Gibson Gowland

Gibson Gowland (4 January 1877, Spennymoor, County Durham – 9 September 1951, London) was an English film actor.

Early sources had his birthplace as Newcastle upon Tyne. He started work as a sailor and later became the mate on a ship. For several years from the age of 25 he went to South Africa, where he hunted for big game, prospected for diamonds and also organised a theatrical company in Johannesburg, and acted in it. He also prospected in Canada, where he made his debut on the legitimate stage.

Gowland went to the United States from Britain, by way of Canada, in 1913 where he met Beatrice Bird, also from Great Britain, whom he married. They moved to Hollywood, working as bit players. In 1914 he acted in D.W. Griffith's : Birth of a Nation, followed by Intolerance. In 1916, his son, actor and photographer Peter Gowland, was born.

Often cast as a villain, his only starring role (out of 63 films) was in Greed (1924), directed by Erich von Stroheim, based on the Frank Norris novel McTeague, and costarring ZaSu Pitts. The film has since become a classic, despite its having been cut to one-fifth its original length for commercial release by MGM. Gowland portrayed the protagonist, dentist John McTeague. Von Stroheim also directed Gowland in his 1919 film Blind Husbands.

Gowland was cast as Simon Buquet in the 1925 film version of The Phantom of the Opera. He had bit parts in dozens of films from 1938 to 1945, but was rarely credited on-screen. After two divorces, Gowland returned to England in 1944. He died in London at the age of 74 from a lethal case of diarrhoea. He is buried in Golders Green Crematorium, London.