On 21st of May 1908 the film Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde premiered in Chicago.

This silent horror movie was the first film adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Stevenson’s book has had many adaptations in film, on stage and TV. The theme has also been used many times and in many forms of the dual personality lurking within an individual.

The 1908 film  starred Hobart Bosworth, and Betty Harte in her film debut. It was  directed by Otis Turner and produced by William N. Selig.

There are no known copies in existence of this film which is described as the first American horror movie and was to pave the way for so many iterations of this plot.