William Gillette

William Gillette was an American actor-manager, playwright, and stage-manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes 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 cap (which first appeared in some Strand illustrations by Sidney Paget) 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 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. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gillette
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0319069/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
• http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/8-famous-people-who-missed-th...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Page 242

Bibliographic information:

• A History of the Doggett-Daggett Family
• by Doggett, Samuel Bradlee, 1858-
• Publication date 1894
• Publisher Boston : Press of Rockwell and Churchill
• Contributor Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
• Copyright-evidence Evidence reported by CallieLamkin for item historyofdoggett00indogg on September 4, 2008: no visible notice of copyright; stated date is 1894.
• Possible copyright status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
• Pages 804
• https://archive.org/details/historyofdoggett00indogg/page/141/mode/1up

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Page 245

Bibliographic information:

• The descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker, Hartford, Connecticut, 1586-1908 : being an account of what is known of Rev. Thomas Hooker's family in England : and more particularly concerning himself and his influence upon the early history of our country : also all items of interest which it has been possible to gather concerning the early generations of Hookers and their descendants in America
• by Hooker, Edward
• Publication date 1909
• Publisher Rochester, N.Y. : Margaret Huntington Hooker
• Book from the collections of Harvard University
• Pages 612
• Possible copyright status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
• https://archive.org/details/descendantsrevt00hookgoog/page/38/mode/1up

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information on Gillette Castle, William Gillette's home, now a state park:

• https://www.easthaddamstories.org/gillette
• https://www.gillettecastlefriends.org/history-of-the-castle
• https://ctrivergateway.org/history-of-the-river/gillette-castle/
• https://portal.ct.gov/deep/state-parks/parks/gillette-castle-state-...

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KZ97-12M