William Gillette's Sherlock Holmes

Back in 2009 I released a graphic novel based on William Gillette's play SHERLOCK HOLMES... actually my association with the play goes back a bit further than that.

To give you a better idea, at the dawn of the 20th Century William Gillette WAS the face of Sherlock Holmes. A great deal of that had to do with his 1,300 stage appearances as the character. And some of it had to do with Frederick Dorr Steele using his likeness as Holmes in the artwork he created for Collier's Weekly's reprinting Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original tales.

He WAS the face of Sherlock Holmes the way Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett and now Benedict Cumberbatch have become the face of the character to their respective generations.

While it's debatable he was the first actor to play the role, he should get credit for introducing the character to an American audience. Many of the elements we commonly associate with Holmes such as the deerstalker, hat the curved pipe (sometimes briar, sometimes a meerschaum) and the phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" were due to Gillette's play.

Some of this made me dislike the Gillette play for the longest time. At first I felt like it watered down and dumbed-down the character. However, over time I began to appreciate both Gillette AND the play her wrote. In truth what he did was take some of the best elements of the very best Sherlock Holmes tales (i.e. A Scandal in Bohemia, The Final Problem and The Sign of Four) and wove them together to create one narrative.

The more I thought about it, it really was a great way to introduce an audience who may not be readily familiar with the character to give them what was really a "Best of" album of some of the great Sherlock Holmes stories.

This reason, and the connection of Gillette being a fellow native New Englander (go visit his castle along the Connecticut River. Its an amazing place) also helped me in my decision to choose Gillette's play to adapt into a graphic novel.

Recently, they found the only film Gillette did as Sherlock Holmes back in 1916. The film was said to be lost to the ages. But it was recently discovered. Apparently it had been misfiled or something. But as far as Sherlock Holmes films go, this is the absolute Holy Grail of Sherlock Holmes films. The only film appearance of William Gillette as the character he made famous on stage.

I'm actually surprised by this fact. Especially considering how many times he appeared on stage in the role I'm surprised this film is the only time he would appear as the character.

The film itself is in the process of being restored and is set to debut at a film festival in France next year. And in the United States following this.

However, if you cannot wait for that, you could always pick up my adaptation of the play which would ultimately become the film starring William Gillette:

Sherlock Holmes: The Painful Predicament of Alice Faulkner