Dorothy Gibson

• Name — Dorothy Gibson • Birth Name — Dorothy Winifred Brown • Born — 17 May 1889 • Birthplace — Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S. • Died — 17 February 1946 • Place of death — Paris, France • Occupation — Model, actress and singer • Years Active — 1906–1917

Dorothy Gibson was born on May 17, 1889, to John A. Brown and Pauline Caroline Boesen (1866–1961; Danish, and German immigrant father, and mother, respectively) as Dorothy Winifred Brown in Hoboken, New Jersey. Her father died when she was three years old, and her mother married John Leonard Gibson. Between 1906 and 1911, she appeared on stage as a singer and dancer in a number of theatre and vaudeville productions, the most important being on Broadway in Charles Frohman's musical The Dairymaids (1907). She was also a regular chorus member in shows produced by the Shubert Brothers at the Hippodrome Theatre. In 1909, the year before she married George Henry Battier Jr., Dorothy Gibson began posing for famous commercial artist Harrison Fisher, becoming one of his favorite models. Dorothy's image appeared regularly on posters, postcards, various merchandising products and in book illustrations over the next three years. • Illustration — Dorothy Gibson as illustrated by Harrison Fisher, 1911 Fisher also often chose her likeness for the covers of best-selling magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Ladies Home Journal, and the Saturday Evening Post. Dorothy was widely publicized during this time as "The Original Harrison Fisher Girl". Dorothy soon separated from Battier, though the two were not divorced until 1913.

Represented by top theatrical agent Pat Casey, Dorothy entered movies in early 1911, joining the Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP) as an extra and later the Lubin Studios as a stock player. She was hired as leading lady by the new U.S. branch of Paris-based Éclair Studios in July 1911. She was an instant hit with audiences, becoming one of the first actresses in the new medium of film to be promoted as a "star" in her own right. Praised for a natural, subtle acting style, she was particularly effective as a comedian in such popular one-reelers as Miss Masquerader (1911) and Love Finds a Way (1912), all of which were produced at Fort Lee, New Jersey, then the center of the burgeoning American motion picture industry. • Illustration — Dorothy Gibson and Lamar Johnstone in a scene from the comedy, A Lucky Holdup (1912). The film was released April 11, 1912, while Gibson was on the RMS Titanic Despite her popularity in comedies, one of Dorothy's most important parts was that of Molly Pitcher in the historical drama Hands Across the Sea (1911), Eclair Studios' debut vehicle and Gibson's first star turn.

• Illustration — Dorothy Gibson In 1911, Dorothy Gibson began a six-year love affair with married movie tycoon Jules Brulatour, head of distribution for Eastman Kodak and co-founder of Universal Pictures. Brulatour was also an advisor and producer for Eclair; he backed several of Gibson's films, including her 1912 hit Saved From the Titanic. A year later, while driving Brulatour's sports car in New York, Dorothy struck and killed a pedestrian. During the resulting court case, it was revealed in the press that she was his mistress. Although Brulatour was already separated from his wife, the humiliation of the scandal motivated her to sue him for divorce, which was finalized in 1915. Brulatour's rising fame and political power forced him to legitimize his relationship with Dorothy Gibson, and the pair were finally married in 1917. Its legality challenged, the union was dissolved two years later as an invalid contract. To escape gossip and start a new life, Dorothy left New York for Paris, where she remained, except for the four years she spent in Italy during World War II. Brulatour married film actress Hope Hampton in 1923.

A Nazi sympathizer and alleged intelligence operative, Dorothy renounced her involvement by 1944. She was arrested as an anti-Fascist agitator and imprisoned in the Milan prison of San Vittore, from which she escaped with two other prisoners, journalist Indro Montanelli and General Bortolo Zambon. The trio was aided through the intervention of Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster, Archbishop of Milan, and by a young chaplain of the Milanese resistance group Fiamme Verdi, Father Giovanni Barbareschi. Living in France, in 1946, Dorothy died of a stroke in her apartment at the Hôtel Ritz Paris at the age of 56. She is buried at Saint Germain-en-Laye Cemetery. Gibson's estate was divided between her lover, Emilio Antonio Ramos, press attaché for the Spanish Embassy in Paris, and her mother, who lived until 1961 when she too was found dead in a Paris hotel room. • Illustration — Dorthy Gibson in the 1912 film A Lucky Holdup

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1911 — A Show Girl's Stratagem • The Angel of the Slums • Good For Evil • Hands Across the Sea in '76 — Grace Deane • Miss Masquerader — Heiress • The Musician's Daughter — Prima Donna • The Wrong Bottle — The Bride • 1912 — Divorçons — The Wife • Mamie Bolton • Love Finds a Way — Helen • The Awakening — The Sweetheart • The Guardian Angel — The Wife • Getting Dad Married — Ellen • Bridge • The Kodak Contest — The Wife • It Pays to Be Kind — The Sister • A Living Memory — Her Memory • Brooms and Dustpans — Kissing Cousin • The White Aprons • A Lucky Holdup — Miss Barton • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow • The Easter Bonnet — Dora • Revenge of the Silk Masks — Society Girl • Saved from the Titanic — Miss Dorothy — Alternative title: A Survivor of the Titanic Screenwriter • Roses and Thorns

Dorothy Gibson is recorded as actress, singer, screenwriter and model.