Distinguished English lead with a dry, mature, stiff-upper-lip quality. Brook began his acting career on the London stage after having been invalided out of the rifle corps during WWI. He was in Hollywood from 1924 to 1934 and is probably best known to US film audiences for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and his performance as a world-weary doctor opposite Marlene Dietrich in "Shanghai Express" (1932). He later returned to England and acted in films for another decade and made several character turns still later in life. Brook directed one of his last starring films, the splendid drawing
