Hoot Gibson
Encyclopedia
Hoot Gibson was an American rodeo
champion and a pioneer cowboy
film
actor
, director
and producer
.
, 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.
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 1927, actor Gibson, and five other California businessman sponsored The Spirit of Los Angeles, A modification of the International CF-10 for an attempt at winning the Dole Air Derby
. Gibson had his name painted on the nose for publicity. The aircraft crashed in the San Fransisco Bay before the start of the race.
In 1933, Gibson 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.
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.
, 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, Gibson met a young woman named Helen Johnson, whom he married 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.
After his divorce from Helen Johnson Gibson, Gibson had a brief marriage to film actress Sally Eilers
. That marriage ended in 1933. Gibson married a final time, to Dorothy Dunstan, on July 3, 1942.
and was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery
in Inglewood, California
.
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
.
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
champion and a pioneer cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
.
Early life and career
Born Edmund Richard Gibson in Tekamah, NebraskaTekamah, Nebraska
Tekamah is a city in Burt County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,736 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Burt County.-History:...
, he learned to ride a horse while still a very young boy. His family moved to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
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
Francis Boggs
Francis W. Boggs was a stage actor and pioneer silent film director. He was one of the first to direct a film in Hollywood.-Biography:...
was looking for experienced cowboys to appear in his 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...
short, Pride of the Range
Pride of the Range
Pride of the Range is a 1910 short Western film directed by Francis Boggs. It features Hoot Gibson in his first onscreen role.-Cast:* Tom Mix* Art Acord* Milton Brown* Hoot Gibson* Al Green* Betty Harte* Tom Santschi...
. Gibson and another future star of Western films, Tom Mix
Tom Mix
Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies. He made a reported 336 films between 1910 and 1935, all but nine of which were silent features...
, 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
His Only Son
His Only Son is a 1912 short Western film directed by Jack Conway and Milton J. Fahrney.-Cast:* Wallace Reid* Dorothy Davenport* Jack Conway* Victoria Forde* Hoot Gibson...
.
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
Pendleton Round-Up
The Pendleton Round-Up is a rodeo held in Pendleton, Oregon, United States, during the second full week of September each year, since 1910. The rodeo brings roughly 50,000 people every year to the city of Pendleton...
in Pendleton, Oregon
Pendleton, Oregon
Pendleton is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Pendleton was named in 1868 by the county commissioners for George H. Pendleton, Democratic candidate for Vice-President in the 1864 presidential campaign. The population was 16,612 at the 2010 census...
and the steer roping
Steer roping
Steer roping, also known as steer tripping, is a rodeo event that features a steer and one mounted cowboy.The steer roper is behind a taut rope fastened with an easily broken string which is fastened to the rope on the steer. When the roper is ready he calls for the steer and the chute man trips a...
World Championship at the Calgary Stampede
Calgary Stampede
The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade, midway,...
.
Gibson's career was temporarily interrupted with service in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. 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
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
, with whom Gibson developed a lasting friendship and working relationship.
Financial difficulties and later life
From the 1920s through the 1940s, Hoot Gibson was a major film attraction, ranking second only to Tom MixTom Mix
Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies. He made a reported 336 films between 1910 and 1935, all but nine of which were silent features...
as a western film box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
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
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
and Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
displaced him.
In 1927, actor Gibson, and five other California businessman sponsored The Spirit of Los Angeles, A modification of the International CF-10 for an attempt at winning the Dole Air Derby
Dole Air Race
The Dole Air Race, also known as the Dole Derby, was a tragic air race to cross the Pacific Ocean from northern California to the Territory of Hawaii in August 1927. Of the 15-18 entrant airplanes, 11 were certified to compete but three crashed before the race, resulting in three deaths...
. Gibson had his name painted on the nose for publicity. The aircraft crashed in the San Fransisco Bay before the start of the race.
In 1933, Gibson injured himself when he crashed his plane while racing cowboy star Ken Maynard
Ken Maynard
Ken Maynard was an American motion picture stuntman and actor.-Biography:Born Kenneth Olin Maynard in Vevay, Indiana, he was one of five children. His younger brother, Kermit Maynard, also became a stuntman and actor....
in the National Air Races
National Air Races
The National Air Races were a series of pylon and cross-country races that took place in the United States from 1920 to 1949. The science of aviation, and the speed and reliability of aircraft and engines grew rapidly during this period; the National Air Races were both a proving ground and...
. Later, the two friends teamed up to make a series of low budget movies in the twilight of their careers.
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
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
. For a time, he worked in a carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
and took virtually any job his dwindling name value could obtain.
Personal life
Hoot Gibson married Rose August WengerHelen Gibson
Helen Gibson was an American film actress, vaudeville performer, radio performer, film producer, trick rider and rodeo performer; and is considered to be the first American professional stunt woman.- Rodeo riding :...
, a rodeo performer he had met at the Pendleton Round-Up
Pendleton Round-Up
The Pendleton Round-Up is a rodeo held in Pendleton, Oregon, United States, during the second full week of September each year, since 1910. The rodeo brings roughly 50,000 people every year to the city of Pendleton...
in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
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
The Hazards of Helen
The Hazards of Helen is an American adventure film serial of 119 twelve minute episodes released over a span of slightly more than two years by the Kalem Company between November 7, 1914 and February 24, 1917....
adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
serial
Serial (film)
Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...
. 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, Gibson met a young woman named Helen Johnson, whom he married 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.
After his divorce from Helen Johnson Gibson, Gibson had a brief marriage to film actress Sally Eilers
Sally Eilers
-Life and career:Born as Dorothea Sally Eilers in New York City to a Jewish-American mother, Paula, and an Irish-American father, Peter Eilers, . She was educated in Los Angeles and went into films because so many of her friends were in pictures. She studied for the stage, specialising in dancing...
. That marriage ended in 1933. Gibson married a final time, to Dorothy Dunstan, on July 3, 1942.
Death
Hoot Gibson died of cancer in 1962 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, CaliforniaWoodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
Woodland Hills is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California.Woodland Hills is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, east of Calabasas and west of Tarzana, with Warner Center in its northern section...
and was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery
Inglewood Park Cemetery
Inglewood Park Cemetery was founded in 1905 in Inglewood, California. A number of notable people, including entertainment and sports personalities, have been interred or entombed here.-List of notable and celebrity interments at Inglewood Park:...
in Inglewood, California
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
.
Legacy
For his contribution to motion pictures, Hoot Gibson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of FameHollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 1765 Vine Street. In 1979, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of American rodeo, photographs, barbed wire, saddlery, and early rodeo trophies...
in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
.