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Gypsy Abbott

{{short description|American actress}}

{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2016}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Gypsy Abbott

| image = Gypsy Abbott 003.JPG

| caption = Who's Who in the Film World, 1914

| birthname =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1896|01|31|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1952|07|25|1896|01|31|mf=y}}

| death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S.

| othername = Gypsie Abbott

| occupation = Actress

| yearsactive =

| spouse = {{marriage|Henry King|1915}}

| children = 3

}}

Gypsy Abbott (January 31, 1896 – July 25, 1952) was an American stage and silent film actress.

Personal life

Gypsy Abbott was born on January 31, 1896, in Atlanta, Georgia. She married director Henry King in 1915 at Balboa{{cite book|last1=Pawlak|first1=Debra Ann|title=Bringing Up Oscar: The Story of the Men and Women Who Founded the Academy|date=2012|publisher=Pegasus Books|isbn=9781605982168|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cBtbBAAAQBAJ&q=%22Gypsy+Abbott%22+actress&pg=PT57|access-date=30 July 2017|language=en}}{{sfn|King|Shepard|Perry|Thompson|1995|p=24}} or in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1917, she quit acting to focus on her life at home. Between 1923 and 1930, they had three children, Frank, John, and Martha.{{sfn|King|Shepard|Perry|Thompson|1995|p=25}} In 1920 and 1930, Ruth King lived with the couple. She was born in Illinois in 1913 or 1914 and was identified as King's stepdaughter. By 1930, they lived on South Muirfield Road in Los Angeles, California. Henry's brother Louis lived with the Kings in 1925 and 1930. {{citation|title=Ruth King, Los Angeles, California|year=1920 | work=U.S. Federal Census | publisher=National Archives and Records Administration | location=Washington, D.C. }}{{citation|title=Ruth T. King, Los Angeles, California|year=1930 | work=U.S. Federal Census | publisher=National Archives and Records Administration | location=Washington, D.C. }}{{efn|Ruth King, born May 12, 1912, stated to be the daughter of Henry and Gypsy King, left for Europe in October 1923, where the 10-year-old intended to study in France, Italy and Switzerland for two years.{{citation|title=Ruth King, daughter of Henry King | work=U.S. Passports | date=September 26, 1923 }} In 1925, Ruth was back living with Henry, Gypsy, and Louis King and the two-year-old son, Henry King, of Henry and Gypsy,{{citation|title=Ruth King, Nausau, New York|year=1925 | work=New York Status Census | publisher=Albany, New York: New York State Archives }} }}

Career

Gypsy Abbott began her career as a singer, actor, and dancer.{{sfn|King|Shepard|Perry|Thompson|1995|pp=24–25}} She performed for a number of years on stage and in vaudeville.{{Cite book |last=Justice |first=Fred C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRU6AQAAIAAJ |title=Who's Who in the Film World: Being Biographies with Photographic Reproductions of Prominent Men and Women who Through Their Genius and Untiring Energy Have Contributed So Greatly Toward the Upbuilding of the Moving Picture Industry |last2=Smith |first2=Tom R. |date=1914 |publisher=Film World Publishing Company |pages=29 |language=en}} She began with E. H. Sothern's repertoire company. Abbott performed in stock shows in Kansas City, St. Joseph, Missouri, and Chicago. While she was on the road, she met Henry King several times.{{sfn|King|Shepard|Perry|Thompson|1995|p=24}}

She did a fifteen-minute vaudeville act where she sang and would swing over the audience and toss roses into the crowd. She did a similar act at Fred Mace's Photoplayers Club at Balboa.{{sfn|King|Shepard|Perry|Thompson|1995|p=24}} She played in The Minister's Daughter{{sfn|King|Shepard|Perry|Thompson|1995|p=24}} and as Flora Belle Fry in a road production of George M. Cohan's Little Johnny Jones.

Abbott returned to California and King introduced her to Balboa Feature Film Company in Long Beach, and was hired to play in her first film.{{sfn|King|Shepard|Perry|Thompson|1995|pp=24–25}} The Path of Sorrow (1913).{{Cite book |last=Jura |first=Jean-Jacques |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ9eCgAAQBAJ |title=Balboa Films: A History and Filmography of the Silent Film Studio |last2=II |first2=Rodney Norman Bardin |date=2015-08-13 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0901-0 |pages=46, 241 |language=en}} Over the next four years, she played in several films for American Film Company in Santa Barbara and Balboa.{{sfn|King|Shepard|Perry|Thompson|1995|pp=24–25}}

Death

Abbott died of heart failure on July 25, 1952, aged 55.{{sfn|King|Shepard|Perry|Thompson|1995|p=190}}{{cite news |title=Movie Director King's Wife Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94483154/obituary-for-gypsy-abbott-king-aged-55/ |access-date=February 8, 2022 |work=Pasadena Independent |agency=International News Service |date=July 27, 1952 |page=45|via = Newspapers.com}} She is buried in the Grotto Section at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.{{Cite news |date=1952-07-26 |title=Obituary for Gypsy Abbott King |pages=22 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-obituary-for-gypsy/128384861/ |access-date=2023-07-17}} At the time of her death, her children were Ruth King Hilbert, Henry, and John.{{Cite news |date=1952-07-26 |title=Obituary for Gypsy Abbott King |pages=22 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-obituary-for-gypsy/128384861/ |access-date=2023-07-17}}

Filmography

File:Gypsy Abbott and Crane Wilbur.JPG in Vengeance Is Mine (1916)]]

File:Crane Wilbur and Gypsy Abbott, February 27, 1916.png in Vengeance Is Mine (1916)]]

  • The Path of Sorrow (1913), short film
  • Called Back (1914)
  • The Key to Yesterday (1914)
  • The Man Who Could Not Lose (1914)
  • St. Elmo (1914)
  • Who Pays? (1915)
  • Beulah (film)|Beulah (1915)
  • For the Commonwealth (1915)
  • Letters Entangled (1915)
  • The Fruit of Folly (1915)
  • Vengeance Is Mine! (1916)
  • For Ten Thousand Bucks (1916)
  • Bungling Bill's Dress Suit (1916)
  • Some Liars (1916)
  • Her Luckless Scheme (1916)
  • Going to the Dogs (film)|Going to the Dogs (1916)
  • Rolling to Ruin (1916)
  • Paste and Politics (1916)
  • A Touch of High Life (1916)
  • Her Painted Pedigree (1916)
  • Bungling Bill's Bow-Wow (1916)
  • Lost, Strayed or Stolen (film)|Lost, Strayed or Stolen (1916)
  • With or Without (1916)
  • The Wicked City (1916 film)|The Wicked City (1916)
  • Shot in the Fracas (1916)
  • Jealous Jolts (1916)
  • A Lislebank(1917)
  • A Circus Cyclone (1917)
  • The Musical Marvel (1917)
  • The Butcher's Nightmare (1917)
  • A Studio Stampede (1917)
  • His Bogus Boast (1917)
  • When Ben Bolted (1917)
  • Lorelei of the Sea (1917)

Notes

{{Notelist}}

References

{{reflist}}

Bibliography

  • {{Cite book |last=King |first=Henry |url=http://archive.org/details/henrykingdirecto00king |title=Henry King, director : from silents to ʼscope |last2=Shepard |first2=David |last3=Perry |first3=Ted |last4=Thompson |first4=Frank T. |date=1995 |publisher=Los Angeles : Directors Guild of America |isbn=978-1-882766-03-1 |pages=24–25}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name|0007977}}
  • {{Find a Grave|5970852}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Gypsy}}

Category:1896 births

Category:1952 deaths

Category:American silent film actresses

Category:Actresses from Atlanta

Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City

Category:American vaudeville performers

Category:American stage actresses

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Deaths from lung cancer in California