Movies - TV
The Titanic Survivor Who Starred In The First Movie About The Titanic
By JENNA BUSCH
Over 1,500 people perished in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, though some were rescued by the RMS Carpathia hours later. One of the people who survived that terrible calamity was a 22-year-old actress named Dorothy Gibson. Every survivor had a story to tell, but Gibson did something that no one else managed to do: She dramatized her Titanic experience on film.
Gibson co-wrote a silent movie called “Saved from the Titanic,” which premiered on May 16, 1912, and she starred as a Titanic survivor in the film. The movie had stock footage of icebergs, footage of the Titanic's launch, and the Titanic's captain Edward Smith on its sister ship, the RMS Olympia, to convey the event's details. Unfortunately, the film was lost in a fire in 1914.
The movie was hugely successful, according to The History Press. However, the sinking of the Titanic was a traumatizing experience for Gibson, who told Moving Picture World, “I will never forget the terrible cry that rang out from people who were thrown into the sea and others who were afraid for their loved ones.” The trauma Gibson suffered led her to retire from film work.