- Frederic Dorr Steele
Frederic Dorr Steele is an American
illustrator best known for his work on theSherlock Holmes stories.Steele, a descendant of
William Bradford (1590-1657) , was born on 6 August 1873 at Eagle Mills,Marquette, Michigan and studied at theNational Academy of Design and elsewhere inNew York City . He worked for "The Illustrated American" 1896-7 then moved intofreelance illustration .His work for "
Scribner's Magazine " included the use of colour tints (notably for some Sewell Ford horse stories). For "Collier's Weekly " in 1903 he was invited to do the illustrations for "The Return of Sherlock Holmes ". He continued to produce drawings for the Conan Doyle stories for various publishers during the rest of his career. [cite web|url=http://www.holmesonscreen.com/indexSteele.html|title=Frederic Dorr Steele] His model for Holmes was the portrayal of the character by the American actorWilliam Gillette and he was largely responsible for the association of Holmes with the calabash pipe anddeerstalker hat . [cite book|author=Dakin, D. Martin|title=A Sherlock Holmes Commentary|publisher=David & Charles|location=Newton Abbot|year=1972|isbn=0-7153-5493-0]Other magazines for which Steele did illustrations included "
The Century Magazine ", "McClure's ", "TheAmerican Magazine ", "Metropolitan Magazine", "Woman’s Home Companion" and "Everybody’s Magazine " (for which he was art editor duringWorld War I ). In the 1930s he produced theatrical sketches for the "New York Herald Tribune ".Steele married Mary ("Polly") Thyng in 1898, and for much of the time until 1912 they lived at
Nutley, New Jersey , then returning to New York. The couple separated in 1936. He died at Bellevue Hospital, New York on 6 July 1944. [cite web|url=http://special.lib.umn.edu/rare/fds2.pdf|title=The Other Master: Frederic Dorr Steele|format=PDF] [cite book|author=Reed, Walt (comp.)|title=The Illustrator in America, 1900-1960's|publisher=Reinhold|location=New York|year=1966]References
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