William Gillette was a popular American actor born on July 24,.1853 in Hartford, Connecticut. He would die there at the age of 84. He was rich by any standard and his home was actually a castle that is now part of the Connecticut state park system. The William Gillette homepage link below has pictures and information on the Castle.
There are some minor questions regarding the history of the play “Sherlock Holmes – A Drama in Four Acts.” However, the following history, if not completely accurate, is very, very close.
In 1897, Conan Doyle wrote a five-act play of Sherlock Holmes, which was sold to American theatrical agent Harold Frohman. Frohman’s clients included one William Gillette. Frohman felt it needed work and went to London to meet with Doyle. He secured Doyle’s approval to have Gillette both rewrite and star in the play and Gillette made extensive changes. In November of 1898, a fire at the Baldwin Hotel destroyed the manuscript and he started all over again. In 1899 Gillette traveled to London and met Doyle in full costume. Doyle was impressed with the actor and they became friends.
On October 23, 1889 the play opened in Buffalo, NY, and debuted at NYC’s Garrick Theater on November 6. To simplify, it was a SMASH! In 1901, Gillette “took it home” to London. It comes as no surprise to learn it was a huge success there as well. Two troupes were formed, one playing northern Great Britain (featuring H.A. Saintsbury) and the other the south (with Julian Royce). In the next few years, it would be performed in Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Austria and Germany and in 1902 the King and Queen of England attended a show.
A young man named Charles Chaplin played the role of Billy the pageboy, and he would repeat the role in Gillette’s other Holmes play, “The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes.”
Gillette continued to perform this play for almost the rest of his life. He announced in 1929 he was making one last tour before retiring the play. The success was again overwhelming and he continued the tour for three years. In 1935, Gillette performed his play in the first radio broadcast of a Sherlock Holmes radio series.
Even more so than Basil Rathbone, Gillette became identified with Sherlock Holmes. He was forced by public demand to include at least one showing of “Sherlock Holmes” while touring to perform other plays. He himself played the role over 1,300 times on stage, and made a silent movie version in 1916, at the age of 63.
The story would continue to be redone on film. The great John Barrymore starred in 1922. Clive Brook would make a version ten years later. In 1939, fresh from the successful “Hound of the Baskervilles,” Basil Rathbone made his second and final movie for 20th Century Fox, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (the rest of Rathbone’s Holmes movies were made by Universal. My favorite version of this was a filmed play. Frank Langella performed it at the 1981 Williamstown Theatre Festival, and it was shown on Home Box Office. This is a treat if you can find a taped copy (thanks to Bill Dorn).
For more information on Gillette, go to the William Gillette homepage. You can also track his career on the Internet Movie Database.
The Gillette Castle is closed for repairs throughout 2000.