William Gillette
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William Hooker Gillette (July 24, 1853 – April 29, 1937) was an American
actor-manager An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used co ...
, playwright, and stage-manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying
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 ...
on stage and in a 1916 silent film thought to be lost until it was rediscovered in 2014. Gillette's most significant contributions to the theater were in devising realistic stage settings and special sound and lighting effects, and as an actor in putting forth what he called the "Illusion of the First Time". His portrayal of Holmes helped create the modern image of the detective. His use of the
deerstalker A deerstalker is a type of cap that is typically worn in rural areas, often for hunting, especially deer stalking. Because of the cap's popular association with the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it has become stereotypical headgear f ...
cap (which first appeared in some ''Strand'' illustrations by
Sidney Paget Sidney Edward Paget () (4 October 1860 – 28 January 1908) was a British artist of the Victorian era, best known for his illustrations that accompanied Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories in ''The Strand Magazine''. Life Sid ...
) and the curved pipe became enduring symbols of the character. He assumed the role on stage more than 1,300 times over thirty years, starred in the silent motion picture based on his Holmes play, and voiced the character twice on radio. His first
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
drama ''Held by the Enemy'' (1886) was a major step toward modern theater, in that it abandoned many of the crude devices of 19th century melodrama and introduced realism into the sets, costumes, props, and sound effects. It was produced at a time when the British had a very low opinion of American art in any form, and it was the first wholly American play with a wholly American theme to be a critical and commercial success on British stages.


Youth

Gillette was born in Nook Farm,
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
, a literary and intellectual center with residents such as
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
,
Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...
, and
Charles Dudley Warner Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
. Gillette's father,
Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...
, had been a United States Senator and a crusader for public education, temperance, the abolition of slavery, and women's suffrage. His mother, Elisabeth Daggett Hooker, was a descendant of the Reverend
Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding spea ...
, the English-born
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
leader who founded the town of
Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
and either wrote or inspired the first written constitution in history to form a government. Gillette had three brothers and a sister. Another sister named Mary died as a small child. His eldest brother, Frank Ashbell Gillette, went to
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and died there in 1859 from consumption (
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
). The third oldest brother, Robert, joined the Union Army and served in the
Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union G ...
campaign, was invalided home sick, recovered, and joined the Navy. Robert Gillette was assigned to the U.S.S. ''Gettysburg'' and took part in both assaults on
Fort Fisher Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865. The fort was located on one of Cape Fear Rive ...
. He was killed the morning after the surrender of the fort when the powder magazine exploded. His brother Edward moved to
Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
and his sister Elisabeth married George Henry Warner, both in 1863, after which William was the only child in the household. At the age of 20, he left Hartford to begin his apprenticeship as an actor. He briefly worked for a stock company in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
and then returned to New England where, on Mark Twain's own recommendation, he debuted at the Globe Theater of Boston with Twain's stage-play ''The Gilded Age'' in 1875. Afterward, he was a stock actor for six years through Boston, New York, and the Midwest. He irregularly attended classes at a few institutions, although he never completed their programs. His father Francis had held the strongest objections to the theater in general, but he offered the least resistance and drove him to the train station, telling his son that he had driven two other sons to this same station and they had never returned; William was to make sure that he was the exception. Francis supplied him with an allowance on which to subsist (his apprenticeship was without pay). His father's health began to fail in 1878, and William forsook the stage for more than a year to care for him in his final illness. Upon his father's death, he and George Henry Warner were named executors of Francis' estate, and they, Elisabeth, and Edward shared in the inheritance.


Marriage

In 1882, Gillette married Helen Nichols of Detroit. She died in 1888 from
peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part or ...
caused by a ruptured appendix. The couple had no children. He never remarried.


Playwright, director, actor

Gillette was hired as playwright, director, and actor for $50 per week in 1881, while performing at
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, by two of the Frohman brothers, Gustave and Daniel. The first play that he wrote and produced was ''The Professor''. It debuted in the
Madison Square Theatre ''The Madison Square Theatre'' was a Broadway theatre in Manhattan, on the south side of 24th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway (which intersects Fifth Avenue near that point.) It was built in 1863, operated as a theater from 1865 to 1908, ...
, lasting 151 performances, with a subsequent tour through many states (as far west as
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
). That same year, he produced ''Esmeralda'', written together with
Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little  ...
. Early in his career, Gillette realised that it would be in the triple role of playwright, director, and actor that he could make the most money. He was among the premier matinee idols of his day, and was described by actress/drama critic Amy Leslie as "one of Gibson's notables materialized". Lewis Clinton Strang observed that "he rarely gesticulates, and his bodily movements often seem purposely slow and deliberate. His composure is absolute and his mental grasp of a situation is complete." He could mesmerize an audience simply by standing motionless and in complete silence, or by indulging in any one of his grand gestures or subtle mannerisms. He did not gesture often but, when he did, it meant everything. He would steal a scene with a mere nod, a shrug, a glance, a twitching of the fingers, a compression of his lips, or a hardening of his face. Slight inflections in his voice spoke wonders. "Occasionally", Georg Schuttler pointed out, "when it was least expected, he gestured or moved his body so quickly that the speed of the action was compared to the swift opening and closing of a camera's shutter." S. E. Dahlinger, leading expert on the play ''
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 ...
'', summed him up: "Without seeming to raise his voice or ever to force an emotion, he could be thrilling without bombast or infinitely touching without descending to sentimentality. One of his greatest strengths as an actor was the ability to say nothing at all on the stage, relying instead on an involved, inner contemplation of an emotional or comic crisis to hold the audience silent, waiting for the moment when he would speak again." He was an unemotional actor, unable to emote, even in love scenes, about which Montrose Moses commented, "he made appeal through the sentiment of situation, through the exquisite sensitiveness of outward detail, rather than through romantic attitude and heart fervor."
Ward Morehouse Ward Morehouse (November 24, 1895 – December 7, 1966) was an American theater critic, newspaper columnist, playwright, and author. Life and career Born in Savannah, Georgia, Ward Morehouse first worked as a reporter for ''The Savannah Press ...
described Gillette's style as "dry, crisp, metallic, almost shrill." Gretchen Finletter recalled that it was "a dry, almost monotonous voice admirably suited to the great Holmes". ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' noted in 1937 that "it would be hard to convince that portion of the American public that knew and followed him that any better actor had ever trod the American stage ... It would be conservative to say that Mr. Gillette was the most successful of all American actors." He had a heightened sense of the dramatic, and his two most riveting scenes are still considered to be among the most dramatic scenes in the history of the American theater: the hospital scene in ''Held by the Enemy'' and the Telegraph Office scene in ''Secret Service''. Gillette treated both sides of the American Civil War equally, bestowing integrity, loyalty, and honor on both North and South, even as he made a spy each play's sympathetic hero. Yet, what set Gillette apart from all the rest was not simply his reliance on realism, his imperturbable naturalistic acting, or his superior sense of the dramatic. He "was also a pioneer in making American drama 'American', rejecting what had been up until that time a pervasive European influence on American theater" at a time when American art of all kinds was held in very low esteem by the British.


Inventor

During an 1886–87 production of ''Held by the Enemy'', Gillette introduced a new method of simulating the galloping of a horse. Men formerly had slammed halves of coconut shells on a slab of marble to simulate the sound, but Gillette found this clumsy and unrealistic. Patent No. 389,294 was applied for on June 9 and issued to him on September 11, entitled "Method of Producing Stage Effects". It was a method, not a mechanical device, so there were no illustrations in the two-page document. And the patent was very broad, introducing "a new and useful method of imitating the sound of a horse or horses approaching, departing, or passing at a gallop, trot, or any other desired gait, the same to be used in producing stage effects in theatrical or other performances or entertainments, exhibitions, &c." His method consisted in "beating with clappers, that represent the hoofs of a horse, upon some material that serves to represent the road-bed over which the horse is supposed to be traveling" as well as "stamping, pawing, or jumping about in a restive manner while the rider is mounting, and then starting off, first at a trot, then a gallop, and finally a run, or at any gait desired, in any order". He could also imitate the sounds of the hoofs pounding on different surfaces: "stone, brick, clay, gravel, greensward, or when crossing bridges." It was not the first patent which he had applied for and received. In 1883, he filed the first of four patent requests with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a Time-Stamp "as stamps upon the upper surface of papers a dial and one or more dial-pointers, representing the time of day at which the papers stamped by it were respectively so stamped." All four requests were granted.


Comeback

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...
was a young
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
producer who had been successful exchanging theater productions between the U.S. and the UK. After he produced some of Gillette's plays, the two formed a greater partnership. Their productions had great success, sweeping Gillette into London's society spot, which had been historically reluctant to accept American theatre. With ''Held by the Enemy'' in 1887, Gillette became the first American playwright to achieve true success on British stages with an authentic American play. Gillette finally came fully out of retirement in October 1894 in ''Too Much Johnson'', adapted from the French farce ''La Plantation Thomassin'' by
Maurice Ordonneau Maurice Ordonneau (18 June 1854 – 14 November 1916) was a French dramatist and composer. The son of a merchant of eau de vie, Ordonneau was a prolific author in creating theatrical works. He composed, often with the collaboration of other playwr ...
. Its debut was at the Park Theatre in
Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, ...
, then it opened on October 29 at the Columbia Theatre in Brooklyn. This farce was extremely popular, and has been produced on stage several times in the century since its debut. In 1895, he wrote ''Secret Service'', which was first performed in the Broad Street Theatre in Philadelphia for two weeks beginning on May 13, 1895, with
Maurice Barrymore Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blythe (21 September 1849 – 25 March 1905), known professionally by his stage name Maurice Barrymore, was an Indian-born British stage actor. He is the patriarch of the Barrymore acting family, father of John, Li ...
in the lead role. Gillette rewrote some of the script and starred in the play when it opened at the Garrick Theatre on October 5, 1896. It was the first time that he had taken on the role of the romantic hero in one of his own plays. The production ran until March 6, 1897, and was an enormous critical and popular success. Following its American success, Frohman booked ''Secret Service'' to open at the Adelphi Theatre on the West End in London on May 15, 1897, and it became the cornerstone of Frohman's achievements in England. It became Gillette's best known work outside of the Holmes adaptations, being adapted through the decades for silent and sound film, and television, as well as Broadway revivals. The well-known gun-switching scene is referenced in the 1920s hard-boiled detective story "Devil Cat", by
Carroll John Daly Carroll John Daly (1889–1958) was a writer of crime fiction. Early life Daly was born on September 14, 1889, in Yonkers, New York. Career Daly has been credited with creating the first hard-boiled story, "The False Burton Combs", published in ...
.


Sherlock Holmes

Meanwhile, Arthur Conan Doyle felt that the character of Sherlock Holmes was stifling him and keeping him from more worthy literary work. He had finished his Holmes saga and killed him off in ''
The Final Problem "The Final Problem" is a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring his detective character Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in ''The Strand Magazine'' in the United Kingdom, and ''McClure's'' in the United States, under the title ...
'' published in 1893. Afterwards, however, Conan Doyle found himself in need of further income, as he was planning to build a new home called "
Undershaw Undershaw is a former residence of the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. The house was built for Doyle at his order to accommodate his wife's health requirements, and is where he lived with his family from 1897 to 19 ...
". He decided to take his character to the stage and wrote a play. Holmes had appeared in two earlier stage works by other authors in
Charles Brookfield Charles Hallam Elton Brookfield (19 May 1857 – 20 October 1913) was a British actor, author, playwright and journalist, including for '' The Saturday Review''. His most famous work for the theatre was '' The Belle of Mayfair'' (1906). Brookfie ...
's skit ''Under the Clock'' (1893) and John Webb's play ''Sherlock Holmes'' (1894); nevertheless, Doyle now wrote a new five-act play with Holmes and Watson in their freshmen years as detectives. Doyle offered the role first to
Herbert Beerbohm Tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager. Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progr ...
and then to
Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...
. Irving turned it down and Tree demanded that Doyle readapt Holmes to his peculiar acting profile; he also wanted to play both Holmes and Professor Moriarty. Doyle turned down the deal, considering that this would debase the character. Literary agent A. P. Watt noted that the play needed a lot of work and sent the script to
Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...
, who traveled to London to meet Conan Doyle. There Frohman suggested the prospect of an adaptation by Gillette. Doyle endorsed this and Frohman obtained the ''staging-copyright''. Doyle insisted on only one thing: there was to be no love interest in ''Sherlock Holmes''. Frohman uttered a Victorian rendition of "Trust me!" Gillette then read the entire collection for the first time, outlining the piece in San Francisco while still touring in ''Secret Service''. On one occasion, after they had exchanged numerous telegrams about the play, Gillette telegraphed Conan Doyle: "May I marry Holmes?" Doyle responded: "You may marry him, or murder or do what you like with him."


Milestones


New Holmes play

Gillette's ''
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 ...
'' consisted of four acts combining elements from several of Doyle's stories. He mainly utilized the plots " A Scandal in Bohemia" and "
The Final Problem "The Final Problem" is a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring his detective character Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in ''The Strand Magazine'' in the United Kingdom, and ''McClure's'' in the United States, under the title ...
". Also, it had elements from ''
A Study in Scarlet ''A Study in Scarlet'' is an 1887 detective novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become the most famous detective duo in literature. The book's title der ...
'', ''
The Sign of Four ''The Sign of the Four'' (1890), also called ''The Sign of Four'', is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes by British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring the fictional detective. Pl ...
'', "
The Boscombe Valley Mystery "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", one of the fifty-six short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the fourth of the twelve stories in ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes''. It was first published in the ''Strand Magazine'' ...
", and "
The Greek Interpreter "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes''. The story was originally published in ' ...
". However, all the characters in the play were Gillette's own creations with the exception of Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty. His creation of Billy the Buttons (Pageboy) was later used by Doyle for "
The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" is one of 12 Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle in ''The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes'' (1927). It was first published in ''The Strand Magazine'' in the United Kingdom in October 1921, and w ...
". Gillette portrayed Holmes as brave and open to express his feelings, which was substantially different from the intellectual-only original, "a machine rather than a man". He wore the
deerstalker A deerstalker is a type of cap that is typically worn in rural areas, often for hunting, especially deer stalking. Because of the cap's popular association with the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it has become stereotypical headgear f ...
cap on stage, which was originally featured in illustrations by
Sidney Paget Sidney Edward Paget () (4 October 1860 – 28 January 1908) was a British artist of the Victorian era, best known for his illustrations that accompanied Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories in ''The Strand Magazine''. Life Sid ...
.


Props and famous phrase

Gillette introduced the curved or bent briar pipe instead of the straight pipe pictured by '' Strand Magazine'' illustrator Sidney Paget, most likely so that Gillette could pronounce his lines more easily; a straight pipe can wiggle or fall when speaking, or cause problems with declaring lines while it is clenched between the teeth. It is less difficult to pronounce lines clearly with a curved pipe. Some have lately theorized that a straight pipe may have obscured Gillette's face. This could not happen with a curved briar in his mouth. He made use of a magnifying-glass, a violin, and a syringe, which all came from the Canon and which were all now established as "props" to the Sherlock Holmes character. Gillette formulated the complete phrase: "Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow", which was later reused by
Clive Brook Clifford Hardman "Clive" Brook (1 June 1887 – 17 November 1974) was an English film actor. After making his first screen appearance in 1920, Brook emerged as a leading British actor in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States ...
, the first spoken-cinema Holmes, as: "Elementary, my dear Watson", Holmes's best known line and one of the most famous expressions in the English language.


Characters

Irene Adler Irene Adler is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A former opera singer and actress, she was featured in the short story " A Scandal in Bohemia", published in July 1891. Adler is one of the ...
was "The Woman" of the Holmes canon, but she was replaced by Alice Faulkner, a young and beautiful lady who was planning to avenge her sister's murder but eventually fell in love with Holmes; and the pageboy, nameless in the Canon, was given the name Billy by Gillette, a name that carried over into the
Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...
films and that has been retained ever since. ''Sherlock Holmes, or The Strange Case of Miss Faulkner'' (later renamed ''Sherlock Holmes – A Drama in Four Acts'') was finished.


Baldwin Hotel theater fire

The ''Secret Service'' company was playing in San Francisco and staying in the Baldwin Hotel when a fire swept from the property room of the Baldwin Theatre through the hotel in the early morning hours of November 23. The play's script was in the possession of Gillette's secretary William Postance, in his room at the Baldwin Hotel. The financial loss was estimated at nearly $1,500,000. Only two deaths were known at first, though several people were missing. The flames were confined to the Baldwin, though smoke and water damaged the adjoining structures. Gillette's secretary barely escaped, but the entire script was reduced to ashes. Postance went to the Palace Hotel where Gillette was sound asleep, and awakened him at 3:30 in the morning to break the bad news. Gillette was not overly happy about being disturbed in the middle of the night and simply asked, "Is this hotel on fire?" Assured that it was not, he told Postance, "Well, come and tell me about it in the morning." Both manuscripts were destroyed – Conan Doyle's original and Gillette's adaptation – but Gillette rewrote the piece in a month, either from notes or an extra copy. Conan Doyle and Gillette had never met, so Conan Doyle's shock was understandable, once the two finally arranged a meeting, when the train carrying Gillette came to a halt and Sherlock Holmes himself stepped onto the platform instead of the actor, complete with deerstalker cap and gray
ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
. Sitting in his landau, Conan Doyle contemplated the apparition with open-mouthed awe until the actor whipped out a magnifying lens, examined Doyle's face closely, and declared (precisely as Holmes himself might have done), "Unquestionably an author!" Conan Doyle broke into a hearty laugh and the partnership was sealed with the mirth and hospitality of a weekend at Undershaw. The two men became lifelong friends.


Holmes tour

After a copyright performance in England, ''Sherlock Holmes'' debuted on October 23, 1899, at the Star Theatre in Buffalo, followed by appearances in
Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...
and Syracuse, New York and in
Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...
and
Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...
, Pennsylvania. ''Sherlock Holmes'' made its Broadway debut at the '' Garrick Theater'' on November 6, 1899, performing until June 16, 1900. It was an instant success. Gillette applied all his dazzling special effects over the massive audience. The company also toured nationally along the western United States from October 8, 1900, until March 30, 1901. This was bolstered by another company with
Cuyler Hastings Cuyler Hastings (c. 1864 – 10 January 1914) was an American stage actor, remembered for his portrayal of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. History Australia In 1902 Hastings was contracted by J. C. Williamson's to play the Holmes charact ...
touring through minor cities and Australia. After a pre-debut week in
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, the company debuted in London (September 9, 1901) at the '' Lyceum Theatre'', performing in the
Duke of York's Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by th ...
later. It was another hit with its audience, despite not convincing the critics. The 12 weeks originally appointed were at full-hall. The production was extended until April 12, 1902 (256 presentations), including a gala for
King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
on February 1. Then it toured England and Scotland with two ancillary groups: North (with
H. A. Saintsbury Harry Arthur Saintsbury, usually called H. A. Saintsbury (18 December 1869 – 19 June 1939), was an English actor and playwright. A leading man, he became well known for his stage interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, was an early mentor of Cha ...
) and South (with Julian Royce). At the same time, the play was produced in foreign countries (such as Australia, Sweden, and South Africa). Sir
Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...
was touring America when ''Sherlock Holmes'' opened at the
Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play ...
, and Irving saw Gillette as Holmes. The two actors met and Irving concluded negotiations for ''Sherlock Holmes'' to begin an extended season at the Lyceum Theatre in London beginning in early May. Gillette was the first American actor ever to be invited to perform on that illustrious stage, which was an enormous honor. Irving was the dean of British actors, the first ever to be knighted, and the Lyceum was his theater. ''Sherlock Holmes'' made its British debut at the Shakespeare Theatre on Fraser Street, Liverpool, on September 2, 1901. It was the beginning of a major triumph. Gillette then opened ''Sherlock Holmes'' at the
Lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...
in London on September 9. The Lyceum tour alone netted Gillette nearly $100,000, and it made the most money of all the productions in the final years of Irving's tenure at the Lyceum. In the United States, Gillette again toured from 1902 until November 1903, starring in ''
The Admirable Crichton ''The Admirable Crichton'' is a comic stage play written in 1902 by J. M. Barrie. Origins Barrie took the title from the sobriquet of a fellow Scot, the polymath James Crichton, a 16th-century genius and athlete. The epigram-loving Ernest is p ...
'' by James M. Barrie. Gillette's own play ''Electricity'' appeared in 1910, and he starred in
Victorien Sardou Victorien Sardou ( , ; 5 September 18318 November 1908) was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play. He also wrote several plays that were made into popular 19th-centur ...
's ''
Diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...
'' in 1914,
Clare Kummer Clare Kummer (January 9, 1873 — April 21, 1958) was an American composer, lyricist, and playwright. Early life Kummer was born Clare Rodman Beecher in Brooklyn, New York, the granddaughter of Rev. Edward Beecher and great-granddaughter of Lym ...
's ''A Successful Calamity'' in 1917, Barrie's ''Dear Brutus'' in 1918, and Gillette's ''The Dream Maker'' in 1921. A brief revival of ''Sherlock Holmes'' in early 1923 did not generate enough interest to return to Broadway, so he retired to his Hadlyme estate.


Worldwide fame

In his lifetime, Gillette presented ''Sherlock Holmes'' approximately 1,300 times (third in the historical stage-record), before American and English audiences. He was also shown widely, through appearances in many editions of the
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 ...
canon and in magazines by way of photographs or illustrations, and was also well represented on the covers of theater programs. Around the world, other productions took place, based on Gillette's ''Sherlock Holmes''. These were often satirical or parodical, which were sometimes successful enough to last several seasons. Frohman's lawyers tried to curb the illegal phenomenon exhaustedly, traveling overseas, from court to court. Legitimate productions were also produced throughout Europe and Australia for many years. Even Gillette parodied it once. ''The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes'' – the first of a handful of one-act plays he would write – was written for two benefits, and was performed for the first time at the Joseph Jefferson Holland Benefit at the Metropolitan Opera House on March 24. Holland was an actor who had been forced to retire the year before due to illness. The skit featured five characters: Holmes, Billy the page boy (played by Henry McArdle), the madwoman Gwendolyn Cobb (who had nearly all of the dialogue and was played by Ethel Barrymore), and the two "valuable assistants" who come to take the madwoman away. Its original title was ''A fantasy in about one-tenth of an act'', and the entire scene transpires in Holmes' Baker Street room "somewhere about the date of day before yesterday." Retitled ''The Harrowing Predicament of Sherlock Holmes'', it was performed again on April 14 for the benefit of the Actors Society of America at the Criterion Theatre (with
Jessie Busley Jessie Busley (1869 – 1950) was an American actress and comedian who performed on stage, screen, and radio for over six decades. Career Jessie starred on stage in over 25 Charles Frohman productions in the first 15 years of her career. ...
as Gwendolyn Cobb and McArdle again as Billy), and again at the Duke of York's Theatre in London when Gillette inserted it on October 3 as a curtain-raiser for ''Clarice''. Playing Billy in the curtain-raiser was young
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
. When ''Clarice'' was replaced with ''Sherlock Holmes'', Chaplin continued as Billy.


Models for Holmes' portrait

The magazines ''
Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...
'' (USA) and '' The Strand'' (UK) pushed Conan Doyle avidly, offering to continue the ''Sherlock Holmes'' series for a generous salary. The new stories were resumed in 1901, first with a prequel (''
The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is se ...
'') and then with Holmes actually revived in 1903 (in '' The Empty House''). The Holmes series continued for another quarter-century, culminating with the bound edition of ''
The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes ''The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes'' is the final set of twelve (out of a total of fifty-six) Sherlock Holmes short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle first published in the '' Strand Magazine'' between October 1921 and April 1927. ...
'' in 1927. Gillette was the model for pictures by the artist
Frederic Dorr Steele Frederic Dorr Steele (August 6, 1873 – July 6, 1944) was an American illustrator best known for his work on Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Early life and education Steele was born on 6 August 1873 at Eagle Mills, near Marquette, M ...
, which were featured in ''
Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...
'' then and reproduced by American media. Steele contributed to Conan Doyle's book-covers, later doing marketing when Gillette made his farewell performances. Conan Doyle's series were widely printed throughout the USA, with either Steele's illustrations or photographs of Gillette on stage. In 1907 Gillette was caricatured in '' Vanity Fair'' by Sir
Leslie Ward Sir Leslie Matthew Ward (21 November 1851 – 15 May 1922) was a British portrait artist and caricaturist who over four decades painted 1,325 portraits which were regularly published by ''Vanity Fair (British magazine), Vanity Fair'', under th ...
(who signed his work "Spy") (see above), and later became the subject of such famous American caricaturists as
Pamela Colman Smith Pamela Colman Smith (16 February 1878 – 18 September 1951), nicknamed "Pixie", was a British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist. She is best-known for illustrating the Rider–Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider–Wait ...
,
Ralph Barton Ralph Waldo Emerson Barton (August 14, 1891 – May 19, 1931) was a popular American cartoonist and caricaturist of actors and other celebrities. His work was in heavy demand through the 1920s and has been considered to epitomize the era, but hi ...
and Al Freuh.


Gillette Castle

While most of Gillette's work has long been forgotten, his last great masterpiece is still well known today: Gillette Castle in
Hadlyme, Connecticut The Hadlyme North Historic District is an Historic district (United States), historic district located in the southwest corner of the town of East Haddam, Connecticut (just north of the town line with Lyme, Connecticut, Lyme). It represents the ...
. The castle sits atop a hill, part of the Seven Sisters chain, over the Chester–Hadlyme ferry's pier. The design of the castle and its grounds features numerous innovative features, and the entire castle was designed, to the smallest detail, by Gillette. The material for the castle was carried up by a tramway designed by him. During the five years of construction from 1914 to 1919, he lived aboard his houseboat, the ''Aunt Polly'', named after a woman who allegedly tended to him when he was sick, or at a home he had purchased in Greenport, Long Island. The mansion was finished in 1919, at a cost of US$1.1 million. Gillette called it "Seventh Sister". His miniature railroad was his personal pride. The train's layout was long, and it traveled all around the property, crossing several bridges and going through one tunnel designed by Gillette. The train was relocated after his death to an amusement park,
Lake Compounce Lake Compounce is an amusement park located in Bristol and Southington, Connecticut. Opened in 1846, it is the oldest continuously operating amusement park in the United States. It spans , which includes a beach and a water park called Crocodile ...
in Bristol, Connecticut, from 1943 through the mid-90s. Since then, both locomotives have been returned to the castle, where one has been restored and is on display in the Visitors Center. Gillette had no children and, after he died, his
will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...
stated: In 1943, the Connecticut state government bought the property, renaming it Gillette's Castle and
Gillette Castle State Park Gillette Castle State Park straddles the towns of East Haddam, Connecticut, East Haddam and Lyme, Connecticut in the United States, sitting high above the Connecticut River. The castle was designed and built by William Gillette (1853–1937), an Un ...
. Located at 67 River Road,
East Haddam, Connecticut East Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut. The population was 8,875 at the time of the 2020 census. History Until 1650, the area of East Haddam was inhabited by at least three Indigenous peoples: the Wangunk, the Mohegan and the N ...
, it was reopened in 2002. After a four-year restoration costing $11 million, it now includes a museum, park, and many theatrical celebrations. It receives 100,000 annual visitors. The castle is No. 86002103 on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. It remains one of the top three tourist attractions in the state. In 1972, a Sherlock Holmes
deerstalker A deerstalker is a type of cap that is typically worn in rural areas, often for hunting, especially deer stalking. Because of the cap's popular association with the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it has become stereotypical headgear f ...
cap and other memorabilia related to Gillette were donated to the State of Connecticut by Doreen Carlos-Perkins, daughter of Louise Rutter, an actress who worked with Gillette on Broadway.


Last years and farewell tour

Gillette announced his retirement many times throughout his career, despite not actually accomplishing this until his death. The first announced retirement took place after the start of the 20th century, after he purchased the boat ''Aunt Polly'' which was in length and weighed 200 tons. ''Sherlock Holmes'' was Gillette's foremost production with 1,300 performances (in 1899–1901, 1905, 1906, 1910, 1915, 1923, and 1929–1932). While performing on other tours, he was always forced by popular demand to include at least one extra performance of ''Sherlock Holmes''. In 1929, at the age of 76, Gillette started the farewell tour of ''Sherlock Holmes'', in
Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
. Scheduled for two seasons, it was eventually extended into 1932. The first run of the tour included in the cast Theatre Guild actress
Peg Entwistle Millicent Lilian "Peg" Entwistle (5 February 1908 – 16 September 1932) was a British stage and screen actress. She began her stage career in 1925, appearing in several Broadway productions. She appeared in only one film, '' Thirteen Women'', ...
as Gillette's female lead. Entwistle was the tragic young actress who committed suicide by jumping from the Hollywoodland sign in 1932. In the
New Amsterdam Theatre The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater on 214 West 42nd Street, at the southern end of Times Square, in the Theater District of Manhattan in New York City. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the New Amsterdam was built fro ...
of New York, on November 25, 1929, a great ceremony took place. Gillette received a Signature book, autographed by 60 different world eminences. In a letter to Gillette, Arthur Conan Doyle stated: "I consider the production a personal gratification ... My only complaint is that you made the poor hero of the anemic printed page a very limp object as compared with the power of your own personality which you infuse into his stage presentment". President
Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
commented that the production was a "public service".
Booth Tarkington Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels '' The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1918) and '' Alice Adams'' (1921). He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitz ...
told him, "I would rather see you play Sherlock Holmes than be a child again on Christmas morning." Gillette's last appearance on stage was in
Austin Strong Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
's ''Three Wise Fools'' in 1936. Gillette died on April 29, 1937, aged 83, in Hartford, due to a
pulmonary hemorrhage Pulmonary hemorrhage (or pulmonary haemorrhage) is an acute bleeding from the lung, from the upper respiratory tract and the trachea, and the pulmonary alveoli. When evident clinically, the condition is usually massive.
. He was buried in the Hooker family plot at Riverside Cemetery,
Farmington, Connecticut Farmington is a town in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 26,712 at the 2020 census. It sits 10 miles west of Hartford at the hub of major I-84 interchanges, 20 miles ...
, next to his wife.


Bibliography

Gillette wrote 13 original plays, 7 adaptations and some collaborations, encompassing farce, melodrama and novel adaption. Two pieces based on the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
remain his greatest works: ''Held by the Enemy'' (1886) and ''Secret Service'' (1896). Both were successful with both the public and the critics, and ''Secret Service'' remains the only one of his plays available today on commercial VHS and DVD from a 1977 Broadway Theater Archive production starring John Lithgow and
Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...
. His own bibliography follows: * ''Bullywingle the Beloved'' (performed in Hartford, Connecticut, October 3, 1872, again in March 1873) * ''The Twins of Siam'' (July 1879; never produced) * ''The Professor'' (Summer 1879 tryout in
Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
) * ''Esmeralda'' (adapted from short story by
Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little  ...
, October 29, 1881, Madison Square Theatre, New York; published by the Madison Square Theatre in 1881) * ''Digby's Secretary'', also known as ''The Private Secretary'' (adapted from Gustave Von Moser's ''Der Bibliothekar'', September 29, 1884, New York Comedy Theatre, New York). * ''Der Bibliothekar'', (February 9, 1885, Madison Square Theatre, New York) * ''Held by the Enemy'' (February 22, 1886, Criterion Theatre, Brooklyn, New York; published by Samuel French Ltd. in 1898) * ''She'' (Dramatization of novel by
Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...
, November 29, 1887, Niblo's Garden, New York) * ''A Legal Wreck'' (August 14, 1888, Madison Square Theatre, New York; published by the Rockwood Publishing Company in 1890) * ''A Legal Wreck'' (Novelization, Rockwood Pub. Co., 1888) * ''A Confederate Casualty'' (1888; never produced) * ''Robert Elsmere'' (Partial dramatization of novel by
Mary Augusta Ward Mary Augusta Ward (''née'' Arnold; 11 June 1851 – 24 March 1920) was a British novelist who wrote under her married name as Mrs Humphry Ward. She worked to improve education for the poor and she became the founding President of the Women' ...
; unable to obtain Mrs. Ward's permission, Gillette discontinued work on the project, and it was dramatized by other playwrights and produced without his participation) * "Mr. William Gillette Surveys the Field", ''Harper's Weekly'', Vol. XXXIII, No. 1676, February 2, 1889, Supplement, pp. 98–99 * ''All the Comforts of Home'' (adapted from Carl Lauf's ''Ein Toller Einfall'', March 3, 1890, Boston Museum, Boston, Massachusetts; published by H. Roorbach in 1897) * ''Maid of All Work'' (1890; never produced) * '' Mr. Wilkinson's Widows'' (adapted from
Alexandre Bisson Alexandre Bisson (9 April 1848 – 27 January 1912) was a French playwright, vaudeville creator, and novelist. Born in Briouze, Orne in Lower Normandy, he was successful in his native France as well as in the United States. Remembered as a signi ...
's ''Feu Toupinel'', March 23, 1891, National Theatre, Washington, D.C.) * ''Settled Out of Court'' (adapted from
Alexandre Bisson Alexandre Bisson (9 April 1848 – 27 January 1912) was a French playwright, vaudeville creator, and novelist. Born in Briouze, Orne in Lower Normandy, he was successful in his native France as well as in the United States. Remembered as a signi ...
's ''La Famille Pont-Biquet'', August 8, 1892, Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York) * ''The War of the American Revolution'' (January 1893, "nine scenes with historical commentary, written for the 'Barnum & Baily people', for a libretto to use with their 'Vast Episodic Drama of the Revolution'") * ''Ninety Days'' (February 6, 1893,
Broadway Theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
, New York) * ''Too Much Johnson'' (adapted from
Maurice Ordonneau Maurice Ordonneau (18 June 1854 – 14 November 1916) was a French dramatist and composer. The son of a merchant of eau de vie, Ordonneau was a prolific author in creating theatrical works. He composed, often with the collaboration of other playwr ...
's ''La Plantation Thomassin'', November 26, 1894, Standard Theatre, New York; published in 1912) * ''Secret Service'' (May 13, 1895, Broad Street Theatre, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; published in 1898; published by Samuel French Ltd. in 1898) * "The Tale of My First Success," ''New York Dramatic Mirror'', The Christmas Number 1886, December 26, 1896, pg. 30 * ''Because She Loved Him So'' (October 28, 1898, Hyperion Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut) * ''Sherlock Holmes'' (with Arthur Conan Doyle, October 23, 1899, Star Theatre, Buffalo, New York; published by Samuel French, Ltd., in 1922, by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., in 1935, and by Doubleday in 1976 and 1977) * "The House-Boat in America," ''The Outlook'' Magazine, Vol. 65, No. 5, June 2, 1900 * ''The Frightful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes'' (March 24, 1905, Joseph Jefferson Holland Benefit, Metropolitan Opera House; later retitled ''The Harrowing Predicament of Sherlock Holmes'' and finally ''The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes'', published by Ben Abramson of The Argus Book Shop in Chicago in 1955) * ''Clarice'' (September 4, 1905, Liverpool, England) * ''Ticey, or That Little Affair of Boyd's'' (June 15, 1908, originally retitled A Private Theatrical, then retitled ''A Maid-of-All Work'', later retitled ''That Little Affair of Boyd's'', Columbia Theatre, Washington, D.C.) * ''Samson'' (adapted from
Henri Bernstein Henri-Léon-Gustave-Charles Bernstein (20 June 1876 – 27 November 1953) was a French playwright associated with Boulevard theatre. Biography Bernstein was born in Paris. His earliest plays, including ''La Rafale'' (1905), ''Le Voleur'' (1907), ...
's ''Samson'', October 19, 1908, Criterion Theatre, New York) * ''The Red Owl'', originally titled ''The Robber'' (One-Act Play, August 9, 1909, London Coliseum; published in ''One-Act Plays for Stage and Study'', Second Series, Samuel French, Ltd., 1925, pp. 47–80) * ''Among Thieves'' (One-Act Play, September 6, 1909, Palace Theatre, London; published in ''One-Act Plays for Stage and Study'', Second Series, Samuel French, Ltd., 1925, pp. 246–267) * ''Electricity'' (September 26, 1910, Park Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts; published by Samuel French Ltd. in 1924) * ''Theatrical managers exposed; A few words from Mr. William Gillette at the annual dinner of the Theatrical Managers' Association of Greater New York, at the Knickerbocker Hotel, January 10, 1910'' (New York, 1910). * ''Secret Service: Being the Happenings of a Night in Richmond in the Spring of 1865'' (Novelization, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, and Kessinger Publishing in the United Kingdom, 1912) * ''Butterfly on the Wheel'' (1914; never produced) * ''
Diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...
'' (adapted from
Victorien Sardou Victorien Sardou ( , ; 5 September 18318 November 1908) was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play. He also wrote several plays that were made into popular 19th-centur ...
's ''Dora'', October 20, 1914, Empire Theatre, New York) * ''William Hooker Gillette: The Illusion of the First Time in Acting'' (The Dramatic Museum of Columbia University in Papers on Acting, Second Series, Number 1, 1915) * "When a Play Is Not a Play", ''Vanity Fair'', Vol. 5, Nos. 5–7 – vol. 6, Nos. 2–4, January–June 1916, pg. 53 * Introduction to ''How to Write a Play'', edited by Miles Dudley, ''Papers on Playmaking II'' (Dramatic Museum of Columbia University, 1916), pp. 1–8 * ''How Well George Does It'' (1919, never produced; published by Samuel French Ltd. in 1936) * "America's Great Opportunity", ''The World War: Utterances Concerning Its Issues and Conduct by Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Printed for Its Archives and For Free'' * ''The Dream Maker'' (November 21, 1921, Empire Theatre, New York) * ''Sherlock Holmes, A Play'' (Samuel French, Ltd., 1922). * ''Winnie and the Wolves'' (dramatized from Bertram Atkey's stories in the ''Saturday Evening Post'', May 14, 1923, Lyric Theatre, Philadelphia, PA) * ''The Astounding Crime on Torrington Road'' (Harper & Brothers, 1927) * ''The Crown Prince of the Incas'' (1932–36; never completed) * ''Sherlock Holmes, A Play'' (Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1935); Introduction by Vincent Starrett; Preface by William Gillette; Reminiscent notes and drawings by Frederic Dorr Steele * ''Secret Service: Being the Happenings of a Night in Richmond in the Spring of 1865, Novelization with Cyrus Townsend Brady (Grosset & Dunlap in New York, 1936) * ''Sherlock Holmes a Play: Wherein is Set Forth the Strange Case of Miss Alice Faulkner'' (Helan Halbach, Publisher,
Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...
, 1974), reprint of the 1935 edition; Introduction by Vincent Starrett; Preface by William Gillette; Reminiscent notes and drawings by Frederic Dorr Steele * ''Sherlock Holmes: A Play'' (Doubleday & Company, 1976; hardcover). * ''Sherlock Holmes: A Play'' (Samuel French, 1976; softcover) * ''Sherlock Holmes: A Play'' (Doubleday & Company, 1977; hardcover)


Patents issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office

Time-Stamp *Letters patent No. 289,404, filed April 25, 1883, granted December 4, 1883. *Letters Patent No. 300,966, filed May 2, 1883, granted June 24, 1884. *Letters Patent No. 302,559, filed on May 14, 1883, and granted July 29, 1884. *Letters Patent No. 309,537, filed December 5, 1883, and granted December 23, 1884. Method of Producing Stage Effects *Letters Patent No. 389,294, filed June 9, 1887, granted September 11, 1887.


Audio/visual

* Fox Movietone News: "Sherlock Holmes" Turns Engineer ewsclip of William Gillette featuring William Gillette (Fox, 1927, two minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm). Also heard in ''William Gillette: A Connecticut Yankee and the American Stage'', Connecticut Heritage Productions, Peter Loffredo, Producer, SDF-V7, debuted on Connecticut Public Television on July 11, 1994. * ''Sherlock Holmes'' (1934), recorded by G. Robert Vincent for his private collection; Gillette reads excerpts from Sherlock Holmes; Dr. F.C. Packard from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
takes the part of Dr. Watson. Running Time: 9.8 min; from An Inventory of Spoken Word Audio Recordings in the Vincent Voice Library,
Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
(DB7455).3; also in the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford, Connecticut. * William Gillette, Voice of: Selections from ''Sherlock Holmes'' and ''The Celebrated Jumping Frog'' (1934), addressing Professor F. C. Packard's class at Harvard University, imitates his old friend and neighbor Mark Twain in a reading of the early sentences of The Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County, Harvard Vocarium.


Filmography

*1915 – '' Esmeralda'', directed by James Kirkwood and starring
Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
, released on September 6, 1915, and re-released July 27, 1919 *1916 – ''
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 ...
'', starring Gillette in the first cinema-adaptation of his Sherlock Holmes, albeit not the first film about Holmes. It was a seven-reel silent film by '' Essanay Film Manufacturing Co.'' directed by
Arthur Berthelet Arthur Rolette Berthelet (October 12,1879September 16, 1949; credited as Rolette Bertheletto, Arthur Berthelet, and Arthur R. Berthelet) was an American actor, stage and film director, dialogue director, and scriptwriter."California Death Index, ...
. Marjorie Kay played Alice Faulkner and
Ernest Maupain Ernest Maupain (1869–1944) was a French film actor who appeared in many American films during the silent era. He played the role of Professor Moriarty in the 1916 Essanay Studios film '' Sherlock Holmes''.Kabatchnik p.167 Selected filmography ...
was Moriarty. After years of being thought a
lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...
, a copy of the film was found in October 2014 at the
Cinémathèque Française The Cinémathèque Française (), founded in 1936, is a French non-profit film organization that holds one of the largest archives of film documents and film-related objects in the world. Based in Paris's 12th arrondissement, the archive offers ...
and was restored. It was shown on Turner Classic Movies in 2015. It is believed to be the only record of Gillette playing the role on camera. *1919 – ''Secret Service'', Paramount Pictures, directed by Hugh Ford with Robert Warwick in Gillette's role of Captain Thorne and Shirley Mason as the female lead. *1919 – ''Too Much Johnson'', Paramount Pictures – Director: Donald Crisp; Writers: William Gillette and Thomas J. Geraghty; Release Date: December 1919; Starring Bryant Washburn as Augustus Billings, Lois Wilson as Mrs. Billings, and
Adele Farrington Adele Farrington (1867 – 19 December 1936) was an American actress of the silent film era. Biography Born Anna King in Brooklyn, New York, Farrington was a stage actress before appearing in 74 films between 1914 and 1926. She was a relatively ...
as Mrs. Batterson; 5 reels, 4,431 feet *1920 – ''Held by the Enemy'',
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...
, Paramount Pictures – Director:
Donald Crisp Donald William Crisp (27 July 188225 May 1974) was an English film actor as well as an early producer, director and screenwriter. His career lasted from the early silent film era into the 1960s. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor ...
; Writers: William Gillette and
Beulah Marie Dix Beulah Marie Dix (December 25, 1876 – September 25, 1970) was an American screenwriter of the silent and sound film eras, as well as a playwright and author of novels and children's books. She wrote for more than 55 films between 1917 an ...
; Release date: October 24, 1920; Starring
Agnes Ayres Agnes Ayres (born Agnes Henkel; April 4, 1896 – December 25, 1940) was an American actress who rose to fame during the silent film era. She was known for her role as Lady Diana Mayo in '' The Sheik'' opposite Rudolph Valentino. Career Ayres ...
as Rachel Hayne,
Wanda Hawley Wanda Hawley (born Selma Wanda Pittack; July 30, 1895 – March 18, 1963) was an American actress during the silent film era. She entered the theatrical profession with an amateur group in Seattle, and later toured the United States and Can ...
as Emmy McCreery,
Lewis Stone Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 – September 12, 1953) was an American film actor. He spent 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular ''Andy H ...
as Capt. Gordon Haine, Jack Holt as Colonel Charles Prescott, and Robert Cain as Brigade Surgeon Fielding; 6 reels *1922 – ''
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 ...
'',
Goldwyn Pictures Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1 ...
, based on Gillette's play, directed by Albert Parker.
John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...
played Holmes.
William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters cr ...
made his screen debut as Foreman Wells in this film, restored by the
George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...
*1931 – ''Secret Service'',
Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...
, directed by
J. Walter Ruben Jacob Walter Ruben (August 14, 1899 – September 4, 1942) was an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He wrote for more than 30 films between 1926 and 1942. He also directed 19 films between 1931 and 1940. His great-grandson i ...
with
Richard Dix Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
as Captain Thorne *1937 – ''
Too Much Johnson ''Too Much Johnson'' is a 1938 American silent comedy film written and directed by Orson Welles. An unfinished film component of a stage production, it was made three years before Welles directed ''Citizen Kane'', but it was never publicly screen ...
'',
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 als ...
, directed 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 ...
. Writers: William Gillette and
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 ...
. Starring
Joseph Cotten Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and '' Sab ...
as Augustus Billings and
Ruth Ford Ruth Ford (July 7, 1911 – August 12, 2009) was an American actress and model. Her brother was the Bohemianism, bohemian surrealist Charles Henri Ford. Their parents owned or managed hotels in the American South, and the family regularly move ...
as Mrs. Billings. It was to be inserted into a stage production of the play but was never shown in public. Though Welles's print was destroyed in 1970, another one was discovered in 2013 and became available online the next year. *1977 – ''Secret Service'',
Broadway Theatre Archive Kultur Video is a film company that specializes in the distribution and production of performing arts, history, literature, theater, and other genres on DVD, Blu-ray, and Streaming Video. The company has issued famous television programs by such a ...
, starring John Lithgow as Captain Thorne and
Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...
as Edith Varney. This was the first time Streep was seen on film, and it is the only play by Gillette still available on commercial VHS or DVD *1981 – ''Sherlock Holmes'',
Home Box Office Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...
in collaboration with the
Williamstown Theatre Festival The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a resident summer theater on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1954 by Williams College news director Ralph Renzi and drama program chairman David C. Bryant. I ...
and artistic director
Nikos Psacharopoulos Nikos Psacharopoulos ( el, Νίκος Ψαχαρόπουλος, born Athens, January 18, 1928, died St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, on January 12, 1989) was a Greek-American theater producer, director, and educator. Born Nickolas Konstantin At ...
, and was broadcast on November 19, 1981, with repeats on November 23, 27, 29, and December 1 and 5. This production starred
Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flor ...
as Holmes,
Stephen Collins Stephen Weaver Collins (born October 1, 1947) is an American former actor and writer. He is known for playing Eric Camden on the television series '' 7th Heaven'' from 1996 to 2007. Afterwards, Collins played the roles of Dayton King on the ABC ...
as James Larrabee,
Susan Clark Susan Clark (born Nora Golding; March 8, 1943) is a Canadian actress, known for her movie roles such as ''Coogan's Bluff'' and '' Colossus: The Forbin Project'', and for her role as Katherine Papadopolis on the American television sitcom ''Web ...
as Madge Larrabee, Richard Woods as Dr. Watson, and 12-year-old
Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...
in his film debut as Billy the Pageboy. This production is not available on commercial VHS or DVD. *1982 – ''Sherlock Holmes'', Guy Dumur translated Gillette's play into French for the 1982 filming of ''Sherlock Holmes'', starring fifty-four-year-old
Paul Guers Paul Guers (19 December 1927 – 27 November 2016) was a French film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1955 and 1996. He starred in the 1963 film '' Kali Yug: Goddess of Vengeance''. He was born in Tours, France and died in Montsoreau. ...
as Holmes. Directed by Jean Hennin, it was broadcast on October 5, 1982


Radio

*On October 20, 1930, Gillette performed the first serial radio-version of Sherlock Holmes in the premiere episode of ''
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' is a collection of twelve short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, first published on 14 October 1892. It contains the earliest short stories featuring the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, w ...
'', an adaptation of "
The Adventure of the Speckled Band "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the eighth story of twelve in the collection ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes''. It was originally published in '' Strand Ma ...
". It was based on the original theater version by Conan Doyle, re-adapted by
Edith Meiser Edith Meiser (May 9, 1898 – September 26, 1993) was an American author and actress, who wrote mystery novels, stage plays, and numerous radio dramas. She is perhaps best known for bringing adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories to radio in the ...
, and was the first time Holmes was portrayed on radio as part of a continuing series. It was transmitted by WEAF-NBC (New York) and sponsored by '' G. Washington Coffee Co.''. This show became the pilot of a series and, after Gillette, Richard Gordon took over the part for the remaining 34 programs in the series. *On November 18, 1935, Gillette, now 82 years old, performed his own ''Sherlock Holmes'' on WABC radio of New York. His play was again re-adapted by Meiser.
Reginald Mason Reginald is a masculine given name in the English language. Etymology and history The meaning of Reginald is “King". The name is derived from the Latin ''Reginaldus'', which has been influenced by the Latin word ''regina'', meaning "queen". Th ...
played Dr. Watson and Charles Bryant played Professor Moriarty. Its duration was 50 minutes. This play was the pilot for a new Holmes series by ''
Lux Radio Theater ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...
''. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' said that Gillette was "still the best, with all his shades and improvisation".


As novelist

*1927, ''The Astounding Crime on Torrington Road''—his only mystery novel.


Tryon, North Carolina

In 1891, after first visiting
Tryon, North Carolina Tryon is a town in Polk County, on the southwestern border of North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,646. Located in the escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains, today the area is affluent and a center f ...
, Gillette began building his bungalow, which he later enlarged into a house. He named it Thousand Pines and it is privately owned today. In past years, in November, the town of Tryon celebrated the ''William Gillette Festival'', honoring Gillette. The Polk County Historical Museum there displays Gillete's pipe and slippers from his farewell tour of ''Sherlock Holmes'', as well as china, some letters and other items left behind at the actor's North Carolina home.


New York City

On December 7, 1934, Gillette attended the first dinner meeting of
The Baker Street Irregulars The Baker Street Irregulars is an organization of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts founded in 1934 by Christopher Morley. The nonprofit organization currently numbers some 300 individuals worldwide. The group has published '' The Baker Street Journa ...
in New York. As of 2011, the BSI continues its William Gillette Memorial Luncheon on the Friday afternoon of their annual January meeting in New York City
Baker Street Irregulars Weekend, The Annual Gathering of the oldest Literary Society dedicated to Sherlock Holmes
.


Famous namesake

Among Gillette's friends was actress Gertrude Berkeley. Gertrude had a son whom she apparently named after two of her friends, actress
Amy Busby Amy Busby (January 19, 1872 – July 13, 1957) was an American actress. Early life Amy Busby was born in Rochester, New York, the daughter of Thomas Mark Busby and Eliza Ann Bennett Busby. Career Amy Busby went to New York City as a teenager, ho ...
and William Gillette, after Busby and Gillette agreed to be the boy's godparents. The son's name was Busby Berkeley William Enos who, as
Busby Berkeley Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berke ...
, became one of Hollywood's greatest directors and choreographers.


Quotations

* "Elementary, my dear fellow! Elementary!" * "There isn't any reason in the world why we can't do as well in this farewell business as any other country on the face of the globe. We have the farewellers and the people to say farewell to. If I can only keep it up I will be even with my competitors by the Spring of 1922, and by the Winter of 1937 I will be well in the lead." * "It just seems, somehow, that every five years finds me back again, so you can expect me back at it again once more in 1941. Probably in 1976, when they are celebrating the two-hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the Declaration of Independence, or what ever it is, 40 years from now, I'll still be farewelling. I should apologize for being here, but I am a man among Yankees, and they take promises with a grain of salt – in fact they usually take them home and pickle them in brine, so they probably knew I'd be back. Besides I have several good excuses – but they really don't count. And besides – and you men who follow horse racing will know what I mean – I'm not running against anyone, they're merely letting me trot around the track." * "Farewell, Good Luck, and Merry Christmas."


See also


References


Sources

* Cook, Doris E., ''Sherlock Holmes & Much More'' (The Connecticut Historical Society, 1970). * Doyle, Arthur Conan, & Jack Tracy, editor, ''Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha'' (Houghton Mifflin; 1st ed., 1980). * Haining, Peter, ''The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' (Apocryphile Press, 2005). * Zecher, Henry, '' William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes'' (Xlibris Press, 2011).


External links

*
William Gillette Introduction

The Baker Street Journal – writings about Sherlock Holmes

Gillette Castle State Park in East Haddam, Connecticut
* *
Portrait of William Gillette
University of Washington, Sayre collection
William Gillette
Portrait gallery; NY Public Library, Billy Rose collection
William Gillette; PeriodPaper.com about 1910

Website for biographer Henry Zecher

Theatre posters
from performances of ''Held by the Enemy'' at
Royal Lyceum Theatre The Royal Lyceum Theatre is a 658-seat theatre in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, named after the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, the residence at the time of legendary Shakespearean actor Henry Irving. It was built in 1883 by a ...
, Edinburgh in 1887 * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillette, William 1853 births 1937 deaths American dramatists and playwrights American inventors American male stage actors American male voice actors American people of English descent Actor-managers Respiratory disease deaths in Connecticut Deaths from pulmonary hemorrhage Male actors from Hartford, Connecticut People from Greenport, Suffolk County, New York Writers from Hartford, Connecticut People from Tryon, North Carolina Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle