Sherlock Spock? Why, yes. It’s elementary, my dear Vulcan.

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Robert Downey Jr.’s new version of the wicked-smart, pipe-smoking sleuth Sherlock Holmes comes to screens on Christmas Day, but long before Tony Stark wore the deerstalker cap, there was another Hero Complex fave lurking in the alleys of London. Here’s a flashback photo of Leonard Nimoy as Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous hero. It’s from the ‘Star Trek’ icon’s 1970s stint of playing the role during a national stage tour.

Many other actors have played Holmes -- Charlton Heston, Michael Caine, Roger Moore among them -- but with Nimoy’s enduring aura of brainy calm from his years as Spock he was an especially, um, logical choice as a detective.

-- Jevon Phillips

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