1 William Gillette Quotes

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"William Hooker Gillette" was an United States/American actor, playwright and stage manager/stage-manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a Sherlock Holmes (1916 film)/1916 silent film long thought lost.

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/deerstalker cap (which first appeared in some Strand illustrations by Sidney Paget) and the curved pipe became durable symbols of the character. He assumed the role onstage 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.