Mimi Gibson

Mimi Gibson (born October 19, 1948) is a former child actress.

Early life

After the early death of her father, her mother took her and her sister to Los Angeles. At only 18 months, she was a popular calendar model, posing with cute animals. By age two she was appearing in movies.

Career

During the 1950s and early 1960s she would appear in 35 movies (largely in uncredited roles) and approximately 40 television episodes.^[1] Her last roles came as a teenage girlfriend in episodes of My Three Sons in the late 1960s.

In 1957 she and child actress Evelyn Rudie played the daughters of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in The Wings of Eagles. Although they had some significant scenes, she and Rudie were not credited. The same year she was in the horror B-movie The Monster That Challenged the World.

In 1958 she had a role as Cary Grant's daughter — with Paul Petersen and Charles Herbert playing her brothers — in the light romantic comedy Houseboat, which also starred Sophia Loren. Gibson said, "I'd like to be remembered for Houseboat." She said "Houseboat was fun, wonderful and I loved it".

They filmed Houseboat for a month on location in Washington, D.C. The actual houseboat was on the Virginia (or south) side of the Potomac River. The scene at the amusement park was filmed at Glen Echo Amusement Park, on the northern side of the river. When the movie was completed, Loren gave Gibson a pendant with a houseboat on one side and "To Mimi from Sophia" on the other. Grant gave each of the children a $50 savings bond, a large sum in those days.

In 1961 she appeared in The Children's Hour, based on the play by Lillian Hellman. Gibson played a schoolgirl at a private school run by Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine. The movie involved accusations of a lesbian relationship between the co-stars' characters and was somewhat daring for its time. She said Hepburn was very nice to the girls, but that "Shirley MacLaine despised kids." She would not even speak to them. That same year, She was also in One Hundred and One Dalmatians alongside Mickey Maga, Barbara Baird, Sandra Abbot, and several other children. Gibson became known for this film for her line, "I'm tired and I'm hungry and my tail's froze...and my nose is froze and my ears are froze. And my toes are froze."

On television, Gibson appeared in eight Playhouse 90 dramas and many episodes of The Red Skelton Show, as well as some episodes of Whirlybirds and Leave it to Beaver.

With the end of her child acting career, Gibson's life took a turn for the worse. Her mother had appropriated all the money she earned. Lacking the funds to go college, she made a hasty marriage at age 20. Her life subsequently improved.

In 1999 she testified before a California legislative panel on the need for statutory protection for child actors' earnings. She did this with Paul Petersen, who played her older brother in Houseboat. Petersen has remained a lifelong friend and is the founder in 1990 of A Minor Consideration, a nonprofit group devoted to protecting and advancing the interests of child actors. Gibson has also been active in this group.

Today Gibson guards her privacy. She lives on a farm in Soledad, California, happily married, where she raises goats and llamas.

Filmography

Bibliography

• Parla, Paul; Charles P. Mitchell (2000). "Mimi Gibson: Unleashing the Monster That Challenged the World". Screen Sirens Scream! Interviews with 20 Actresses from Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir and Mystery Movies, 1930s to 1960s. Jefferson, N.C. and London: McFarland. pp. 105–114. ISBN 0-7864-0701-8. 

References

External links

• Mimi Gibson at the Internet Movie Database