William Nigel Bruce (known to his friends as "Willie") was born, of all places, in Ensenada, Mexico, on February 2, 1895, where his parents were vacationing. His father was a Scottish baronet. His older brother, who inherited the title, was Sir Michael William Selby Bruce, "11th Baronet of Stenhouse and Airth", a descendant of Robert the Bruce and of the royal house of Stuart.

Nigel was educated in England. His schooling was interrupted for service in World War I. He was wounded in the leg and spent the next 3 years in a wheelchair. When the war ended, he headed for the footlights. His first role was in a play called "The Creaking Chair"(1920). 8 years later he made the move to silent films.

Although he will be forever known as Dr. John Watson, he was in some 30 films before teaming up with the immortal Holmes. Among the better known are Treasure Island(1934), The Scarlet Pimpernel(1935), andThe Charge of the Light Brigade(1936). All together, he made 77 films during his career, only 15 of which were as Watson. He usually played somewhat fuddled upper-class Brits. He moved to Hollywood in 1934, beginning with Springtime For Henry. His first Holmes film was The Hound of the Baskervilles(1939) and the last was Dressed To Kill(1946).

Although not exactly how Arthur Conan Doyle envisioned him, his Watson provided just the right contrast to the hard-edged Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes. During Bruce's audition for the part, he was told to "sound English". To which he mumbled his reply, "Young man, if I was any more English you couldn't understand me at all". Also, even though he appears to be older than Holmes, Nigel was actually 3 years younger than his co-star.

At the same time as they were making the Sherlock Holmes films, they also recorded scores of Holmes adventures for radio, broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Network. Nigel Bruce continued to appear in films after the final Holmes outing. He wrote an autobiography called "Games, Gossip, and Greasepaint", which was never published. However, many extracts were published in "The Sherlock Holmnes Journal". His last movie, World For Ransom was released after his death in 1954.