William Gillette was born in July 1853 in Hartford, Connecticut. His parents, former US Senator Francis Gillette and Elizabeth Daggett Hooker Gillette, were highly progressive and supported reform movements, including the abolition of slavery.

After studying law at Yale, Gillette decided to pursue acting and landed his first professional role in 1874 in Mark Twain’s theatrical adaptation of The Gilded Age.

Later in his career, Gillette wrote the first authorised play adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels and, in 1899, he took to the stage to portray the fictional detective. Gillette went on to star as Sherlock Holmes more than 1,300 times over 33 years.

Step inside the bizarre Connecticut castle built by the original Sherlock Holmes