Biography

Lean, balding Welsh character actor of all media, best known for voicing Sherlock Holmes in BBC4 radio dramatizations between 1989 and 1998. Clive Robert Merrison is to date the only known actor to have portrayed Holmes in all adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories and novels. The character of Dr. Watson was voiced by Michael Williams. Andrew Sachs took over the Watson role alongside Merrison for a follow-up non-canon series, The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, based on references contained in the original stories. For the screen, Merrison played murder victim Bartholomew Sholto in Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four (1983). On this occasion, the excellent Ian Richardson starred as the great detective.

Merrison studied at Rose Bruford College, first acted on the repertory stage and made his London debut in 1970. He spent two seasons as an ensemble member of Laurence Olivier's National Theater Company (1972-74), a period the actor has referred to as 'his golden age'. Between 1979 and 1990, Merrison also featured in many plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1986, he headlined in the title role for the London and Rome premiere of Artaud at Rodez. Four years later, he portrayed Lenin in Moscow Gold at the Barbican Theatre.

On screen from 1967, Merrison has been nothing if not versatile, equally at home playing professional men or authority figures in the genres of crime and mystery (Softly Softly (1966), Special Branch (1969), Pie in the Sky (1994), Foyle's War (2002)), science fiction (Doctor Who (1963), Space Precinct (1994), The Tomorrow People (1992)) or historical personae in period drama (playwright and politician Richard Sheridan in Prince Regent (1979); Ascanio Sforza in The Borgias (1981); Pompey supporter Quintus Metellus in Caesar (2002)). Other memorable roles have included White Russian revolutionary Boris Savinkov (1879-1925) in Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983); Scrooge's clerk Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (1977); Vyacheslav Molotov in Stalin (1992); Dr. Peter Thorn, Minster of State at the Department of Health and Social Security (who presages a ban on smoking) in Yes, Prime Minister (1986); a Russian major in Firefox (1982); a lecherous explorer in The English Patient (1996); Prime Minister Clement Attlee in Bert & Dickie (2012) and British physicist Dr. Henry Hulme (1908-1991), on-screen father of Kate Winslet in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures (1994).

Merrison's last screen credit was in 2019. According to a newspaper article, he married a stage actress named Stephanie Tremethick, circa 1967. His second wife was the late actress Gillian Barge.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis