Hoot Gibson
Acting
🎂 1892-08-05
Hoot Gibson was a colorful figure, a light-hearted, fun-loving personality on screen and off. Hoot’s cheerful westerns included a significant amount of comedy. His mild, peaceful character rarely carried a gun. As an expert horseman, Hoot was always impressive on a galloping horse. Gibson’s film career began in 1910 with a few films for the Biograph Company interspersed among rodeo competitions. In 1914 he was a stuntman for the serial The Hazards of Helen, doubling the serial’s star Helen Holmes. His stunts included fights on trains and transfers from a train to a horse. He had supporting roles in numerous Western short films, including playing the villain in A Knight of the Range (1916) opposite popular western star Harry Carey. He appeared in three of the Westerns made by Carey and director John Ford in 1917: Straight Shooting, The Secret Man, and A Marked Man. Hoot’s starring career at Universal Studios was launched in two films directed by Ford, Action (1921) and Sure Fire (1921). In these films, Hoot plays a wandering cowboy who rescues the pretty young co-star from outlaws. Hoot became a popular western star for Universal. Film titles such as Ridin’ Wild (1922), Thrill Chaser (1923), Hit and Run (1924), Hurricane Kid (1925), and Galloping Fury (1927) guaranteed Hoot’s fans five reels of action and fun. Hoot’s easygoing approach gave his films a lighthearted tone. A deft comedian, he featured as much comedy as drama. As talkies arrived, Hoot continued as a Western star, but with lower budget producers such as M.H. Hoffman Inc. (distributed on a state rights basis by Allied Pictures Corporation) and Walker Futter Productions (Diversion Pictures). In 1935, Hoot co-starred with Harry Carey in Powdersmoke Range, advertised by RKO as the "Barnum and Bailey of Westerns" (whatever that means). The cast list of this "all star" (B western stars) film included Bob Steele, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Tom Tyler, William Farnum, and other Westerners from the silent era. In 1937 at Republic, he made a serial, The Painted Stallion, in support of new cowboy star Ray Corrigan. An aging Hoot retained his fine horsemanship and comic flair, but fan interest had moved to the new singing cowboys, especially Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Hoot’s Westerns had lost their appeal. In the late thirties, out of movies, Hoot toured with circuses and appeared at rodeos and fairs. In 1943, after seven years off the screen, Hoot returned in the Trail Blazer series at Monogram Studios. In these Westerns, Marshall Hoot Gibson, initially co-starred with Ken Maynard and later with Bob Steele and Chief Thundercloud, upholds the law and captures outlaws and crooked businessmen threatening the lives and property of innocent citizens. Hoot made eleven Trail Blazer films; the last was Trigger Law (1944). John Ford brought Hoot back for a cameo role in The Horse Soldiers (1959). His last screen appearance was as a sheriff’s deputy in Ocean’s Eleven (1960), another cameo.
Cast credits(223)
The Cowboy
1952
Roadblock Deputy (uncredited)
1960
Sgt. Brown
1959
Marshal Ben Dawson
1953
Duke Travis
1923
Dan Malloy
1925
'Whitey' Revel
1936
Hoot Gibson
1944
Hoot Gibson
1944
Undetermined Role
1917
Hoot Gibson
1924
U.S. Marshal Hoot Gibson
1943
Hoot
1944
1910
Reasonin' Bates
1935
Messenger / Etzer
1917
1928
Walter Jamison
1937
Luke Hawkins
1924
1915
Omar K. Jenkins
1923
Jeff Bransford
1921
Hoot Parkford
1944
Hoot Gibson
1944
1920
Pinto Peters
1921
1920
Dennis O'Shane
1923
Hoot Gibson
1944
Steve Hartley
1933
Danny Morgan
1917
Bucky Simms
1927
Curt 'El Capitan' Fremont
1931
'Swat' Anderson
1924
Jimmy Duncan
1932
Ben Slowbell
1923
The Hurricane Kid
1925
Sam Pertune
1923
(archive footage)
1976
Hoot Gibson
1943
Chuck Fadden
1917
Jim Wright
1931
Brent Halston
1936
Chuck Rafferty
1917
Sandy Brouke
1921
Jack Purvin
1929
Jerry Alton
1927
Johnny Ringo - Posing as Ben Bailey
1932
1920
Billy Garford
1927
1920
Marshal Hoot Gibson
1943
Jeff Morgan Jr.
1926
Chub -Jode's Helpful Cowboy Friend
1919
Ben Johnson
1925
Marshal H.R. Higgins
1944
The Singin' Kid
1922
Orturo
1915
1920
Messenger on Motorcycle
1915
Chip's Pal
1917
'Click' Farlane
1926
Bud Watkins
1924
Chip Bennett
1926
Jeffrey Halley
1919
Ed King
1930
Scot McHale
1920
Self (uncredited)
1931
Clarence Elwood Butts
1924
Jimmie Roberts
1927
Roarin' Dan
1920
Marshal Hoot Gibson
1943
Clint Knox
1936
1920
John Carleton
1925
Bert Lyons
1922
1919
Hal 'Tucson Joe' Doyle
1928
Dale Garland
1922
1921
Sheriff Bradley
1946
The Broncho Kid
1919
1916
1921
Tim McKenzie - the Crow
1919
Swifty
1935
Billy Steele
1920
Bill Bangs
1925
1919
Sandy Adams
1920
1919
Andy Walker
1923
Bob Graham
1916
1918
1919
1921
Tex Mason
1932
1911
William Penn 'Peaceful' Patton
1931
Cyril Henderson (as Edward 'Hoot' Gibson)
1922
Vic Collins
1922
1921
Al Goss
1936
Bob Langdon
1926
Steve Larmon
1919
1917
Coot Cadigan
1926
The Cowboy
1916
The Texas Ranger
1921
Hector MacKnight
1923
Clint Hale
1931
Geoffrey Arbuthnot 'Blinky' Islip
1923
'Katy' Didd
1923
Dan Alton
1932
Bill Perkins
1922
Neil Gibson Jr.
1935
Blanding
1916
Tom Richards
1929
Andy Barden
1927
1920
Butler
1914
Chip Jr. - Montana Kid
1929
Lucky 'The Lucky Terror' Carson
1936
Dave Hollis
1924
1921
Bob Merril
1930
Texas Ranger Tim Brennan
1930
Bob Carson
1925
Jack
1915
1920
1918
Vassily - Ivan's Brother
1918
Jim Marvin / Jerry Marvin (Twin Brothers)
1920
Ed Harley
1926
'Ace' Cooper posing as Tex
1933
Sheriff
1918
Train Crew (uncredited)
1915
Pete Ainslee aka The Ridin' Kid
1930
1921
Danny Morgan
1918
Stony Brooke
1935
Tom Lattier - the Son
1914
Rodeo Bill
1928
1919
1912
Bing Davidson
1920
Rodeo Randall
1927
Self
1927
The Stranger
1920
Buck 'The Morning Glory Kid' Bonner
1936
1921
Ace Cooper
1924
1920
Tom Jackson
1920
Deputy (uncredited)
1915
1913
1920
Medicine Show Crowd Member (uncredited)
1915
Jim Bonner
1932
Bill Hammond
1928
Bart 'Smoke Gublen' Stevens
1919
Joe
1917
Etzer - Doyle's Pal
1915
Cowboy
1917
Richard Gordon Jr
1929
Lonnie Larkin
1919
1921
Laramie Lad
1922
The Ramblin' Kid
1929
1920
The Deputy
1919
'Red' Johnson
1917
The Driftin' Kid
1921
Billy Reeves - the Foreman of the Ranch
1920
2nd Nash Henchman (as Ed Gibson)
1916
Pete Watson
1928
Bill Evans -Concentratin' Kid
1930
Dave Bodie
1920
1920
1920
Benjamin Franklin Tully
1928
1920
Gang Leader
1919
Dick Rankin
1918
'Simplex' Cox
1922
1921
1921
1919
Clarence Butts
1929
Chad Pennington
1926
Skyball Smith
1929
Jack Harding
1916
1919
1914
1920
Cole Lawson Jr.
1929
Dennis O'Hara
1928
Dick Harris
1921
Broncho Rider (uncredited)
1912
1921
Bob Corey
1921
Bob Watson
1919
The Ramblin' Kid
1923
1921
1920
1920
Stanley's Henchman
1916
The Prairie Dog
1919
Jim Dailey
1930
1920
Bud Watkins
1924
1921
1914
Billy Halen
1927
1920
Scratch 'Em Hank Scott
1929
1916
1920
1920
'In Wrong' Wright
1920
1913
1920
1920
