William Gillette

Sherlock Holmes William Gillette

Sherlock Holmes, a play that was revived many times after its first copyrighhtg performance in 1899, is the work of William Hooker Gillette, an American actor, playwright and stage-manager of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century who is still best remembered today as the personification of Sherlock Holmes on stage, a role he performed over 1,300 times, and reprised in a silent motion picture based on the play, and twice on radio. Gillette's particular contribution to the theater was in the areas of stage settings, special sound and lighting effects, and characterization. His portrayal of Holmes has influenced the modern image of the detective with his use of the deerstalker cap (which first appeared in some Strand illustrations by Sidney Paget) and the curved pipe that came to symbolize the character. Gillette was also well known for the famous line ñThis is elementary, my dear fellow!î which later became ñElementary, my dear Watson!î, a phrase that however never appears in DoyleÍs books.