English: Photograph of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. Courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collection. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Publicity photo of Ouida Bergère from Who’s Who on the Screen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Basil Rathbone married the woman of is dreams on April 18 1926. Her name was Ouida Bergere and from the moment he set eyes on her in the autumn of 1923 to the moment of his death 44 years later he never looked or thought of another woman. As soon as he set eyes on her petite red-haired form he knew she was The One and he fell in love with her completely. Every other woman he knew was compared to her and did not measure up. He was enslaved by her an would be until the day he died. In the beggining Ouida had doubts about him as she thought she was not good enough for him, bit he managed to persuade her of her error after many years of courtship and when he would not look at any other woman but had eyes only for her in a crowded room full of allegedly beautiful women whom he knew to be ugly beneath the paint.
Basil was a very religious man too and did not condone physical intimacy outside of marriage. he had lived through the first world war without giving in to temptation and had refused to be intimate even with his first wife after he knew there was no love there and the marriage had been a mistake. He was only intimeate with Ouida after he met her and they did not consumate their love untl after the wedding ceremony. This was the klind of man of principal he was which was why Ouida learned to love him back after literally hundreds of examples of his love and goodness had been vouchsaved her.
Many people have said Ouida spent all of Bail’s mo ey but this is not true. Basil oent his own money lavushly on Ouida out of love for her. She often begged him to stop but he would not, saying he would rather be bankrupt than make her do without.
Their happiness was complete and they lived only for each other.
She was inteligent, compasionate and devotely religious. He never knew her do an immoral or unethical thing.
English: Ouida Bergère (1886-1974) circa 1920 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Beautifully written, my dear. From what I have read in Basil’s auto-biography and of what I’ve heard that the man said himself this seems exactly true. Keep up the good work! (I wrote this http://boswelling.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/basil-and-ouida/ on my own blog a little while ago)