 Like George Sanders and Vincent Price after him, Rathbone made a name for himself in the 1930s by playing suave villains in costume dramas and swashbucklers, including "David Copperfield" (1935) as the abusive stepfather Mr. Murdstone; "Anna Karenina" (1935) as her distant husband, Karenin; "The Last Days of Pompeii" (1935) as Pontius Pilate; "Captain Blood" (1935); "A Tale of Two Cities" (1935), as the Marquis St. Evremonde; "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938) playing his best-remembered villain, Sir Guy of Gisbourne; "The Adventures of Marco Polo" (1938); and "The Mark of Zorro" (1940) as Captain Esteban Pasquale.He also appeared in several early horror films