Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes faithful adherence to the original characterization. One famous radio appearance starred Orson Welles as Sherlock Holmes in an adaptation of one of William Gillette's plays. This was broadcast in September 1938 as part of "The Mercury Theater on the Air" series on CBS Radio. Throughout the early 1940s on American Radio, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce performed as Holmes and Watson, respectively, in several series of canonical and original Sherlock Holmes stories on "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" radio show. These broadcasts were loosely based on Doyle's cases. When Rathbone finally departed the role before the 1947 season, Tom
William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes Endnotes. William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes William Gillette, America's Sherlock Holmes, by Henry Zecher, is the first full and in-depth biography of William Hooker Gillette (1853–1937), the American actor, playwright and stage-manager of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who is best remembered today for portraying Sherlock Holmes. Gillette was among the first American playwrights to offer tightly-knit and well-constructed plays, Bronson Howard, Steele MacKaye and James Herne being the others, but his most significant contributions to the theater were in devising realistic stage settings and special sound and lighting effects, and, as an actor, in putting forth what