Hoot Gibson

Acting

Hoot Gibson

Born 1892-08-05 · Tekamah, Nebraska, USA

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.

Acting credits

Ocean's Eleven poster
6.4

Danny Ocean and his gang attempt to rob the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night.

Ocean's Eleven

1960

Sure Fire poster
6.5

The rancher Jeff Bransford returns to his ancestral acres and finds them heavily mortgaged and about to be foreclosed and is defended by hired men with guns.

Sure Fire

1921

No artwork available
7.5

A comedy short directed by character Slim Summerville.

Hello, 'Frisco

1924

The Horse Soldiers poster
6.9

A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail supply center. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and the commander. The secret plan for the mission is overheard by a southern belle who must be taken along to assure her silence.

The Horse Soldiers

1959

No artwork available
10.0

Ace High is a silent Western short.

Ace High

1919

Double Danger poster
10.0

Mr. Dawson can't pay the balance of a note owned by the villain, so the villain demands his daughter as payment.

Double Danger

1920

Headin' South poster
NR

A lost film. As described in a film magazine Exhibitors Herald on March 16, 1918: "a forest ranger known only as Headin' South (Fairbanks) goes forth in search of Spanish Joe (Campeau), a Mexican responsible for most of the treachery and outlawry along the U.S.-Mexican boarder. Headin' South gains quite a reputation as he goes along and finally believes himself worthy of joining Joe's band. in a whirlwind finish in which Joe is captured, Headin' South meets one of Joe's near victims (MacDonald) and falls in love with her."

Headin' South

1918

Action poster
6.3

Three Outlaws came across a stranded baby and must decide to save the child or escape from the law.

Action

1921

Points West poster
7.0

Cole Lawson Jr. goes undercover as a bandit to infiltrate the gang responsible for his father's death.

Points West

1929

Shotgun Jones poster
NR

Thomas Lattier is a well-to-do westerner in the cattle business. One fine day he sells a herd of cattle, receiving for it cash payment in bills of large denomination. He proceeds to town alone to deposit it in his bank. Two bad men, Bretall and Hayes, have learned of the deal and trail him with a view to securing the money.

Shotgun Jones

1914

No artwork available
9.0

The hero is affected in his daily life by petty superstitious fears, which gives the heroine an idea he is cowardly. She returns his ring, but later events prove his real mettle and she is glad when a reconciliation comes.

Superstition

1920

No artwork available
7.0

Ranchmen try to play a joke on one of their associates by signing his name to a letter addressed to Sarah Smith, who has advertised in a matrimonial journal. A mix-up occurs on the day of the arrival of the lady when a younger woman, sent to buy stock, also appears on the scene and is mistaken for the prospective bride.

Tipped Off

1920

Sunset Range poster
6.0

Grant hides stolen money in the luggage of Bonnie Shea who is moving west. Later when he and his men arrive to retrieve the money, they also kidnap Bonnie. This sends Reasonin' Bates and his cowhands on their horses after the gangsters in their cars.

Sunset Range

1935

Clearing the Range poster
5.1

A cowboy rides by night to catch the man who killed his brother.

Clearing the Range

1931

Danger, Go Slow poster
NR

Muggsy Mulane, a waif who wears boy's clothing, jumps a freight train to the country after Jimmy "the Eel," the leader of the gang of crooks with whom she works, is arrested. In the village of Cottonville, Muggsy befriends Aunt Sarah, whom she later discovers is Jimmy's mother. When Muggsy learns that the greedy Judge Cotton, who holds the mortgage on Aunt Sarah's property, is planning to foreclose, she threatens to blackmail him, and he relents.

Danger, Go Slow

1918

Courtin' Wildcats poster
8.0

College boy Clarence Butts has been sent west by the Doctor to join McKenzie's circus. There he finds Calamity Jane running roughshod over everyone. So the dude decides to tame her.

Courtin' Wildcats

1929

Ridin' Wild poster
8.0

Trained by his Quaker mother to be gentle, Cyril Henderson receives only laughter from the townspeople when he tries to act tough to impress Grace Nolan, who is allowing Art Jordan, the town bully, to occupy her time so as to pique Cyril. The murder of Andrew McBride, who holds the mortgage on the Henderson's property, is blamed on the elder Henderson, and Cyril unsuccessfully tries to take the blame.

Ridin' Wild

1922

No artwork available
8.0

The Man Who Woke Up is a 1921 silent Western.

The Man Who Woke Up

1921

Kindled Courage poster
7.0

Andy Walker, bullied and taunted with being a coward, leaves town on a freight. The brakeman shoots two ruffians, but Andy is hailed as the hero and made a deputy sheriff.

Kindled Courage

1923

Sonora Stagecoach poster
6.0

The Trail Blazers are bringing in a prisoner to stand trial for bank robbery, when several attempts are made to kill him; convinced of the man's innocence, they arrange a trap for the real thieves.

Sonora Stagecoach

1944

No artwork available
10.0

Double Crossers is a 1921 silent film.

Double Crossers

1921

Spurs poster
9.0

Bob Merril, looking for the killer of Buddy's father, has found the secret entrance to Pecos' hideout. There he captures Indian Joe who confesses that Marsdan was the killer, But while Bob is off riding in the rodeo his witness escapes.

Spurs

1930

Single Handed poster
10.0

Hector MacKnight, known to the townspeople as "Goofy" and an irritatingly terrible fiddler, is innocently drawn into a rigged poker game. A general fight brings the sheriff, and a chase ensues. Before the confusion is ended and Hector cleared, he meets Ruth Randolph and becomes involved in a circus while trying to recover the other half of her treasure map.

Single Handed

1923

The Bear Cat poster
9.0

The Bearcat, alias The Singin' Kid, crosses the Rio Grande into Three Pines, singing bloodthirsty verses, but in spite of these, he makes friends with Sheriff Bill Garfield and likewise with Alys May, daughter of cattle rancher John P. May, by saving her from a runaway. As a reward, he gets a job on the ranch and falls in love with Alys, though warned she is engaged to Aitken, her brother's college chum.

The Bear Cat

1922

Behind the camera

The Champion Liar poster
9.0

A breezy young Westerner loves to talk and tells some "whoppers" for humorous purposes. This get him into trouble with his girl, but he wins her back after she has tried vainly to fall in love with an honest but less entertaining fellow.

The Champion Liar

1920

The Thrill Chaser poster
6.5

In this partially lost silent film, a man working as a motion picture extra in Hollywood westerns impresses a visiting sheikh with his boxing skills and is engaged to go to Arabia, where he becomes involved in warring and falls in love with a beautiful princess.

The Thrill Chaser

1923

No artwork available
9.0

A villain robs a safe in the town bank and leaves evidence to convict the hero.

The Fightin' Fury

1921

No artwork available
7.0

While riding over the plains Hoot encounters some officers searching for two escaped lunatics. Later he reaches a camp where two girls are on vacation. Both Hoot and the girls mistake each other for the lunatics.

Out o' Luck

1921

The Shootin' Fool poster
9.0

The Shootin' Fool sometimes known as Some Shooter is a 1920 silent Western short.

The Shootin' Fool

1920

The Long, Long Trail poster
6.5

Its time for the big race and its the Rambling Kid riding Dynamite versus Wilson's horse Thunderbolt. When Gyp informs Wilson that Lightning is faster, Wilson has Gyp drug the Kid's coffee just before the race.

The Long, Long Trail

1929

The Shootin' Kid poster
7.0

The Shootin' Kid is a 1920 silent Western short

The Shootin' Kid

1920

The Smilin' Kid poster
8.0

The Smilin' Kid is a 1920 silent Western short.

The Smilin' Kid

1920

No artwork available
7.0

A high-spirited cowboy has a habit of announcing his arrival in town by playfully firing his six-shooters into the air. While he intends this as harmless fun, the local townspeople view it as an unpardonable disturbance. The plot revolves around the consequences of his actions and the misunderstandings that follow in his wake

The Shoot 'Em Up Kid

1926

No artwork available
9.0

The Fightin' Terror is a 1920 silent Western.

The Fightin' Terror

1920