Hoot Gibson

Edmund Richard "Hoot" Gibson (August 6, 1892 – August 23, 1962) was an American rodeo champion, film actor, film director, and producer. While acting and stunt work began as a sideline to Gibson's focus on rodeo, he successfully transitioned from silent films to become a leading performer in Hollywood's growing cowboy film industry. During the period between World War I and World War II, he was second only to cowboy film legend Tom Mix as a box office draw. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Early life Born Edmund Richard Gibson in Tekamah, Nebraska, he learned to ride a horse as a 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.") Hoot, himself, stated in an episode of "You Bet Your Life" (January 19. 1956), that he acquired the nickname "Hoot", when he used to look for hoot owls in caves as a child in Nebraska.