Arthur "Art" Holmwood (later Lord Godalming) is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...
in
Bram Stoker
Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busine ...
's 1897 novel ''
Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
''.
In the novel
Holmwood is engaged to
Lucy Westenra
Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the 1897 novel ''Dracula'' by Bram Stoker. The 19-year-old daughter of a wealthy family, she is Mina Murray's best friend and Count Dracula's first English victim. She subsequently transforms into a vam ...
, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day—
Quincey Morris
Quincey P. Morris is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic novel ''Dracula''.
In the novel
He is a rich young American from Texas, and one of the three men who propose to Lucy Westenra. Quincey is friends with her other two suit ...
and Doctor
John Seward
John "Jack" Seward, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel ''Dracula''.
In the novel
Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Count Dracula's first English home, Carfax. Throughout the nove ...
. Holmwood is the one who drives a wooden stake into Lucy after she becomes a
vampire
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
and helps hunt
Count Dracula
Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by som ...
. He is the only son of Lord Godalming.
[ When his father dies about halfway through the novel, Arthur inherits his title. It is through his wealth and fortune that the team are able to be funded in their operation of vanquishing Dracula. He has been depicted aiding the other protagonists of the novel in raiding Dracula's many lairs throughout London as well as aiding in the investigation of locating Dracula's many purchased estates. It is mentioned in the note at the end of the novel, written seven years after Dracula's death, that Holmwood is now married happily.
Holmwood and ]Jonathan Harker
Jonathan Harker is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. His journey to Transylvania and encounter with the vampire Count Dracula and his Brides at Castle Dracula consti ...
exchange personality types depending on whose significant other is being terrorized by the Count. In the beginning, Holmwood is emotional and prone to melancholia while Jonathan attempts to maintain a strong will and recovery after his time in Dracula's castle. After the death of Holmwood's father, Holmwood gains a somewhat stronger will, befitting his new title, while Jonathan is prone to melancholia as his wife is terrorized by the Count.
In other media
On screen
Though a major character in the novel, Arthur Holmwood has been omitted from some adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
s of the story. In the 1977 adaptation ''Count Dracula
Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by som ...
'', he is merged with the character Quincey Morris
Quincey P. Morris is a fictional character in Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic novel ''Dracula''.
In the novel
He is a rich young American from Texas, and one of the three men who propose to Lucy Westenra. Quincey is friends with her other two suit ...
and renamed Quincey Holmwood.
To date he has been portrayed in films and television by:
* Cahit Irgat
Cahit Irgat (21 March 1915 – 5 June 1971) was a Turkish actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1940 to 1969.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
1915 births
1971 deaths
Turkish male film actors
...
(as Turan) in '' Drakula İstanbul'da (Dracula in Istanbul)'' (1953) - here he is fiance of Sadan (Lucy) in 1950s Turkey and he stakes her, when she becomes vampire.
* Michael Gough
Francis Michael Gough ( ; 23 November 1916 – 17 March 2011) was a British character actor who made more than 150 film and television appearances. He is known for his roles in the Hammer Horror Films from 1958, with his first role as Sir Arthu ...
in ''Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
'' (1958) - in this he is a major character, Lucy’s brother and Mina’s husband.
* Jiří Zahajský in ''Hrabe Drakula
''Hrabě Drakula'' (''Count Dracula'') is a Czechoslovakian 1971 black and white TV film adaptation of Bram Stoker's original novel '' Dracula''.
This is the first adaptation of the novel to be directed by a woman (who also co-scripted the film ...
'' (1971) - he is portrayed faithfully to his counterpart in the novel.
* Simon Ward
Simon Anthony Fox Ward (16 October 194120 July 2012) was a British stage and film actor. He was known chiefly for his performance as Winston Churchill in the 1972 film ''Young Winston''. He played many other screen roles, including those of Sir ...
in ''Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
'' (1973) - here he is a major character, who together with Van Helsing defeats Dracula.
* Richard Barnes (as Quincey Holmwood) in ''Count Dracula
Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by som ...
'' (1977).
* Cary Elwes
Ivan Simon Cary Elwes (; born 26 October 1962) is an English actor and writer. He is known for his leading film roles as Westley in ''The Princess Bride'' (1987), Robin Hood in '' Robin Hood: Men in Tights'' (1993), and Dr. Lawrence Gordon in ...
in '' Bram Stoker's Dracula'' (1992)- he is portrayed faithfully to his counterpart in the novel.
* Conrad Hornby in ''Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
'' (2002).
* Stephane Leonard
Stephane Leonard (born April 19, 1979) is a German artist. Leonard works in various different media. His oeuvre spans from drawing and painting to sound installation, music, video installation, music videos and film.
Education
Stephane Leonar ...
in '' Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary'' (2002).
* Kishore (as Ady) in ''Dracula'' (2005) - an Indian television series on Asianet Asianet may refer to:
Disney Star channels
*Asianet Communications, an Indian media company wholly owned by Disney Star
**Asianet (TV channel), a Malayalam language general entertainment channel
**Asianet Plus, a Malayalam language general entertai ...
.
* Dan Stevens
Daniel Jonathan Stevens (born 10 October 1982) is a British actor and writer. He first drew international attention for his role as Matthew Crawley in the ITV acclaimed period drama series ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2012). He also starred as D ...
in ''Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
'' (2006) - Holmwood is a more important character here than he is in the novel and is portrayed much more negatively, aiding Dracula's travels to England in the belief that Dracula may be able to cure him of the syphilis that prevents him from consummating his marriage to Lucy.
On stage
* Arthur Holmwood appears in ''Dracula, the Musical
''Dracula, the Musical'' is a musical based on the original 1897 Victorian novel by Bram Stoker. The score is by Frank Wildhorn, with lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton.
The show had its regional premiere at the La Jolla Play ...
'' by Frank Wildhorn
Frank Wildhorn (born November 29, 1958) is an American composer of both musicals and popular songs. His musical ''Jekyll & Hyde'' ran for four years on Broadway. He also wrote the #1 International hit song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" for Whitne ...
. Here his portrayal is faithful to the novel. He was played by Chris Hoch in Broadway production of the musical.
* Arthur Holmwood was portrayed by Matthew Koon
Matthew Koon is a British actor and dancer.
Career
Koon began studying ballet at the age of 2, at the Alison Livesey School of Dance and Drama in Whitefield, Greater Manchester. At the age of 9, he auditioned for the Royal Ballet School Junio ...
in 2019 Northern Ballet
Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet. The company ...
's production of ''Dracula'' by David Nixon. The production was recorded and showed in UK cinemas on Halloween and then broadcast on BBC4
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 in 2020.
Other media
* In the 1938 ''Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also ...
'' radio production of ''Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
'', Holmwood's character was combined with John Seward
John "Jack" Seward, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel ''Dracula''.
In the novel
Seward is the administrator of an insane asylum not far from Count Dracula's first English home, Carfax. Throughout the nove ...
's and renamed Arthur Seward, who was voiced by Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
who also voiced Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
in the adaptation.
* The 2004 film ''Dracula 3000
''Dracula 3000'' (stylized as ''DRACULA.3000'', and also known as ''Dracula 3000: Infinite Darkness'') is a 2004 made-for-television science fiction horror film directed by Darrell Roodt. An international co-production of the United States and So ...
'' features a character named Arthur Holmwood, though it is a futuristic science fiction/horror film and this Holmwood is not intended to be the same person.
* In the full motion video based game
Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...
''Dracula Unleashed
''Dracula Unleashed'' is a 1993 video game created by ICOM Simulations and published by Viacom New Media for the DOS, Macintosh and Sega CD platforms.
It was one of the earliest titles to make heavy use of full-motion video as an integral part of ...
'', Holmwood is played by Jay Nickerson.
* In the novel ''Anno Dracula
''Anno Dracula'' is a 1992 novel by British writer Kim Newman, the first in the ''Anno Dracula'' series. It is an alternate history using 19th-century English historical settings and personalities, along with characters from popular fiction.
...
'' by Kim Newman
Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula (1931 ...
, in which the events of Stoker's ''Dracula'' ended with the villain slaying Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham Van Helsing, a fictional character from the 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula'', is an aged Dutch polymath doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his ...
and subsequently conquering the United Kingdom, Holmwood is again a major character. Having himself become a vampire—which Newman justifies on the grounds that Holmwood was the most useless member of the group of hunters, contributing nothing to the effort beyond his association with Lucy, and was therefore the most likely candidate to betray the group—he is now an aide to the new Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, Lord Ruthven. In this version, Holmwood, though outwardly kind and genteel, is actually a megalomaniac who hopes to eventually use his new vampiric powers to usurp Ruthven and, eventually, Dracula himself, showing little concern for even the rules of vampiric society. He is eventually killed in a confrontation with Doctor Seward, the only human survivor of Van Helsing's hunters, when Seward encounters Holmwood as he kills his latest victim (Seward having become 'Jack the Ripper' in this timeline).
* In ''A Betrayal in Blood'' by Mark A. Latham, Holmwood is portrayed as a broken man after the campaign against Dracula, now confined to his bed and cared for by his new wife. In the course of their investigation, Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
realizes that Holmwood is not only adopted, but the biological son of the human Count Dracula and Van Helsing's wife; Dracula came to England to investigate rumours that his son had survived, but Van Helsing manipulated events so that Holmwood would perceive Dracula as a monster and kill him to avenge his perceived past slight.
* The fourth season of the superhero series ''Titans
In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...
'' features a character named Arthur Holmwood (portrayed by Tim Post) who poses as Lex Luthor
Alexander Joseph "Lex" Luthor () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Lex Luthor originally appeared in ''Action Comics'' #23 (cover dated: Apr ...
's personal physician, but is secretly a supernatural assassin with the Church of Blood. Wearing a raven mask, he killed women and harvested the blood from the males in their life. This lasted until he was incinerated during his fight with Raven
A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmwood, Arthur
Literary characters introduced in 1897
Dracula characters
Fictional lords and ladies
Fictional vampire hunters
Fictional people from London
Male characters in literature