Sherlock Holmes actor Douglas Wilmer dies

Actor Douglas Wilmer as Sherlock Holmes. Photo / Getty Images

Sherlock Holmes actor Douglas Wilmer has died at the age of 96.

Wilmer donned the famous deerstalker and picked up the clay pipe in the mid-1960s to play Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous creation.

In 2012, at the end of his acting career, he made a special cameo appearance in an episode of Sherlock as an irate old man at The Diogenes Club alongside current Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch.

Wilmer died in hospital in Ipswich on Thursday after suffering from pneumonia, Roger Johnson, spokesman for the Sherlock Holmes Society Of London, confirmed.

"He was a great actor, he was a gentleman, he had a long and distinguished career," Mr Johnson said.

Aside from his starring role as the beloved fictional detective, Wilmer was best known as a supporting actor.

Roger Moore has praised the parts he played in 1983 James Bond film Octopussy and TV show The Saint.

In the aftermath of the death of comedian Ronnie Corbett, Sir Roger wrote: "The day gets worse. I hear dear Douglas Wilmer has left us too. A fine actor and joyous to be in The Saint and Octopussy with."

-AAP