The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Leroux married twice, first to Marie Lefranc from whom he separated in 1902. He died at age 58 in Nice, France, in 1927. Leroux was made a Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur in 1909. Balaoo followed in 1911, which was made into a film several times (in 1913, 19). Leroux published his most famous work, The Phantom of the Opera, as a serial in 19, and as a book in 1910 (with an English translation appearing in 1911). Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to those of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe in the United States.

He first wrote a mystery novel titled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1907 English title: The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille.

In 1919, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans, publishing novels and turning them into films. 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. The basement contained a cell that held prisoners of the Paris Commune. He was present at, and covered, the 1905 Russian Revolution.Īnother case at which he was present involved the investigation and in-depth coverage of the former Paris Opera (presently housing the Paris Ballet). His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin in 1893. In 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. 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. 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 Normany. Leroux was born in Paris in 1868, the illegitimate child of Marie Bidaut and Dominique Leroux, who married a month after his birth.

His 1907 novel The Mystery of the Yellow Room is one of the most celebrated locked room mysteries. In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera ( French: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1909), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux ( – 15 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux