Peter Apap Bologna

 

My dear friend Douglas Wilmer died on 31 March at the age of 96. Till the end he was cracking jokes and quoting Hamlet until he ran out of oxygen. Douglas was best known for his 1960s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, considered by many to be the best ever. He was also recognised as one of the finest character actors the British Theatre has ever produced. His range encompassed everything from light comedy to the classics to heavy drama.

Among his other talents, he was a very good painter in watercolours. He also wrote a beautifully written book of memoirs, Stage Whispers, which was published in 2009, the same year as the book of Maltese paintings, Sir Douglas, which I was commissioned to publish by Joseph Zammit Tabona, a keen collector of Douglas' works.

His paintings of Malta represent nearly 20 years of work and are a delightful collection of fine paintings which truly convey the architecture, topography, character and colour of Malta. Douglas began his career as a painter of Malta in 1991, when he contacted us at the Melitensia Art Gallery. It was a day in early summer when Alaine passed me a message to phone Sir Douglas Wilmer, who wished to show me some paintings he had done of Malta. I knew of Douglas as a brilliant Sherlock Holmes in the 1964 BBC series, and as the husband of Anne Harding, a member of the prominent Maltese family. I had not been aware that he had a handle to his name, though I was not surprised, as he was quite famous. So I made the call, and asked for Sir Douglas. A warm chuckle preceded the response: "This is Douglas Wilmer, but not 'Sir' Douglas, I'm afraid." The humorous, warm voice encouraged me to take the matter further, so I replied: "Well, I'm sure you deserve to be, and it won't be long now." More laughter... but the name stuck and from then on he was "Sir Douglas". It just suited him to perfection.