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William Hooker Gillette (July 24, 1853 – April 29, 1937) 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 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 cap (which first appeared in some ''Strand'' illustrations by Sidney Paget) and the curved pipe became enduring symbols of the character.〔Zecher, Henry, ''William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes'' (Xlibris Press, 2011), pp. 7, 9, 28, 328, 581.〕 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.〔; (Zecher website, ibid. )〕 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.〔''Hartford Courant'', "Mr. Gillette’s Play In London", April 4, 1887, pg. 1; ''The Times'', "Princess's Theatre", April 4, 1887, pg. 5; Price, E. D., FGS, Editor, ''Hazell;s Annual Cyclopedia'' (Hazell, Watson, and Viney, 1888), pg. 191; Deshler, Welch, Editor, ''The Theatre'', Vol. III, No. 6, April 25, 1887, Whole No. 58, in ''The Theatre'' (Theatre Publishing Company, 1888), pg. 107; ''New York Times'', "Old World News by Cable", May 15, 1887, pg. 1; ''New York Morning Journal'', "‘Held by the Enemy’, the Story of Its Phenomenal Success", September 11, 1887, pg. 9; Zecher, Henry, ''William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes'', pp. 161–163.〕 ==Youth== William Gillette was born in Nook Farm, Hartford, Connecticut, a literary and intellectual center with residents such as Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Charles Dudley Warner.〔See Andrews, Kenneth R., ''Nook farm, Mark Twain's Hartford Circle'' (Harvard University Press, 1950) and Van Why, Joseph S., ''Nook Farm'' (Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford, CT, 1975).〕 Gillette's father Francis was a former United States Senator and a crusader public education, temperance, for the abolition of slavery, and women's suffrage.〔Andrews, Kenneth R., ''Nook Farm, Mark Twain's Hartford Circle'' (Harvard University Press, 1950).〕 His mother Elisabeth Daggett Hooker was a descendant of the Reverend Thomas Hooker, the Puritan leader who founded the town of Hartford and either wrote or inspired the first written constitution in history to form a government.〔Hooker, Edward W., ''The Descendants of Rev. Thomas Hooker: Hartford, Connecticut, 1586–1908'' (Edited by Margaret Huntington Hooker and printed for her at Rochester, N.Y., 1909; Legacy Reprint Series, Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2007).〕 Gillette had three brothers and a sister. Another sister named Mary died as a small child.〔Zecher, Henry, ''William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes'', p. 51.〕 His eldest brother Frank Ashbell Gillette went to California and died there in 1859 from consumption (tuberculosis).〔''Sacramento Daily Union'', August 8, 1859, notice, compiled by David Murray, Superintendent of the City Cemetery, reads: Mortality of the City. In the 1860 Mortality Schedule Index at the California State Library in Sacramento is an entry under Gillett, Frank A.; age 23; male; CT listed for state of birth; died Aug; listed as Farmer for occupation; died Sacramento County; enumeration district 2; township Sacramento City.〕 The third oldest brother Robert joined the Union Army and served in the Antietam campaign, was invalided home sick, recovered, and joined the Navy.〔Burton, Nathaniel J., ''A Discourse Delivered January 29th, 1865, in Memory of Robert H. Gillette'' (Press of Wiley, Waterman & Eaton), 1865.〕 Robert Gillette was assigned to the U.S.S. ''Gettysburg'' and took part in both assaults on Fort Fisher. He was killed the morning after the surrender of the fort when the powder magazine exploded.〔Robinson, Charles M., III, ''Hurricane of Fire, the Union Assault on Fort Fisher'' (Naval Institute Press, 1998), pg. 184; Gragg, Rod, ''Confederate Goliath, the Battle of Fort Fisher'' (Harper Collins, 1991), pg. 235; Hartford ''Courant'', "Death of Paymaster Gillette", January 21, 1865, pg. 2; Burton, Nathaniel J., ''A Discourse Delivered January 29, 1865, in Memory of Robert H. Gillette''; Zecher, Henry, ''William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes'', p. 55-56.〕 His brother Edward moved to Iowa and his sister Elisabeth married George Henry Warner, both in 1863, after which William was the only child in the household. At the age of 20, he left Hartford to begin his apprenticeship as an actor. He briefly worked for a stock company in New Orleans and then returned to New England where, on Mark Twain's own recommendation, he debuted at the Globe Theater of Boston with Twain's stage-play ''The Gilded Age'' in 1875. Afterward, he was a stock actor for six years through Boston, New York, and the Midwest. He irregularly attended classes at a few institutions, although he never completed their programs. His father Francis had held the strongest objections to the theater in general, but he offered the least resistance and drove him to the train station, telling his son that he had driven two other sons to this same station and they had never returned; William was to make sure that he was the exception.〔Zecher, Henry, ''William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes'', p. 77; Duffy, Richard, "Gillette, Actor and Playwright", ''Ainslee's Magazine'', Vol. VI, No. 1, August 1900, pg. 54.〕 Francis supplied him with an allowance on which to subsist (his apprenticeship was without pay).〔Zecher, Henry, ''William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes'', p. 77; Letter to George Warner, Gillette Correspondence, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford, Connecticut.〕 His father's health began to fail in 1878, and William forsook the stage for more than a year to care for him in his final illness. Upon his father's death, he and George Henry Warner were named executors of Francis' estate, and they, Elisabeth, and Edward shared in the inheritance.〔Last Will of Francis Gillette, Signed October 12, 1877, City of Hartford Probate Records, 1876–1880, Microfilm #LDS1314362, CSL #986, continued on LDS #987, pp. 435–436, 539–541.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Gillette」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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