Question: What fictional human being has been portrayed the most times in film and TV?
Answer: It’s elementary, my dear Watson. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most portrayed human literary character in history was Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock has been played by over 75 actors in more than 250 productions, including by Basil Rathbone, Sir Christopher Lee, Charlton Heston, Peter O’Toole, Christopher Plummer, Peter Cook, Roger Moore, Robert Downey Jr., and John Cleese. The only other literary character who’s been portrayed that many times is Dracula—a non-human character.
