Henry Gibson Biography

Fast Facts

• Henry used his celebrity to help support the environmental movement, contributing op-ed pieces and poetry to newspapers and publications
• Gibson studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London
• Began his career in entertainment at the Mae Desmond theatre company in Philadelphia at the age of eight
• James Bateman (Gibson's real name) and Jon Voight formed a comedy team as hillbilly brothers named Harold and Henry Gibson, the latter chosen as a play on playwright Henrik Ibsen
• In his early career as one of the orginal members on the 1960s TV sketch-comedy "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," he was known as the flower-toting, dead-pan poet, but later became known for playing cantankerous characters
• Served a 3 year stint as a U․S․ Air Force intelligence officer in the 66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing in France from 1957 to 1960
• Was roommates in New York City in the 1960s with actor Jon Voight, his classmate when they attended Catholic University of America in Washington, D․C