Ella Margaret Gibson (September 14, 1894 â€" October 21, 1964) was an
American stage and silent-film actress who had leading roles in
Vitagraph Westerns, often opposite William Clifford. She also appeared
with Charles Ray in The Coward (1915) and later worked in two Westerns
with William S. Hart: The Money Corral and Sand!. On her deathbed in
1964, she reportedly made a dying confession to the 1922 murder of
director William Desmond Taylor.Gibson was sometimes credited or
otherwise identified under at least seven other names, such as
Patricia Palmer, Patsy Palmer, Margie Gibson, Marguerite Gibson, Ella
Margaret Lewis, Ella Margaret Arce, or Pat Lewis. She appeared in 147
movies between 1913 and 1929.By her own account, Gibson's parents had
worked in show business. She began her stage career at the age of 12,
apparently when her father left and she remained as the sole means of
support for her mother. Gibson appeared on the Pantages Vaudeville
Circuit for over two years. In 1909, she became a member of the
Theodore Lorch Stock Company in Denver, where she was cast in a wide
variety of roles. She entered the film industry in 1912, getting a job
with Vitagraph in Santa Monica, where she stayed for three years. For
six months during this period, Taylor was acting in the same studio
and they made four films together: The Love of Tokiwa, The Riders of
Petersham, The Kiss, and A Little Madonna. An article in Variety the
following year noted that the 19-year-old budding film star had
purchased a cliffside bungalow overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa
Monica. In 1915, she left Vitagraph and went to the Thomas Ince Film
Company, where she played a small supporting role in The Coward, the
film which made Charles Ray a star. She subsequently had supporting
roles in many comedy shorts and was the subject of several promotional
articles in fan magazines.Her first starring role after Vitagraph was
in Mutual Masterpicture's The Soul's Cycle (1916), in which she played
both an attractive Roman maiden and a modern New York heiress. Other
noted roles included leads in The Riders of Petersham, Back to Eden,
and The Outlaw.
American stage and silent-film actress who had leading roles in
Vitagraph Westerns, often opposite William Clifford. She also appeared
with Charles Ray in The Coward (1915) and later worked in two Westerns
with William S. Hart: The Money Corral and Sand!. On her deathbed in
1964, she reportedly made a dying confession to the 1922 murder of
director William Desmond Taylor.Gibson was sometimes credited or
otherwise identified under at least seven other names, such as
Patricia Palmer, Patsy Palmer, Margie Gibson, Marguerite Gibson, Ella
Margaret Lewis, Ella Margaret Arce, or Pat Lewis. She appeared in 147
movies between 1913 and 1929.By her own account, Gibson's parents had
worked in show business. She began her stage career at the age of 12,
apparently when her father left and she remained as the sole means of
support for her mother. Gibson appeared on the Pantages Vaudeville
Circuit for over two years. In 1909, she became a member of the
Theodore Lorch Stock Company in Denver, where she was cast in a wide
variety of roles. She entered the film industry in 1912, getting a job
with Vitagraph in Santa Monica, where she stayed for three years. For
six months during this period, Taylor was acting in the same studio
and they made four films together: The Love of Tokiwa, The Riders of
Petersham, The Kiss, and A Little Madonna. An article in Variety the
following year noted that the 19-year-old budding film star had
purchased a cliffside bungalow overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa
Monica. In 1915, she left Vitagraph and went to the Thomas Ince Film
Company, where she played a small supporting role in The Coward, the
film which made Charles Ray a star. She subsequently had supporting
roles in many comedy shorts and was the subject of several promotional
articles in fan magazines.Her first starring role after Vitagraph was
in Mutual Masterpicture's The Soul's Cycle (1916), in which she played
both an attractive Roman maiden and a modern New York heiress. Other
noted roles included leads in The Riders of Petersham, Back to Eden,
and The Outlaw.
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