HOOT GIBSON
Name: Hoot Gibson
Born: 6 August 1892 Tekamah, Nebraska USA
Died: 23 August 1962 Los Angeles, California USA
Hoot Gibson (August 6, 1892 – August 23, 1962) was a rodeo champion and a
pioneer cowboy film actor, film director and producer.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Name: Hoot Gibson
Born: 6 August 1892 Tekamah, Nebraska USA
Died: 23 August 1962 Los Angeles, California USA
Hoot Gibson (August 6, 1892 – August 23, 1962) was a rodeo champion and a
pioneer cowboy film actor, film director and producer.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.