View source for Gaston Leroux

{{short description|French author and journalist}}
{{Other people}}
{{Infobox writer
 | name        = Gaston Leroux
 | image       = G. LEROUX.jpg
 | caption     = Leroux in 1907
 | pseudonym   =
 | birth_name  = Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux
 | birth_date  = {{Birth date|1868|5|6|df=y}}
 | birth_place = [[Paris]], France
 | death_date  = {{Death date and age|1927|4|15|1868|5|6|df=y}}
 | death_place = [[Nice]], France
 | occupation  = [[Journalist]], [[author]]
 | period      = 
 | genre       = 
 | subject     = 
 | movement    =
 | notableworks = ''[[The Phantom of the Opera (novel)|The Phantom of the Opera]]''
}}

'''Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux''' ({{IPA|fr|ɡastɔ̃ lwi alfʁɛd ləʁu|lang}}; 6 May 1868{{spaced ndash}}15 April 1927) was a French [[journalist]] and [[author]] of [[detective fiction]].

In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel ''[[The Phantom of the Opera (novel)|The Phantom of the Opera]]'' ({{langx|fr|Le Fantôme de l'Opéra}}, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the [[The Phantom of the Opera (1925 film)|1925 film]] starring [[Lon Chaney]] and [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s  [[The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)|1986 musical]].  His 1908 novel ''[[The Mystery of the Yellow Room]]'' is one of the most celebrated [[locked room mystery|locked room mysteries]].

== Life and career ==
Leroux was born in [[Paris]] in 1868, the illegitimate child of Marie Bidaut and Dominique Leroux, who married a month after his birth. He claimed an illustrious pedigree, including descent from [[William II of England]] (in French, Guillaume le Roux), son of [[William the Conqueror]], and social connections such as having been the official playmate of [[Prince Philippe, Count of Paris]] at the College d'Eu in Normandy.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Hogle |first=J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GecYDAAAQBAJ |title=The Undergrounds of the Phantom of the Opera: Sublimation and the Gothic in Leroux's Novel and its Progeny |date=2016-04-30 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-11288-0 |pages=61–62 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Pellegrini |first=Laura Paola |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnbQDwAAQBAJ |title=Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux: The novel's evolution and its theatrical and cinematic adaptations in the twentieth century |year=2012 |publisher=LED Edizioni Universitarie |isbn=978-88-7916-584-6 |pages=20–28 |language=en}}</ref> After schooling in [[Normandy]] and studying as a lawyer in [[Caen]] (graduating in 1889), He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. In 1890, he began working as a [[court reporter]] and [[theater]] critic for ''[[L'Écho de Paris]]''. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the [[Paris]] newspaper ''[[Le Matin (France)|Le Matin]]'' in 1893. He was present at, and covered, the [[1905 Russian Revolution]].

He left journalism in 1907, after returning from covering a volcanic eruption and being immediately sent on another assignment without vacation time, and began writing fiction. In 1919, he and [[Arthur Bernède]] formed their own film company, [[Société des Cinéromans]], publishing novels and turning them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel titled ''Le mystère de la chambre jaune'' (1908; English title: ''[[The Mystery of the Yellow Room]]''), starring the amateur detective [[Joseph Rouletabille]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Ann C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wOfBiuS-AqUC |title=Phantom Variations: The Adaptations of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera, 1925 to the Present |year=2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5377-1 |page=8 |language=en}}</ref> Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to those of [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]] in the United Kingdom and [[Edgar Allan Poe]] in the United States.

Leroux published his most famous work, ''The Phantom of the Opera'', as a serial in 1909 and 1910, and as a book in 1910 (with an English translation appearing in 1911).<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Wildgen |first=Kathryn E. |date=2001-01-01 |title=Making the Shadow Conscious: The Enduring Legacy of Gaston Leroux |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00397700109598539 |journal=Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=155–167 |doi=10.1080/00397700109598539 |s2cid=192015448 |issn=0039-7709|url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Balaoo'' followed in 1911, which was made into a film several times (in 1913, 1927 and 1942).

Leroux was made a [[Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur]] in 1909. He died at age 58 in Nice, France, in 1927.

== Personal life ==
Leroux married twice, first to Marie Lefranc from whom he separated in 1902. Following his separation, he then lived with Jeanne Cayatte from [[Lorraine]], with whom he had a son, Gaston, nicknamed Milinkij, and a daughter named Madeleine; they married in 1917 after Lefranc's death.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In 1918, he founded a film production company, [[Société des Cinéromans]] with [[René Navarre]], and debuted two films, ''Tue-la-Mort'' and ''Il etait deux petits enfants'', in which his daughter played the lead role.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Dubourg  |first=M |date=1981 |title=Gaston Leroux journaliste parisien, journaliste et parisien in G. Leroux |url=https://pascal-francis.inist.fr/vibad/index.php?action=getRecordDetail&idt=12307626 |journal=Gaston Leroux Journaliste Parisien, Journaliste et Parisien in G. Leroux |volume=59 |issue=626–627 |pages=56–65}}</ref>

== Novels ==

=== The Adventures of [[Joseph Rouletabille|Rouletabille]] ===
*1907 – ''Le mystère de la chambre jaune'' (English translation: ''[[The Mystery of the Yellow Room]]'', 1907; ''Rouletabille and The Mystery of the Yellow Room'', 2009, translated by [[Jean-Marc Lofficier]] & [[Randy Lofficier]], {{ISBN|978-1-934543-60-3}})
*1908 – ''Le parfum de la dame en noir'' (English translation: ''[[The Perfume of the Lady in Black (novel)|The Perfume of the Lady in Black]]'', 1908)
*1913 – ''Rouletabille chez le Tsar'' (Rouletabille and the Tsar; English translation: ''[[The Secret of the Night]]'', 1914)
*1914 – ''Rouletabille à la guerre'' (Rouletabille at War) consisting of
** ''Le château noir'' (The Black Castle)
** ''Les étranges noces de Rouletabille'' (The Strange Wedding of Rouletabille;)
*1917 – ''Rouletabille chez Krupp'' (English translation: ''[[Rouletabille at Krupp's]]'', 2013, by [[Brian Stableford]], {{ISBN|978-1-61227-144-6}})
*1921 – ''Le crime de Rouletabille'' (''[[The Crime of Rouletabille]]''; English translation: ''The Slave Bangle'', 1925; ''The Phantom Clue'', 1926, translated by Hannaford Bennett)
*1922 – ''Rouletabille chez les Bohémiens'' (Rouletabille and the Gypsies; English translation: ''The Sleuth Hound'' [UK], 1926; ''The Octopus of Paris'' [US], 1927, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

=== Chéri Bibi===
* ''Premières Aventures de Chéri-Bibi'' (1913, English translations: ''The Floating Prison'' [UK] and ''Wolves of the Sea'' [US], Translated by Hannaford Bennett in 1923)
* ''[[Chéri-Bibi et Cécily]]'' (1916, English translations: ''Missing Men: The Return of Cheri-Bibi'' [US], ''Cheri-Bibi and Cecily'' [UK], 1923, translated by Hannaford Bennett)
* ''Nouvelles Aventures de Chéri-Bibi'' (1921, English translations: Part I – ''The Dark Road'', 1924; Part II – ''The Dancing Girl'' [UK], ''Nomads of the Night'' [US], Translated by Hannaford Bennett 1925)
* ''Le Coup d'État de Chéri-Bibi'' (1926, English translation: ''The New Idol'', Translated by Hannaford Bennett 1928)

=== Other novels ===
[[File:ChaneyPhantomoftheOpera.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Still of [[Lon Chaney Sr.|Lon Chaney]] in ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1925)]]
[[File:Balaoo the Demon Baboon 1913.jpg|thumb|Poster of the film adaptation of ''Balaoo'' in 1913]]
* ''La double vie de Théophraste Longuet'' (1903, English translations: ''The Double Life'', 1909, translated by John E. Kearney; ''The Man with the Black Feather'', 1912, translated by Edgar Jepson)
* ''Le roi mystère'' (1908)
* ''Le fauteuil hanté'' (1909, English translation: ''The Haunted Chair'', 1931)
* ''Un homme dans la nuit'' (1910)
* ''La reine de Sabbat'' (1910, English translations: Part I as ''The Midnight Lady'' [UK], 1930; Part II as ''The Missing Archduke'' [UK], 1931)
* ''Le fantôme de l'Opéra'' (1910, English translation: ''[[The Phantom of the Opera (novel)|The Phantom of the Opera]]'', 1911)
* ''Balaoo'' (1911, English translation: ''Balaoo'', 1913)
* ''L' épouse du soleil'' (1912, English translation: ''The Bride of the Sun'', 1915)
* ''La colonne infernale'' (1916)
* ''Confitou'' (1916)
* ''L' homme qui revient de loin'' (1916, English translation: ''The Man who Came Back from the Dead'', 1916)
* ''Le capitaine Hyx'' (1917, English translation: ''The Amazing Adventures of Carolus Herbert'', 1922, translated by Hannaford Bennett)
* ''La bataille invisible'' (1917, English translation: ''The Veiled Prisoner'' [UK], 1923, translated by Hannaford Bennett)
* ''Tue-la-mort'' (1920, English translation: ''The Masked Man'', 1929)
* ''Le coeur cambriolé'' (1920, English translation: ''The Burgled Heart'', 1925; ''The New Terror'', 1926)
* ''Le sept de trèfle'' (1921)
* ''La poupée sanglante'' (1923, English translations: ''The Kiss That Killed'', 1934, translated by Hannaford Bennett)
* ''La machine à assassiner'' (1923, English translation: ''The Machine to Kill'', 1934)
* ''Les ténébreuses: La fin d'un monde & du sang sur la Néva'' (1924)
* ''Hardis-Gras ou le fils des trois pères'' (1924, English translation: ''The Son of 3 Fathers'', 1927, translated by Hannaford Bennett)
* ''La Farouche Aventure'' (serialized in "Le Journal" as ''La Coquette punie'', 1924; English translation: ''The Adventures of a Coquette'', 1926, translated by Hannaford Bennett)
* ''La Mansarde en or'' (1925)
* ''Les Mohicans de Babel'' (1926)
* ''Mister Flow'' (1927, English translation: Part I as ''The Man of a Hundred Faces'' [US] and ''The Queen of Crime'' [UK], 1930; Part II as ''Lady Helena, or The Mysterious Lady'' [US], 1931)
* ''Les Chasseurs de danses'' (1927)
* ''Pouloulou'' (1990, posthumous)

=== Short stories ===
[[File:Weird Tales December 1929.jpg|thumb|Gaston Leroux's "Not' Olympe" was translated into English as "The Mystery of the Four Husbands" and published in the December 1929 issue of ''[[Weird Tales]]''.]]
*1887 – "Le petit marchand de pommes de terre frites"
*1902 – "Les trois souhaits"
*1907 – "Baïouchki baïou"
*1908 – "L'homme qui a vu le diable" (English translation: "In Letters of Fire", 1908)
*1911 – "Le dîner des bustes" (English translation: "A Terrible Tale", 1925)<ref name=":2" />
*1912 – "La hache d'or" (English translation: "The Gold Axe", 1925)
*1924 – "Le Noël du petit Vincent-Vincent" (English translation: "The Crime on Christmas Night", 1930) 
*1924 – "La femme au collier de velours" (English translation: "The Woman with the Velvet Collar", first English publication in ''Weird Tales'', October 1929)
*1924 – "Not' Olympe" (English translation: "The Mystery of the Four Husbands", first English publication in ''Weird Tales'', December 1929)
*1925 – "L'Auberge épouvantable" (English translation: "The Inn of Terror", first English publication In ''Weird Tales'', August 1929, Translated by Mildred Gleason Prochet)

=== Plays ===
*1908 – ''Le Lys'' (co-author: [[Pierre Wolff]])
*1913 – ''Alsace'' (co-author: Lucien Camille)
<!--
SHOULD BE IDENTIFIED WITH THE PREVIOUS TITLES AND ADDED ABOVE
=== English Titles ===
;Adventures of Chéri-Bibi
*''[[The Veiled Prisoner]]'' (1923)
*''Wolves of the Sea'' aka ''The Floating Prison''
*''The Dark Road'' (1924)
*''Nomads of the Night'' aka ''The Dancing Girl'' (1925)
;Independent works
*''Lady Helena''
*''The Vase of Camelry'' (1922)
-->

==Filmography==
[[File:Carl Laemmle and Gaston Leroux at the Paris Opera.jpg|thumb|Leroux with [[Carl Laemmle]] at the Palais Garnier]]
**[[Adaptations of The Phantom of the Opera#Film|Films based on ''The Phantom of the Opera'']]
**[[Joseph Rouletabille#Films|Films based on the ''Rouletabille'' novels]]
*''{{Interlanguage link|Balaoo|it}}'', directed by [[Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset]] (1913, short film, based on the novel ''Balaoo'')
*''Chéri-Bibi'', directed by {{Interlanguage link|Charles Krauss|it}} (1914, short film, based on the novel ''Chéri-Bibi'')
*''[[Alsace (film)|Alsace]]'', directed by [[Henri Pouctal]] (1916, based on the play ''Alsace'')
*''L'Homme qui revient de loin'', directed by [[Gaston Ravel]] (1917, based on the novel ''L'Homme qui revient de loin'')
*''La Nouvelle aurore'', directed by {{Interlanguage link|Édouard-Émile Violet|fr}} (1919, [[Serial film|serial]] with 16 episodes, based on the novel ''Nouvelles aventures de Chéri-Bibi'')
*''A halál után'', directed by [[Alfréd Deésy]] (Hungary, 1920, based on the novel ''L'Homme qui revient de loin'')
*''The Lily'', directed by [[Victor Schertzinger]] (1926, based on the play ''Le Lys'')<!--Based on the play "The Lily" by David Belasco (New York, 9 Dec 1923), which was based on the French play "Le Lys" by Pierre Wolff and Gaston Leroux (Paris, 18 Dec 1908).-->
*''[[The Wizard (1927 film)|The Wizard]]'', directed by [[Richard Rosson]] (1927, based on the novel ''Balaoo'')
*''[[The Phantom of Paris]]'', directed by [[John S. Robertson]] (1931, based on the novel ''[[Chéri-Bibi and Cécily]]'')
**''[[Cheri-Bibi]]'', directed by [[Carlos F. Borcosque]] (1931), alternative Spanish-language version of ''The Phantom of Paris''
*''[[Compliments of Mister Flow]]'', directed by [[Robert Siodmak]] (1936, based on the novel ''Mister Flow'')
*''[[Chéri-Bibi (1938 film)|Chéri-Bibi]]'', directed by [[Léon Mathot]] (1938, based on the novel ''Chéri-Bibi'')
*''[[Dr. Renault's Secret]]'', directed by [[Harry Lachman]] (1942, based on the novel ''Balaoo''), uncredited
* ''[[The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1949 film)|The Perfume of the Lady in Black]]'' (1949)
*''[[The Man Who Returns from Afar]]'', directed by {{Interlanguage link|Jean Castanier|fr}} (1950, based on the novel ''L'Homme qui revient de loin'')
*''[[Chéri-Bibi (1955 film)|Chéri-Bibi]]'', directed by [[Marcello Pagliero]] (1955, based on the novel ''[[Chéri-Bibi and Cécily]]'')
* ''[[The Perfume of the Lady in Black|Il profumo della signora in nero]]''/ ''The Perfume of the Lady in Black'' (1974) Italian giallo
* ''[[Chéri-Bibi (TV series)|Chéri-Bibi]]'' (1974–75, TV series, based on the ''Chéri-Bibi'' novels)
*''La Poupée sanglante'', directed by Marcel Cravenne (1976, miniseries, based on the novel ''La poupée sanglante'' and its sequel, ''La machine à assassiner'')
* ''[[The Perfume of the Lady in Black (2005 film)|The Perfume of the Lady in Black]]'' (2005)

===Screenwriter===
*''{{Interlanguage link|Tue la mort|fr}}'', directed by [[René Navarre]] (1920, [[Serial film|serial]] with 12 episodes)
*''[[Crossed Wires (film)]]'', directed by [[René Navarre]] (1921, [[Serial film|serial]] with 12 episodes)
*''Il était deux petits enfants'', directed by Lino Manzoni (1922)<ref name=":3" />

== Misattributions ==
''The Gaston Leroux Bedside Companion'', an anthology published in 1980 and edited by [[Peter Haining (author)|Peter Haining]], as well as the Haining-edited ''The Real Opera Ghost and Other Tales By Gaston Leroux'' (Sutton, 1994), include a story attributed to Leroux entitled ''The Waxwork Museum''. A foreword alleges that the translation by Alexander Peters first appeared in ''Fantasy Book'' in 1969 (but no original French publication date is given). Neither "Alexander Peters" nor ''"Fantasy Book"'' appear to exist, and the text of the story is, in fact, a word-for-word copy of the story ''Figures de cire'' by [[Andre de Lorde]] which was published as ''Waxworks'' in the 1933 anthology ''Terrors: A Collection of Uneasy Tales,'' edited (anonymously) by [[Charles Birkin]]. The confusion has sometimes caused Leroux to be erroneously credited with the stories from the 1933 film ''[[Mystery of the Wax Museum]]'', the 1953 film ''[[House of Wax (1953 film)|House of Wax]]'' (both of which were based on a story by [[Charles S. Belden]]) or, particularly, the 1997 Italian film ''[[Wax Mask]]'' (for example, in Troy Howarth's ''Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films''). No such story by Leroux exists, though some confusion may have been the result of chapter IX in Leroux's novel ''La double vie de Théophraste Longuet,'' which is entitled, ''Le masque de cire'' (translated as ''The Wax Mask'').

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/gaston-leroux}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=112| name=Gaston Leroux}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Gaston Leroux}}
* {{Librivox author |id=77}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060517024125/http://www.gaston-leroux.net/ About Gaston Leroux], gaston-leroux.net
* [http://www.readprint.com/author-41/Leroux-Gaston Books and Biography of Leroux, Gaston] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042255/http://www.readprint.com/author-41/Leroux-Gaston |date=2016-03-04 }}, readprint.com
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20060211175158/http://www.rouletabille.perso.cegetel.net/ L'univers de Joseph Rouletabille], rouletabille.perso.cegetel.net
* [http://www.ladyghost.com Everything about Phantom legend and his creator, Gaston Leroux] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060718082236/http://www.ladyghost.com/ |date=2006-07-18 }}, ladyghost.com
* {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.litteratureaudio.com/livres-audio-gratuits-mp3/tag/gaston-leroux,/ Gaston Leroux, his work in audio version] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601192131/http://www.litteratureaudio.com/livres-audio-gratuits-mp3/tag/gaston-leroux, |date=2009-06-01 }}, litteratureaudio.com  [[Image:Speaker Icon.svg|20px]]
*[https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk/db/person/721/ Play ''Alsace'' on Great War Theatre]

{{Gaston Leroux}}
{{Phantom of the Opera}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leroux, Gaston}}
[[Category:1868 births]]
[[Category:1927 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:French crime fiction writers]]
[[Category:French journalists]]
[[Category:French fantasy writers]]
[[Category:19th-century French writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:French male novelists]]
[[Category:French horror writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Writers of Gothic fiction]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Gaston Leroux| ]]
[[Category:French film production company founders]]
[[Category:Ghost story writers]]
[[Category:French travel writers]]
[[Category:Mythopoeic writers]]