HOOT GIBSON

Hoot Gibson (born Edmund Richard Gibson) was an actor from the 1910s to the 1960s (he was one of the most popular cowboy western stars of the silent cinema). He was born in 1892 and ran away from home at 13 to join the circus, and eventually he worked at the famed Miller 101 Ranch in Oklahoma as a horse wrangler. From there he went to a Wild West show for 4 years. In 1910, filmmakers were looking for people who could work as stuntmen and stunt doubles in western movies, and Gibson signed on, along with Art Acord. Both men stayed on the rodeo circuit as well, and in 1912, when he was 20, Hoot (his early nickname had been "Hoot Owl") won the "All Around Champion Cowboy" at the annual Pendleton Roundup. He soon married Helen Wenger, who, as Helen Gibson, starred in the serial "The Hazards of Helen" in 1914. Gibson got bigger and better movies, but then he took 2 years off to serve in World War I. Afterwards, he signed with Universal and starred in many shorts, including some directed by his friend John Ford. In 1921, he starred in the John Ford movie "Action", based on "The Three Godfathers" story, and that made Gibson a top western star along with Tom Mix. In 1925, he was making $14,500 a week, but he spent it as fast as he made it. In 1930, he married for the third time, to Sally Eilers, and they made three movies together. Also in 1930, he lost his contract with Universal, which began his steady decline as a film star. He continued spending his money at a fast and furious pace, especially when he began flying airplanes, one of which he crashed. He appeared in secondary westerns in the 1930s, but joined a circus in 1938, and then retired altogether the following year. But his poor financial state led him to return to movies in the early 1940s at Monogram in the "Trail Blazers" series. He sold real estate and married for the fourth and final time in 1942. In 1960, he was diagnosed with cancer, and his medical costs caused him to take whatever work he could get, including as a "greeter" at a Las Vegas casino and working at carnivals. He passed away in 1962, just before his 70th birthday.