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Gillette, William
Gillette, William (1855–1937), actor and playwright. The lean, haughtily handsome stage star with vivid blue eyes and an aquiline nose was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of a United States senator. He studied at Yale, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Fine Arts Institute and made his professional debut as Guzman in Faint Heart Ne'er Won Fair Lady (1875) in Boston. Gillette performed numerous supporting roles at the Boston Museum before making his New York bow as the Prosecuting Attorney in The Gilded Age (1877). In 1881 he appeared in the title role of his own play, The Professor, then toured in Young Mrs. Winthrop and played briefly in his own Digby's Secretary (1884). Three major successes followed: as the comic newspaperman Thomas Beene in his own Civil War drama, Held by the Enemy (1886); the perennial liar Augustus Billings in Too Much Johnson (1894); and the Northern spy Captain Thorne in Secret Service (1896). Gillette's greatest success came in the title role of Sherlock Holmes (1899), which he adapted from Conan Doyle's famous stories. One critic wrote that the actor, famous for his “scarce gesture and staccato sentence,” “looks the part and carries it in his accustomed nonchalant and pictorially effective way.” He scored again in the title role of Barrie's The Admirable Crichton (1903), then spent most of his later career reviving his earlier successes. Yet he shone as millionaire Henry Wilton in A Successful Calamity (1917) and as Mr. Dearth in Barrie's fantasy Dear Brutus (1918). Of this last performance John Corbin wrote in the Times that Gillette “has never been more humanly gracious and delicately real,” while Helen Hayes, who was in the play, recalled his “silken quality,” his “felicitous combination of grain and polish” and added, “I was never again to see such timing as this man had.” Among the many other plays that Gillette wrote were such adaptations as Esmeralda (1881) with F. H. Burnett, She (1887), All the Comforts of Home (1890), Mr. Wilkinson's Widows (1891), and Settled out of Court (1892). Biography: Sherlock Holmes and Much More, Doris E. Cook, 1970.
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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Gillette, William." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Gillette, William." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-GilletteWilliam.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Gillette, William." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-GilletteWilliam.html |
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Gillette, William
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.
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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Gillette, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Gillette, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-GilletteWilliam.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Gillette, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-GilletteWilliam.html |
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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. |
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Cite this article
"William Gillette." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "William Gillette." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Gillette.html "William Gillette." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Gillette.html |
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Gillette, William
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.
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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Gillette, William." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Gillette, William." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-GilletteWilliam.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Gillette, William." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-GilletteWilliam.html |
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