Mr O

"There have been many tough guys who have acted in Hollywood, and I’ve seen some great examples in this thread. One that most people don’t realize was a badass was Basil Rathbone. Basil was literally a war hero in WW1. He volunteered for dangerous duties, and was twice the Armed Forces Fencing champion. Basil even taught some of his co-stars in the movies, such as Errol Flynn, how to fence properly. Although Basil was literally a war hero in real life, in movies he was generally typecast as a villain due to his imposing height and “devilish” appearance. Basil did get the chance to be a movie “hero” in his excellent portrayals of Sherlock Holmes." Excerpt from Quora