William Hooker Gillette 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.
William Gillette
Poster for The Professor (1881)
Gillette in Secret Service
Theatre poster for Held by the Enemy at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh in 1887
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.
Sherlock Holmes in a 1904 illustration by Sidney Paget
The cover page of the 1887 edition of Beeton's Christmas Annual, which contains Holmes's first appearance (A Study in Scarlet)
Holmes (right) and Watson in a Sidney Paget illustration for "The Adventure of Silver Blaze"
Holmes and archenemy Moriarty struggle at the Reichenbach Falls; drawing by Sidney Paget