Helen Gibson

Helen Gibson was an American film actress, producer and trick rider who was considered the first professional stunt woman in American film. Born Rose August Wenger in Cleveland, she answered an advertisement for girl riders and toured with a Wild West show from 1910. She entered pictures as a cowboy extra, took her first billed role in 1912 in Ranch Girls on a Rampage, and doubled for Helen Holmes in the serial The Hazards of Helen before taking over its lead for 69 episodes until 1917. She starred in the serial The Daughter of Daring, appeared in John Ford's Rustlers and Gun Law in 1919, formed her own production company, and later rode with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Wild West show. From 1927 she worked as a stunt double and bit player, played a retired silent actress in Hollywood Story (1951), and finished with John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance in 1961. She died in 1977.