1831-1901
French dramatist and operatic librettist Philippe Gille was born Philippe Emile François Gille on this day in Paris. Although Gille wrote plays, he was first and foremost a librettist; and a prolific one at that, having penned over twenty of them in a 35 year period. Although his most well known works are with other composers, his largest body of operatic work was with Offenbach. Gille is yet another example of a writer/musician of his time who started out studying law, and even working as a law clerk for a time, before finding his way into the arts. Gille got into writing by way of theatrical criticism and as a hired theatrical secretary (this is one case where in his law career, such as it was, actually advanced a career in the arts). In regards to film, a little more than half of his credits unsurprisingly fall under the "soundtrack" category; but his one credit from the silent era comes as a writer. Les trente millions de Gladiator was a short film production of Pathé Frères directed by French comedian Charles Prince; it was based on writings from both Eugène Labiche and Gille. As far as his soundtrack credits go, it bears mentioning that his work has shown up in everything as diverse as a Tarantino/Tony Scott film (True Romance), the 1998 film of The Phantom of the Opera, an episode of "Castle Rock" Hulu's original horror series based on the works of Stephen King, and, it's most recent use, an episode of the reboot of Magnum P.I. Gille died in Paris on the 1st of March in 1901 at the age of 69. There is no information on his burial, despite that he is was a citizen of prominence in France.
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