Wilmer made his theatre stage debut in 1945 in
repertory at
Rugby. He appeared frequently on the London stage, mainly in classical and
Shakespearean roles. He made his first major film appearance in
Laurence Olivier's
Richard III (1955); thereafter, he appeared in a large number of films, mostly in supporting roles. They include several epic films: as M. Desmoulins in
The Battle of the River Plate (1956), as Al-Mu'tamin in
El Cid (1961),
Cleopatra (1963),
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), as Khalifa Abdullah in
Khartoum (1966), as Maj. Gen.
Francis de Guingand in
Patton (1970), as
Sir Thomas Fairfax in
Cromwell (1970), and
Antony and Cleopatra (1972). Other appearances include
Jason and the Argonauts (1963) as
Pelias, the
Pink Panther films
A Shot in the Dark (1964) and
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978),
The Vampire Lovers (1970),
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), and
Octopussy (1983). He is mainly associated with the role of Sherlock Holmes, which he first played in the
BBC's 1964 production of "
The Speckled Band". Together with co-star
Nigel Stock, who played
Doctor Watson, Wilmer was brought back for a further twelve episodes of
the Sherlock Holmes series. In 1973, Wilmer played author
Jacques Futrelle's Holmesian detective Professor Van Dusen in
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes for ITV. In 1975, he once again appeared as Holmes (albeit in a supporting role) in
Gene Wilder's ''
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother'', with
Thorley Walters as Dr. Watson. Wilmer also played
Sir Denis Nayland Smith in two of
Harry Alan Towers'
Fu Manchu films,
The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966) and
The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967). He recorded a series of the stories on audiocassette for
Penguin audio books and appeared as a guest at several UK and US events, including the Society's Golden Jubilee Dinner in January 2001. His other television credits include:
The Adventures of Robin Hood,
The Saint,
The Troubleshooters,
The Avengers,
The Baron,
UFO, and
Space: 1999. He made a cameo appearance in "
The Reichenbach Fall" episode of
Sherlock as an irate old man in the
Diogenes Club. ==Personal life and death==