Hoot Gibson

Hoot Gibson
Hoot Gibson, c. 1935
Born	Edmund Richard Gibson (1892-08-06)August 6, 1892 Tekamah, Nebraska, U.S.
Died	August 23, 1962(1962-08-23) (aged 70) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Resting place	Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California
Other names	Ed "Hoot" Gibson Edward Gibson Hall Gibson Ed Hall
Occupation	Actor, director, producer
Years active	1910–1960
Spouse(s)	Rose August Wenger (stage name Helen Gibson) (m. 1913–20) Helen Johnson (m. 1922–30) Sally Eilers (m. 1930–33) Dorothea Dunstan (m. 1942–62)

Hoot Gibson (August 6, 1892 – August 23, 1962) was an American rodeo champion and a pioneer cowboy film actor, 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". (Michael Wallis' book, The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West, says that Gibson "picked up the nickname 'Hoot' while working as a bicycle messenger for Owl Drug Company." Dan L. Thrapp's Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography says that Gibson "is said to have been nicknamed because he once hunted owls in a cave.")

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 a deranged employee killed Boggs, director Jack Conway hired Gibson 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.