Hoot Gibson

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 = 0316995

Hoot Gibson (August 6, 1892August 23, 1962) was a rodeo champion and a pioneer cowboy 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 to California 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 his silent film short, "Pride of the Range". Gibson and another future star of Western films, 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 director Jack 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 in Pendleton, Oregon and the steer roping World Championship at the Calgary Stampede.

World War I and increased interest in 'Cowboy Films'

Gibson's career was temporarily interrupted with service in the United States Army during World War I. When the war ended, he returned to the rodeo business and became good friends with Art Acord, a fellow cowboy and movie actor. The two participated in summer rodeo then went back to Hollywood for the winter to do stunt work. For several years, Gibson had secondary film roles (primarily in Westerns) with stars such as Harry 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-coming film 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 in Oregon 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 film box office draw. He successfully made the transition to talkies and as a result became a highly paid performer. He appeared in his own comic books and was wildly popular until singing cowboys such as Gene Autry and Roy 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 actress Sally 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 a carnival 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 the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Hoot Gibson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1765 Vine Street. In 1979, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Filmography

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0316995|name=Hoot Gibson Retrieved on 2008-01-25
*findagrave|4341 Retrieved on 2008-01-25
* [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


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Hoot Gibson — en Cavalcade of the West Nombre real Edmund Richard Gibson Nacimiento 6 de agosto de 1892 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Hoot Gibson — Dans Cavalcade of the West (1936) Données clés Nom de naissance …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Hoot Gibson filmography — NOTOC These are the films of Hoot Gibson 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s References 1910* Pride of the Range * The Two Brothers 1911* The New… …   Wikipedia

  • Claude "Hoot" Gibson — Hoot Gibson Date of birth May 26, 1939 (1939 05 26) (age 72) Place of birth Spruce Pine, NC Position(s) Cornerback College NC State AFL Draft 19 …   Wikipedia

  • Claude (Hoot) Gibson — Infobox Pro Football player Name=Hoot Gibson Color=Black fontcolor=Silver Caption= DateOfBirth=birth date and age|1939|5|26 Birthplace= Spruce Pine, NC DateOfDeath= Position=Cornerback College=NC State AFLDraftedYear=1961 AFLDraftedRound=7/ 7th… …   Wikipedia

  • Gibson — bezeichnet: Gibson (Traktor), eine frühere amerikanische Traktormarke Gibson Guitar Corporation, einen amerikanischen Gitarrenhersteller die Gibsonwüste in Australien eine Variante des Martini (Cocktail) Gibson ist der Name folgender Orte in den… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Gibson (surname) — Notable people with the surname Gibson= * Alexander Gibson (conductor) (1926 – 1995), Scottish composer and music director * Alexander Gibson (industrialist) (1819 – 1913), Canadian industrialist * Alfred Gibson (? – 1874), Australian explorer *… …   Wikipedia

  • GIBSON, Hoot — (1892–1962)    Born Edmund Richard Gibson in Nebraska, Hoot Gibson developed a persona of a lighthearted, folksy cowboy who could ride like a rodeo champion because he was a rodeo champion, having been declared World’s All Around Champion Cowboy… …   Westerns in Cinema

  • Hoot Evers — Infobox MLB retired bgcolor1=#bd5d29 bgcolor2=#003366 textcolor1=white textcolor2=white name=Watler Hoot Evers position=Center Fielder/Left Fielder bats=Right throws=Right birthdate=February 8, 1921 city state|St. Louis|Missouri deathdate=death… …   Wikipedia

  • Hoot — generally refers to the call of an owl.Hoot could also refer to:* Hoot (slang for cocaine) *Hoot (slang for person of Oriental origin) * Hoot (comic book) * Hoot (torpedo) * Hoot (novel), a novel by Carl Hiaasen ** Hoot (film), a 2006 film based… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”