Gillette continued to work in American theater, eventually crossing the Atlantic to appear in London in , where his play Secret Service was both a critical and commercial success.
At that time, Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the famously eccentric and well-educated detective Sherlock Holmes, found himself in need of money. Having concluded his original Sherlock Holmes stories in , Doyle decided to raise funds by adapting Sherlock Holmes for the stage.
A competing, unauthorized play based on his work further spurred Doyle to action, but he proved unable to write a Holmes play to his own satisfaction. The two began a longtime personal friendship and a highly profitable professional relationship. In bringing Sherlock Holmes to life on the stage, Gillette introduced three elements that became synonymous with the famous detective: his deerstalker cap, his long traveling cloak, and his curved briar pipe.
Gillette made a fortune playing Holmes, and used part of that money, as well as his sense of ingenuity and fun, to build a castle, which he named the Seventh Sister, on property fronting the Connecticut River in East Haddam, Connecticut. Built from Connecticut stone, the castle has 24 rooms, with puzzle locks, secret doors, and even hidden mirrors that allowed Gillette to spy on his guests including Albert Einstein and Calvin Coolidge in order to time dramatic entrances for their amusement.
As a state park, it hosts approximately , visitors a year. Millions of mystery lovers around the world who never heard of William Gillette can recognize Sherlock Holmes on sight, largely because of the distinctive wardrobe and mannerisms Gillette created when he interpreted Holmes. Gillette died on April 29, , in Hartford, Connecticut, and received a burial in the Hooker family cemetery in Farmington , Connecticut, next to his wife, Helen Nichols Gillette.
Emily E. Gifford is an independent historian specializing in the history of religion and social movements in the United States. By Emily E. Gifford William Gillette was an American actor, playwright, and stage director most famous for his stage portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and for the extraordinary stone castle he built on a promontory above the Connecticut River in East Haddam.
With the permission of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the fictional detective's creator, Gillette wrote the first authorized play adaptations of the novels. Beginning in , Gillette went on to star as Sherlock Holmes more than 1, times over the course of 33 years. William Gillette married Helen Nichols, an actress from Detroit, in In , she died from a ruptured appendix at the age of Will promised her that he would never remarry.
He outlived Helen by 49 years, staying single and childless for the rest of his life. The Castle was meant as a retirement home. As William Gillette insisted that it was not a castle, the official name of the property was the Seventh Sister Estate. Informally, it was the "Hadlyme stone heap" or simply "the pile of rocks. The Porteus-Walker Company of Hartford was hired as the general contractor. Construction was started in and completed in , with Gillette later modifying the building, including the expansion from to Work on the home was done primarily by a team of 20 men.
The house is built of fieldstone collected from the property and surrounding area. A team of five master carpenters created all of the woodwork for the Castle, carving southern white oak by hand.
The entire structure is well supported by a frame of steel I-beams. And each door has a handsome external latch intricately carved of wood. Even the Castle's furnishings are indications of Gillette's inspirations. The built-in couches, a movable table on tracks, and light switches of carved wood all point to his creative genius. Outside on the grounds, Gillette's influence is no less in evidence. The trails often follow, over trestle and through tunnel, the actor's three mile long narrow gauge railroad.
Gillette's own walking paths were constructed with near-vertical steps, stone-arch bridges, and wooded trestles spanning up to forty feet. Other outdoor attractions include a vegetable cellar, the railroad station Grand Central , and Gillette's goldfish pond.
Gillette was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in , the son of former U. As a child, Gillette was captivated with the stage and acting pursuits, an interest that his parents did not encourage.
At age thirteen, he reputedly had built a small stage and amused himself by frequently giving puppet shows for his friends.
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