William Gillette

William Gillette , 1853-1937, American actor and dramatist, b. Hartford, Conn. His New York debut in Mark Twain's Gilded Age (1877) was shortly followed by his own first play, The Professor (1881). In the same year Esmeralda, written with Frances Hodgson Burnett, established his success. Held by the Enemy (1886) was the first of his popular Civil War plays, the second being Secret Service (1896). Both won him high personal praise. With Sherlock Holmes (1899), however, Gillette scored his lasting triumph, creating a play and a character with which he was permanently associated. He was one of the first to profess that an actor should build his characterization on the dominant qualities of his own personality.

Gillette, William (1855–1937), made his debut as an actor in 1875, and as a dramatist in 1881 with The Private Secretary, based on a German drama, and Esmeralda, based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel. His 13 original plays include Held by the Enemy (1886) and Secret Service (1895), about the Civil War; Too Much Johnson (1894), a farce; and Clarice (1905). His most popular vehicle was Sherlock Holmes (1899), his own arrangement of Conan Doyle stories, in which he continued to act until within a few years of his death.

Gillette, William (1855–1937), American actor and dramatist, author of a number of adaptations and dramatizations of novels in most of which he appeared himself, among them Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (1899), with which his name is always associated. He played Holmes with outstanding success in both England and America, and frequently revived it up to his retirement in 1932. Of his original plays the best were melodramatic spy stories of the Civil War, Held by the Enemy (1886) and Secret Service (1896). He also wrote a comedy, Too Much Jonson (1894). He appeared in Barrie's The Admirable Crichton and Dear Brutus; but his best work was done in his own plays, the only one of which to have been revived is Sherlock Holmes, which had a notably successful production by the RSC in London and New York in 1974.