Gibson Gowland
Gibson Gowland | |
---|---|
Gibson Gowland (right) as John McTeague in the 1924 film Greed | |
Born |
Spennymoor, County Durham, England, UK | 4 January 1877
Died |
9 September 1951 74) London, England, UK | (aged
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1925-1945 |
Spouse(s) | Beatrice Bird |
Gibson Gowland (4 January 1877 in Spennymoor, County Durham – 9 September 1951 in London) was an English film actor.
Biography
Gowland started work as a sailor and later became the mate on a ship. For several years from the age of 25 he went to South Africa, where he hunted for big game, prospected for diamonds and also organised a theatrical company in Johannesburg, and acted in it. He prospected in Canada, where he made his debut on the legitimate stage.
Gowland went to the United States from Britain, by way of Canada, in 1913 where he met Beatrice Bird, also from Great Britain, whom he married. They moved to Hollywood, working as bit players. In 1914 he acted in D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, followed by Intolerance. In 1916, his son, actor and photographer Peter Gowland, was born.
Often cast as a villain, his only starring role (out of 63 films) was in Greed (1924), directed by Erich von Stroheim, based on the Frank Norris novel McTeague, and costarring ZaSu Pitts. The film has since become a classic, despite its having been cut to one-fifth its original length for commercial release by MGM. Gowland portrayed the protagonist, dentist John McTeague. Von Stroheim also directed Gowland in his 1919 film Blind Husbands.
Gowland was cast as Simon Buquet in the 1925 film version of The Phantom of the Opera. He had bit parts in dozens of films between 1938-45, but was rarely credited on-screen. After two divorces, Gowland returned to England in 1944. He died in London at the age of 74 and is buried in Golders Green Crematorium.
Partial filmography
- The Birth of a Nation (1915)
- Pennington's Choice (1915)
- The Secret of Black Mountain (1917)
- The Climber (1917)
- Blind Husbands (1919)
- Behind the Door (1919)
- The Right of Way (1920)
- Ladies Must Live (1921)
- Hutch Stirs 'em Up (1923)
- The Harbour Lights (1923)
- The Red Lily (1924)
- Greed (1924)
- The Prairie Wife (1925)
- The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
- The Outsider (1926)
- Don Juan (1926)
- The Night of Love (1927)
- The First Auto (1927)
- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) (uncredited)
- The Isle of Forgotten Women (1927)
- Rose-Marie (1928)
- The Mysterious Island (1929)
- Without Honor (1932)
- S.O.S. Eisberg (1933)
- North Pole, Ahoy (1934)
- The Private Life of Don Juan (1934)
- King of the Damned (1935)
- The Stoker (1935)
- The House of the Spaniard (1936)
- Highland Fling (1936)
- The Wife of General Ling (1937)
- Cotton Queen (1937)
- Ship's Concert (1937)
- Tea Leaves in the Wind (1938)
- The Wolf Man (1941)
References
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gibson Gowland. |