Biography for
Arthur Conan Doyle More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

22 May 1859, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Date of Death

7 July 1930, Crowborough, Sussex, England, UK (heart disease)

Birth Name

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle

Spouse

Jean Leckie	(18 September 1907 - 7 July 1930) (his death) 3 children
Louisa Hawkins	(5 August 1885 - 1906) (her death) 2 children

Trivia

Knighted in 1902.

Born at 4:55am or 5:08am LMT

Brother-in-law of E.W. Hornung.

He very nearly refused a knighthood from Queen Victoria (for a book he had written on the Boer War) because he was convinced that he was being honored for his Sherlock Holmes stories.

He modeled Sherlock Holmes after a professor at the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Joseph Bell, who emphasized the importance of observation in diagnosis. He would often demonstrate this to his students by deducing the occupation and lifestyle of patients purely by his observations.

The day he finished the "final" Holmes story, "The Final Problem," his diary entry was pretty succinct: "Killed Holmes."

In addition to writing detective stories, Doyle proved to be a capable amateur detective himself. One of his cases in which he proved a convicted person to be innocent led to the British system for appealing criminal cases.

Became an advocate against war following the death of his son in battle.

Was an optometrist, started writing Sherlock Holmes because his practice was not doing well.

A spiritualist who was ridiculed for bringing a message to Harry Houdini from Houdini's mother. The message was in English, a language she never knew.

Attended Stonyhurst College, a renowned Jesuit institution in Lancashire, England.

His creation the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed fictional character in movies.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Vol. 131, pages 104-123. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Doyle was an accomplished sportsman who played cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club in London, and also was a founder and first goal keeper for his local football team, Portsmouth F.C., while living in Portsmouth. He played as either goalkeeper or right-back between 1884 and 1890, initially under the pseudonym "A.C. Smith".

Was in the same cricket team as "Peter Pan" author J.M. Barrie.

Father of Adrian Conan Doyle.

Was an optometrist, started writing Sherlock Holmes because his practice was not doing well.

A spiritualist who was ridiculed for bringing a message to Harry Houdini from Houdini's mother. The message was in English, a language she never knew.

Personal Quotes

"Life is infinitely stranger than the mind of man can imagine." "Singularity is almost invariably a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more difficult is it to bring it home."

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.

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