Gregory Anton

Sergius Bauer, better known by his pseudonym Gregory Anton, is the antagonist of the 1944 film, Gaslight.

One of the most famous examples of a psychological abuser in fiction, Gregory's actions within the film (as well as the actions of his counterparts in the original play, and 1940 version) have given rise to the term "gaslighting," a form of manipulation that seeks to destabilize the target and delegitimize the target's belief through use of persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying.

Gregory was portrayed by Charles Boyer, whose performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Biography
Years prior to the film, the world famous opera singer Alice Alquist is murdered by someone who wanted to steal her jewels. Unfortunately for the perpetrator, he gets interrupted by Alice's young niece Paula and is forced to flee the scene without the jewels. Paula, who had been living with her aunt due to the death of her own mother, is then sent to Italy to live with the same opera teacher who had trained her aunt.

Years later, Paula, now an adult, meets Gregory and quickly falls in love with him. They get married after a two-week romance, and Gregory convinces Paula to leave Italy to return to her aunt's home, which had been willed to her. To help calm his wife's anxieties, Gregory suggests that all of Paula's aunt's belongings be stored in the attic, which should then be boarded up. This is in response to a letter found by Paula addressed to her aunt from a man named Sergius Bauer and dated only two days before the murder. Gregory suddenly becomes violently angry, but quickly composes himself and explains that his outburst is the result of frustration at the bad memories Paula is experiencing.

During a trip to the Tower of London, Paula loses an heirloom brooch that Gregory had given her, despite storing it in her handbag. Later, he becomes aggressive towards her when he notices that a painting is not in its proper place. He accuses her of removing and hiding it, and claims that it is one of many instances of her having done so, but she fiercely denies any knowledge of where it might be. Paula also hears footsteps coming from the attic and sees the gaslights dim for no apparent reason, but Gregory tells her that she is imagining it. Gregory does everything in his power to isolate Paula. He allows her neither to go out nor to have visitors, implying that he is doing so for her own good, because her nerves have been acting up, causing her to become a kleptomaniac, and to imagine things that are not real. He is also jealous and accusatory whenever others express an interest in her. On the one occasion when Gregory does take her out to a musical gathering at a friend's house, he shows Paula his watch chain, from which his watch has mysteriously disappeared. When Gregory finds it in her handbag, Paula becomes hysterical, and he takes her home. Paula begins to believe she should not go out in public. The young maid, Nancy, does little to improve the situation. Whenever Paula shows up, Nancy's face betrays a feeling of disdain; Paula becomes convinced that Nancy loathes her. Gregory secretly flirts with Nancy and tells Paula she is paranoid and is imagining the maid's disdain. He also tells her that her mother had been insane and died in a mental institution "with no brain at all."

Unknown to Paula, Gregory is in fact Sergius Bauer, her aunt's murderer. He had sought her out in Italy and married her with the intention of getting back into the house so that he can rummage through her belongings in search of the jewels he'd failed to steal all those years ago. The footsteps Paula hears in the attic are his, and the dimming gaslights are caused by him turning the attic lights on. Paula's delusions are all a result of Gregory's manipulations, and her kleptomania is a slight-of-hand ruse perpetrated by him. His goal is to have her certified insane and committed to an insane asylum, allowing him to openly search for the jewels. Gregory's plan unravels thanks to his and Paula's visit to the Tower of London. While it was where Gregory had cemented his control over her, it also led to a chance encounter with Brian Cameron, an inspector from Scotland Yard. Cameron had been an admirer of Alice Alquist since his childhood and seeing Paula, whose resemblance to her aunt catches his attention, rekindles Cameron's interest in the cold case, an interest that is heightened when he learns that Alquist was in possession of valuable jewels that were never found. That had been kept from the public at the request of a certain royal personage. Cameron was also present at the aforementioned musical gathering and perceived Gregory's strange behavior with a discerning eye. With the aid of the police constable on the beat, Cameron figures out that Gregory slips into a vacant house on the same street, proceeds to the roof, and enters his own attic via a skylight. Cameron eventually manages to get inside the house to see Paula while Gregory is in the attic. Her sanity is quickly restored when he confirms that the gaslights are indeed flickering, and she discovers the letter from Bauer that Gregory had told her was a figment of her imagination. That same evening, Gregory at last discovers the jewels hidden in plain sight, disguised as costume jewelry. However, Cameron accosts him, and with the help of the constable, arrests him.

Paula indulges herself in a bit of revenge as she psychologically tortures Gregory, now bound to a chair, tantalizing him with the suggestion that she might free him so he can escape arrest, trial, and execution, before calling in Cameron to take him away.