Henry Gauthier-Villars

Henry Gauthier-Villars (8 August 1859 – 12 January 1931), known by the pen name Willy [vili],[1][2][3] was a French fin de siècle writer and music critic who is today mostly known as the first husband of Colette.

Born on 8 August 1859 in Villiers-sur-Orge, Essonne into a bourgeois Catholic family, he attended the Lycée Fontanes and later the Jesuit Collège Stanislas in Paris.

As a writer and music critic he was an incessant and effective self-promoter, under whose directions his "slaves" wrote articles and novels.

Colette was initially handling his correspondence, but soon became involved in writing on her own starting with Claudine, her first work under the Willy label.

Willy is played by Dominic West in the 2018 film Colette which stars Keira Knightley in the eponymous role of his first wife.