- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDorothy Winifred Brown
- Nickname
- The Harrison Fisher Girl
- Dorothy Winnifred Brown was born at the home of her parents, Pauline Caroline Boesen Brown and John Brown on May 17, 1889 at 320 Willow Avenue in Hoboken, New Jersey. John Brown died while she was an infant and Leonard Gibson became her stepfather four years later. She had two siblings but both died in infancy. Later, Pauline and Dorothy moved to Manhattan.
In 1909 Dorothy met George Battier Jr. They were soon married, but the marriage was short-lived. Soon, she became an actress for Eclair Studios, making one-reelers. In 1912, she finished The Easter Bonnet (1912) and traveled to Europe. By April she was ready to return. On April 10, 1912, she and her mother boarded the Titanic in Southampton, England. They occupied a cabin on E-Deck. When the Titanic struck an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on the 14th, she described it as "a long sickening crunch". She and her mother boarded the first lifeboat to leave with friends William Sloper and Fredrick Seward. She later appeared in the film, Saved from the Titanic (1912), a one-reel quickie. It was to be her last. She soon quit the business and married Jules Brulatour. This marriage was also short, lasting only two years.
In 1928 Dorothy left with her mother for Europe, never to see the States again. She lived in Italy and France. During World War II she was suspected of spying for the Nazis, but this is unsubstantiated. She died in Paris on February 17, 1946, found by a hotel maid.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Phillip Gowan - Dorothy Gibson appeared on stage as a singer and dancer in several Broadway and vaudeville productions beginning in 1906, the most important being Charles Frohman's "The Dairymaids" (1907).
In 1909 she started posing for commercial artist Harrison Fisher, becoming one of his favorite models. Her image appeared regularly on magazine covers, posters, postcards, and in book illustrations over the next three years. She was represented by top theatrical agent Pat Casey by 1911, the year she entered films, joining the Independent Motion Picture (IMP) Company and later Lubin as a stock player.
She was hired as leading lady by the new U.S. branch of Paris-based Eclair studios in July 1911. Noted for her natural, subtle acting style, she was especially popular as a comedienne. Her most important roles were Molly Pitcher in Hands Across the Sea (1912), Eclair's debut American film, and herself in Saved from the Titanic (1912), based on her experiences in the disaster. She was one of the highest paid actresses in American motion pictures before her premature retirement in May 1912 to pursue a choral career, her most notable appearance in that venue being at the Metropolitan Opera House in "Madame Sans-Gene" (1915).
Her six-year love affair with movie mogul Jules Brulatour culminated in an unsuccessful marriage in 1917. Its legality challenged, the union was dissolved two years later. 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 Wold War II. A Nazi sympathizer and alleged intelligence operative, she renounced her involvement by 1944. She was arrested as an anti-Fascist agitator and jailed at San Vittore, from which she escaped with two other prisoners, journalist Indro Montanelli and General Bartolo Zambon.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Randy Bryan Bigham
- SpousesJules Brulatour(July 6, 1917 - 1918) (divorced)George Henry Battier, Jr.(February 10, 1910 - 1911) (divorced)
- Parlayed her experience as a survivor of the Titanic disaster into a starring role in Saved from the Titanic (1912), a quickie one-reeler released 29 days after the sinking.
- In Saved from the Titanic (1912), she apparently wore the same dress she herself had worn on the ill-fated voyage.
- In 1913 she was involved in a fatal car accident. During the ensuing court case it emerged that the owner of the car she was driving, Eclair studio financier Jules Brulatour, intended to divorce his wife and marry Dorothy; and so he did.
- Her first husband was George Battier, a Memphis-born pharmacist. They married in February 1910 but separated a few months later. She married Jules Brulatour in 1917 but they split up in 1919, finally divorcing in 1923. Brulatour later married the blonde silent-film star Hope Hampton. Brulatour died in 1946, the same year as Dorothy--she on February 17 and he on October 19.
- [her promotion of the 1912 Saved From The Titanic film] The nation and the world had been profoundly grieved by the sinking of the Titanic and I had the opportunity to pay tribute to those who gave their lives on that awful night. That is all I tried to do.
- [her recollection of the Titanic sinking] It seemed like a nightmare. Then, there burst out the most ghastly cries, shrieks, yells and moans that a mortal could ever imagine. No one can describe the frightful sounds, that gradually died away to nothing.
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