About the turn of the twentieth century, American actor William Gillette was writing a stage play about Sherlock Holmes. Gillette wrote to Conan Doyle asking if

About the turn of the twentieth century, American actor William Gillette was writing a stage play about Sherlock Holmes. Gillette wrote to Conan Doyle asking if he would object to Gillette having Holmes get married in the play. Doyle wrote back telling Gillette he could marry Holmes, murder Holmes, or do whatever he wanted to do with Holmes. (Story told in Vincent Starrett's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes [Macmillan, New York, 1933].)