Dorothy Gibson
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Gibson was a pioneering American
silent film
actress, artist's model
and singer
active in the early 20th century. She is best remembered as a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
. Her father died when she was three years old in 1892 and her mother married John Leonard Gibson. Between 1906 and 1911, she appeared on stage as a singer and dancer in a number of theatre and vaudeville
productions, the most important being on Broadway
in Charles Frohman
's musical The Dairymaids (1907). She was also a regular chorus member in shows produced by the Shubert Brothers at the Hippodrome Theatre.
In 1909, the year before she married George Battier, Jr., Gibson began posing for famous commercial artist Harrison Fisher
, becoming one of his favorite models. Her image appeared regularly on posters, postcards, various merchandising products and in book illustrations over the next three years. Fisher also often chose her likeness for the covers of best-selling magazines such as Cosmopolitan
, Ladies Home Journal, and the Saturday Evening Post. Gibson was widely publicized during this time as "The Original Harrison Fisher Girl".
Meanwhile, Gibson separated from Battier, though the couple was not divorced until about 1916.
(IMP) as an extra and later the Lubin Studios
as a stock player. She was hired as leading lady by the new U.S. branch of Paris-based Éclair Studios
in July 1911. She was an instant hit with audiences, becoming one of the first actresses in the new medium of film to be promoted as a "star" in her own right. Praised for her natural, subtle acting style, she was particularly effective as a comedienne in such popular one-reelers as Miss Masquerader (1911) and Love Finds a Way (1912), all of which were produced at Fort Lee, New Jersey
, then the center of the burgeoning American motion picture industry.
Despite her popularity in comedies, one of her most important parts was that of Molly Pitcher in the historical drama, Hands Across the Sea (1911), Eclair's debut vehicle and her first star turn. One of Gibson's most famous screen roles was that of herself in Saved From the Titanic
(1912), based on her experiences in the legendary disaster. Saved From the Titanic, released a month after the sinking, was the first of many films about the event.
The Titanic is the best known aspect of Gibson's life. After a six-week vacation in Italy
with her mother, she was returning aboard Titanic to make a new series of pictures for Eclair at Fort Lee. The women had been playing bridge
with friends in the lounge on the night of the ship's fatal collision with the iceberg. With two of their game partners they escaped in Lifeboat #7, the first lifeboat launched. After arriving in New York on the rescue ship Carpathia, Gibson was convinced by her manager to appear in a film based on the sinking. She not only starred in the one-reel drama, but wrote the scenario. She even appeared in the very same clothing she had worn aboard the Titanic that night –– a white silk evening dress topped with a cardigan and polo coat.
Although Saved From the Titanic was a tremendous success in America, England, and France the only known prints were destroyed in a 1914 fire at the Éclair Studios. The loss of the motion picture is considered by film historians to be one of the greatest of the silent era. Gibson's other accomplishments in early cinema included starring in one of the first feature films made in the United States (Hands Across the Sea, 1911), co-starring in the first American-produced serial or chapter play (The Revenge of the Silk Masks, 1912), and making one of the first-ever public appearances by a movie personality (January 1912).
With contemporary Mary Pickford
, Gibson was the highest paid movie actress in the world at the time of her premature retirement in May 1912. In a brief but eventful cinematic career, Gibson appeared in an estimated sixteen Eclair films and in an unspecified number while at Lubin and IMP studios. Gibson left movies to pursue a choral career, her most notable appearance in that venue being at the Metropolitan Opera House
in Madame Sans-Gene
(1915).
, head of distribution for Eastman Kodak
and co-founder of Universal Pictures
. Brulatour was also an advisor and producer for Eclair; he backed several of Gibson's films, including her 1912 hit Saved From the Titanic. A year later, while driving Brulatour's sports car in New York, Gibson struck and killed a pedestrian. During the resulting court case, it was revealed in the press that she was his mistress. Although Brulatour was already separated from his wife, the humiliation of the scandal determined her to sue him for divorce, which was finalized in 1915. Brulatour's rising fame and political power forced him to legitimize his relationship with Dorothy Gibson, and the pair were finally wed in 1917.
Its legality challenged, the union was dissolved two years later as an invalid contract. To escape gossip and start a new life, Gibson left New York for Paris, where she remained, except for the four years she spent in Italy
during World War II
.
sympathizer and alleged intelligence operative, Gibson renounced her involvement by 1944. She was arrested as an anti-Fascist agitator and jailed in the Milan
prison of San Vittore, from which she escaped with two other prisoners, journalist Indro Montanelli
and General Bartolo Zambon. The trio was aided through the intervention of Cardinal Ildefonzo Schuster and a young chaplain for the Milanese resistance group Fiamme Verdi, Father Giovanni Barbareschi.
Living in France
, in 1946, Gibson died of a heart attack
in her apartment at the Hôtel Ritz Paris
at age 56. She is buried at Saint Germain-en-Laye Cemetery. Gibson's estate was divided between her lover, Emilio Antonio Ramos, press attaché
for the Spanish Embassy in Paris, and her mother.
and is now archived at the Library of Congress
.
The character of Susan Alexander in Orson Welles
’ Citizen Kane
(1941) may have been partly based on Dorothy Gibson, along with other real-life figures Marion Davies
, Hope Hampton
, and Ganna Walska
. She was also the inspiration for a character in her friend Indro Montanelli’s novel General della Rovere
, which was turned into an award-winning film by director Roberto Rossellini
in 1959.
Authors Don Lynch and John P. Eaton were the first contemporary historians to rediscover Dorothy Gibson, writing and lecturing about her as early as the 1980s. The first in-depth study of Dorothy's mysterious later life was conducted by Phillip Gowan and Brian Meister and published in the journal of the British Titanic Society in 2002. In 2005, the first full-length biography of Dorothy Gibson, by Randy Bryan Bigham, was released.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
actress, artist's model
Model (art)
Art models are models who pose for photographers, painters, sculptors, and other artists as part of their work of art. Art models who pose in the nude for life drawing are usually called life models...
and singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
active in the early 20th century. She is best remembered as a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
Early life and career
She was born on May 17, 1889 to John A. Brown and Pauline Boesen as Dorothy Winifred Brown in Hoboken, New JerseyHoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
. Her father died when she was three years old in 1892 and her mother married John Leonard Gibson. Between 1906 and 1911, she appeared on stage as a singer and dancer in a number of theatre and vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
productions, the most important being on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
's musical The Dairymaids (1907). She was also a regular chorus member in shows produced by the Shubert Brothers at the Hippodrome Theatre.
In 1909, the year before she married George Battier, Jr., Gibson began posing for famous commercial artist Harrison Fisher
Harrison Fisher
Harrison Fisher was an American illustrator.Fisher was born in Brooklyn, New York City and began to draw at an early age. Both his father and his grandfather were artists. Fisher spent much of his youth in San Francisco, and studied at the San Francisco Art Association...
, becoming one of his favorite models. Her image appeared regularly on posters, postcards, various merchandising products and in book illustrations over the next three years. Fisher also often chose her likeness for the covers of best-selling magazines such as Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
, Ladies Home Journal, and the Saturday Evening Post. Gibson was widely publicized during this time as "The Original Harrison Fisher Girl".
Meanwhile, Gibson separated from Battier, though the couple was not divorced until about 1916.
Film career
Represented by top theatrical agent Pat Casey, Gibson entered movies in early 1911, joining the Independent Moving Pictures CompanyIndependent Moving Pictures
The Independent Moving Pictures Company was a movie studio/production company founded in 1909 by Carl Laemmle, and was located at Eleventh Avenue and 53rd Street New York City, and in Fort Lee, New Jersey....
(IMP) as an extra and later the Lubin Studios
Lubin Studios
The Lubin Manufacturing Company, was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1902 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark.-History:...
as a stock player. She was hired as leading lady by the new U.S. branch of Paris-based Éclair Studios
Éclair
An éclair is a pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with icing.The dough, which is the same as that used for profiterole, is piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside...
in July 1911. She was an instant hit with audiences, becoming one of the first actresses in the new medium of film to be promoted as a "star" in her own right. Praised for her natural, subtle acting style, she was particularly effective as a comedienne in such popular one-reelers as Miss Masquerader (1911) and Love Finds a Way (1912), all of which were produced at Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
, then the center of the burgeoning American motion picture industry.
Despite her popularity in comedies, one of her most important parts was that of Molly Pitcher in the historical drama, Hands Across the Sea (1911), Eclair's debut vehicle and her first star turn. One of Gibson's most famous screen roles was that of herself in Saved From the Titanic
Saved From the Titanic
Saved From the Titanic is a 1912 silent motion picture short starring Dorothy Gibson, an actual survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.The movie was shot in less than two weeks and in black and white, with color scenes...
(1912), based on her experiences in the legendary disaster. Saved From the Titanic, released a month after the sinking, was the first of many films about the event.
The Titanic is the best known aspect of Gibson's life. After a six-week vacation in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
with her mother, she was returning aboard Titanic to make a new series of pictures for Eclair at Fort Lee. The women had been playing bridge
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
with friends in the lounge on the night of the ship's fatal collision with the iceberg. With two of their game partners they escaped in Lifeboat #7, the first lifeboat launched. After arriving in New York on the rescue ship Carpathia, Gibson was convinced by her manager to appear in a film based on the sinking. She not only starred in the one-reel drama, but wrote the scenario. She even appeared in the very same clothing she had worn aboard the Titanic that night –– a white silk evening dress topped with a cardigan and polo coat.
Although Saved From the Titanic was a tremendous success in America, England, and France the only known prints were destroyed in a 1914 fire at the Éclair Studios. The loss of the motion picture is considered by film historians to be one of the greatest of the silent era. Gibson's other accomplishments in early cinema included starring in one of the first feature films made in the United States (Hands Across the Sea, 1911), co-starring in the first American-produced serial or chapter play (The Revenge of the Silk Masks, 1912), and making one of the first-ever public appearances by a movie personality (January 1912).
With contemporary Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, Gibson was the highest paid movie actress in the world at the time of her premature retirement in May 1912. In a brief but eventful cinematic career, Gibson appeared in an estimated sixteen Eclair films and in an unspecified number while at Lubin and IMP studios. Gibson left movies to pursue a choral career, her most notable appearance in that venue being at the Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House (39th St)
The Metropolitan Opera House was an opera house located at 1411 Broadway in New York City. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera Company.-History:...
in Madame Sans-Gene
Madame Sans-Gêne
Madame Sans-Gêne may refer to:*Marie-Thérèse Figueur , French female soldier*Cathérine Hübscher, wife of Marshal of France François Joseph Lefebvre, whose life has been dramatised in:...
(1915).
Personal life
In 1911, Gibson began a six year love affair with married movie tycoon Jules BrulatourJules Brulatour
Pierre Ernest Jules Brulatour was a pioneering figure in U.S. silent cinema. Beginning as American distribution representative for Lumiere Brothers raw film stock in 1907, he joined producer Carl Laemmle in forming the Motion Picture Distributing and Sales Company in 1909, effectively weakening...
, head of distribution for Eastman Kodak
Eastman Kodak
Eastman Kodak Company is a multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquarted in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1892....
and co-founder of Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
. Brulatour was also an advisor and producer for Eclair; he backed several of Gibson's films, including her 1912 hit Saved From the Titanic. A year later, while driving Brulatour's sports car in New York, Gibson struck and killed a pedestrian. During the resulting court case, it was revealed in the press that she was his mistress. Although Brulatour was already separated from his wife, the humiliation of the scandal determined her to sue him for divorce, which was finalized in 1915. Brulatour's rising fame and political power forced him to legitimize his relationship with Dorothy Gibson, and the pair were finally wed in 1917.
Its legality challenged, the union was dissolved two years later as an invalid contract. To escape gossip and start a new life, Gibson left New York for Paris, where she remained, except for the four years she spent in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Later life
A NaziNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
sympathizer and alleged intelligence operative, Gibson renounced her involvement by 1944. She was arrested as an anti-Fascist agitator and jailed in the Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
prison of San Vittore, from which she escaped with two other prisoners, journalist Indro Montanelli
Indro Montanelli
Indro Montanelli was an Italian journalist and historian, known for his new approach to writing history in books such as History of the Greeks and History of Rome....
and General Bartolo Zambon. The trio was aided through the intervention of Cardinal Ildefonzo Schuster and a young chaplain for the Milanese resistance group Fiamme Verdi, Father Giovanni Barbareschi.
Living in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, in 1946, Gibson died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in her apartment at the Hôtel Ritz Paris
Hôtel Ritz Paris
The Hôtel Ritz is a grand palatial hotel in the heart of Paris, the 1st arrondissement. It overlooks the octagonal border of the Place Vendôme at number 15...
at age 56. She is buried at Saint Germain-en-Laye Cemetery. Gibson's estate was divided between her lover, Emilio Antonio Ramos, press attaché
Attaché
Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency...
for the Spanish Embassy in Paris, and her mother.
Legacy
Dorothy Gibson's only surviving film is the adventure-comedy, The Lucky Holdup (1912). Salvaged by collectors David and Margo Navone in 2001, it was preserved by the American Film InstituteAmerican Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
and is now archived at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
.
The character of Susan Alexander in Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
’ Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
(1941) may have been partly based on Dorothy Gibson, along with other real-life figures Marion Davies
Marion Davies
Marion Davies was an American film actress. Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
, Hope Hampton
Hope Hampton
Hope Hampton was an American silent motion picture actress, who was noted for her seemingly effortless incarnation of siren and flapper types in silent-picture roles during the 1920s....
, and Ganna Walska
Ganna Walska
Ganna Walska born Hanna Puacz was a Polish opera singer and garden enthusiast who created the Lotusland botanical gardens...
. She was also the inspiration for a character in her friend Indro Montanelli’s novel General della Rovere
General della Rovere
General della Rovere is a 1959 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini. The film is based on a novel by Indro Montanelli which was in turn based on a true story.-Plot:...
, which was turned into an award-winning film by director Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta to the movement.-Early life:Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had...
in 1959.
Authors Don Lynch and John P. Eaton were the first contemporary historians to rediscover Dorothy Gibson, writing and lecturing about her as early as the 1980s. The first in-depth study of Dorothy's mysterious later life was conducted by Phillip Gowan and Brian Meister and published in the journal of the British Titanic Society in 2002. In 2005, the first full-length biography of Dorothy Gibson, by Randy Bryan Bigham, was released.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1911 | A Show Girl's Stratagem | ||
| The Angel of the Slums | |||
| Hands Across the Sea in '76 | Molly Pitcher, French Court Beauty, Soldier's Widow, etc. | ||
| Miss Masquerader | Heiress | ||
| The Musician's Daughter | Prima Donna | ||
| 1912 | Love Finds a Way | Helen | |
| The Awakening | The Sweetheart | ||
| The Kodak Contest | The Wife | ||
| It Pays to Be Kind | The Sister | ||
| A Living Memory | Her Memory | ||
| Brooms and Dustpans | Kissing Cousin | ||
| The White Aprons | |||
| A Lucky Holdup | Miss Barton | ||
| The Easter Bonnet | Dora | ||
| Revenge of the Silk Masks | Society Girl | ||
| Saved from the Titanic Saved From the Titanic Saved From the Titanic is a 1912 silent motion picture short starring Dorothy Gibson, an actual survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.The movie was shot in less than two weeks and in black and white, with color scenes... |
Miss Dorothy | Alternative title: A Survivor of the Titanic Screenwriter |
|
| Roses and Thorns > |
External links
- Bigham, Randy Bryan. Star Turn: The Pictures and Passions of Dorothy Gibson
- Dorothy Gibson Death Certificate on Titanic-Titanic.com
- http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/biography/131/Dorothy Winifred Gibson - Encyclopedia TitanicaEncyclopedia TitanicaEncyclopedia Titanica is an online reference work containing extensive and constantly-updated information on the . The website, a nonprofit endeavor, is a database of passenger and crew biographies, deck plans, and articles submitted by historians or Titanic enthusiasts...
.org] - Gowan, Phillip and Brian Meister. The Saga of the Gibson Women Titanic-Titanic.com