stanley to sound as though he was born in London, because he was born
in London. Not only that, but during his early childhood, John lived only a
half-mile from the famed Baker Street, hangout of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s
celebrated sleuth.
Although Stanley was born in
England, he was an American the moment he came into the world. John’s father
was Professor Henry W. S. Stanley and John was born while his parent was
teaching diction at St. Mark’s College, London.
The wife of Professor Stanley was
also an American and all of their four children were raised in England. John
graduated from Malvern College.
“When I was twenty-one years old,”
he explains, “the urge to come to my own country suddenly began to eat away at
me. My father had told me so much about his native New England that I decided I
just had to see it.”
It was quite a decision to make
because young Stanley had two successful seasons behind him as an
actor-director in the London theater. But he sailed for Providence, Rhode
Island, stranger in his own country.
“I didn’t have time to feel lost
lonely,” the actor recalled, smiling. “went to work two weeks after the boat
docked. I got a job on station WJAR in Providence. What got me the job was not
the fact that I had played Shakespeare, but the station manager’s discovery
that I could sing a little.”
Stanley’s radio debut was made as
a singer. He did a weekly, 15-minute song recital. It didn’t last too long, as listeners
were confused by his English accent as he rendered popular ballads. He was
switched to announcing, then did script writing, broadcast special events and
did spot acting jobs.
When John Stanley replaced Basil Rathbone
as “Sherlock Holmes” man listeners could not tell the difference in the quality
of their voices. Stanley likes playing the role, although the sound of British
voices all around him in the studio sometimes makes him nostalgic for London.
John is married, lives in Rye, New
York, and is the father of two sons, Johnny 10, and David, 7. He is a calm,
pleasant, reserved man, who like to play the cello, which he does quite well,
and, now and then, engage in a rousing games of bridge.
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