- Hoot Gibson
"For the astronaut, see
Robert L. Gibson ."Infobox actor
name = Hoot Gibson
caption = Hoot Gibson, c.1940
birthname = Edmund Richard Gibson
birthdate =August 6 ,1892
birthplace =Tekamah, Nebraska USA
deathdate =August 23 ,1962
deathplace =Los Angeles, California USA
othername =
occupation =Actor
yearsactive = 1910 - 1960
imdb_id = 0316995Hoot Gibson (
August 6 ,1892 –August 23 ,1962 ) was arodeo champion and a pioneercowboy film actor ,film director and producer.Early life and career rise
Born Edmund Richard Gibson in
Tekamah, Nebraska , he learned to ride a horse while still a very young boy. His family moved toCalifornia when he was seven years old. As a teenager he worked with horses on a ranch, which led to competition on bucking broncos at area rodeos. Given the nickname "Hoot Owl" by co-workers, the name evolved to just "Hoot".In 1910, film director
Francis Boggs was looking for experienced cowboys to appear in hissilent film short, "Pride of the Range ". Gibson and another future star ofWestern film s,Tom Mix , were hired. Gibson made a second film for Boggs in 1911. After the director was killed by a deranged employee, Gibson was hired by directorJack Conway to appear in his 1912 Western, "His Only Son ".Acting for Gibson was then a minor sideline and he continued competing in rodeos to make a living. In 1912 he won the all-around championship at the famous
Pendleton Round-Up inPendleton, Oregon and thesteer roping World Championship at theCalgary Stampede .World War I and increased interest in 'Cowboy Films'
Gibson's career was temporarily interrupted with service in the
United States Army duringWorld War I . When the war ended, he returned to the rodeo business and became good friends withArt Acord , a fellow cowboy and movie actor. The two participated in summer rodeo then went back toHollywood for the winter to do stunt work. For several years, Gibson had secondary film roles (primarily in Westerns) with stars such asHarry Carey . By 1921 the demand for cowboy pictures was so great that Gibson began receiving offers for leading roles. Some of these offers came from up-and-comingfilm director John Ford , with whom Gibson developed a lasting friendship and working relationship.Marriage, divorce, financial difficulties and later life
Hoot Gibson apparently (but unconfirmedly) married Rose August Wenger, a rodeo performer he had met at the
Pendleton Round-Up inOregon sometime between 1911 and 1913. Under the name Helen Gibson, she would become a major film star in her own right for a time, notably in the lead role of "The Hazards of Helen "adventure film serial. Census records for 1920 indicate that they were living separately, Hoot Gibson listing himself as married, Helen listing herself as widowed. [1920 United States Census for Los Angeles, California, Sheets No. 19A and 10B]Following their separation/divorce, Hoot met a young woman named Helen Johnson, whom he did marry in either 1920 or 1922 and with whom he had one child, Lois Charlotte Gibson. They divorced in 1930. The fact that Hoot Gibson was married to two consecutive women who used the name Helen Gibson in some fashion has led to a good deal of confusion.
From the 1920s through the 1940s, Hoot Gibson was a major film attraction, ranking second only to
Tom Mix as a western filmbox office draw. He successfully made the transition totalkies and as a result became a highly paid performer. He appeared in his owncomic books and was wildly popular until singing cowboys such asGene Autry andRoy Rogers displaced him.In 1933, Hoot injured himself when he crashed his plane while racing cowboy star
Ken Maynard in the National Air Races. Later, the two friends teamed up to make a series of low budget movies in the twilight of their careers. After his divorce from Helen Johnson Gibson, Hoot had a brief marriage to film actressSally Eilers . That marriage ended in 1933.Hoot married a final time, to Dorothy Dunstan, on July 3, 1942. His wife would survive him.
Gibson's years of substantial earnings did not see him through his retirement. He had squandered much of his income on high living and poor investments.
By the 1950s, Gibson faced financial ruin, aided in part by costly medical bills from serious health problems. To get by and pay his bills, he earned money as a greeter at a Las Vegas
casino . For a time, he worked in acarnival and took virtually any job his dwindling name value could obtain.Hoot Gibson died of cancer in 1962 in
Woodland Hills, California and was interred in theInglewood Park Cemetery inInglewood, California .For his contribution to the
motion picture industry , Hoot Gibson has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 1765 Vine Street. In 1979, he was inducted into theWestern Performers Hall of Fame at theNational Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum inOklahoma City, Oklahoma .Filmography
References
External links
*imdb name|id=0316995|name=Hoot Gibson Retrieved on
2008-01-25
*findagrave|4341 Retrieved on2008-01-25
* [http://www.b-westerns.com/hgibson.htm b-westerns]
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=792 Photographs of Hoot Gibson]Persondata
NAME= Gibson, Hoot
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH=August 6 ,1892
PLACE OF BIRTH=Tekamah, Nebraska USA
DATE OF DEATH=August 23 ,1962
PLACE OF DEATH=Los Angeles, California USA
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