William Gillette's Sherlock Holmes, or the “Real” Sherlock Holmes: Seeking Reality in Materiality

In 1901, the popular American actor and playwright, William Gillette, arrived in the United Kingdom to tour his new play, Sherlock Holmes. Born in Connecticut in 1853, Gillette was by this time a well-established actor and playwright in his native United States and not unknown to British audiences. Just a few years earlier, he had brought his play Secret Service to London, where his performance as an American Union spy had “created a sensation.” Despite his prior reputation and relative celebrity, there was a seeming belief at the time in a natural accord between Gillette and the character that would go on to define his career. A tale recounted by Harold J. Shepstone in the Strand magazine—already the fictional home of the world's most famous sleuth—underlines the belief in the symbiosis of William Gillette and Sherlock Holmes: When Mr. Gillette arrived on the Celtic in Liverpool, in August last, Mr. Pendleton of the London and North-Western Railway, had a letter to deliver to him. He went on board and asked one of the passengers if he knew Mr. Gillette. The man replied:— “Do you know Sherlock Holmes?” The visitor was rather taken back, and said: “I have read the stories in The Strand Magazine.” “That's all you need know,” said the passenger. “Just look around till you see a man who fits your idea of what Sherlock Holmes ought to be and that's he.” Mr. Pendleton went away, with a laugh. As he was going up the companion-way he collided with a gentleman, and as he looked up to apologize the passenger's advice occurred to him, and he said, “Are you Mr. Gillette?” “I was, before you ran into me,” was the reply. “Here's a letter for you.”