Helen saw her first Wild West show in Cleveland in the summer of 1909 and answered a Miller Brothers 101 Ranch ad for girl riders in Billboard magazine.

[4] Thomas H. Ince, who was producing for the New York Motion Picture Company, hired the entire cast for the winter at $2,500 a week.

At the investor's ranch outside of Pendleton, Oregon, Helen worked his horses every day, and learned new forms of trick riding.

Now rechristened 'Helen' by the studio, she proved to be a capable actress, and after making several more pictures she wrote a story for a one-reeler that was built around a risky stunt.

[3] Gibson performed in The Hazards of Helen for 69 episodes until the series ended in February 1917, after which Kalem tried producing another serial The Daughter of Daring, with a starring role for her.

[8] One of her best stunts appeared in this serial: traveling at full speed on a motorcycle chasing after a runaway freight train, Gibson rode through a wooden gate, shattering it completely, up a station platform, and through the open doors of a boxcar on a siding, with her machine traveling through the air until it landed on a flatcar in a passing train.

[10] Universal offered her a three-year contract at $125 a week for two-reel, and five-reel pictures until 1919; among these were two 1919 John Ford films, Rustlers and Gun Law.

[citation needed] Hoot Gibson, who had joined the Army tank corps, returned during Christmas 1918 and Universal gave him a contract to appear in two-reel Westerns.

Riding in the picture put Gibson back in the hospital, forcing her to sell her furniture, jewelry, and car.

She made personal appearances in connection with bookings of No Man's Woman and The Wolverine in theatres and at rodeos, including visiting her old friends at the 101 Ranch in Ponca City, Oklahoma.

[3] She returned to Hollywood in 1927 and began doubling for stars such as Louise Fazenda, Irene Rich, Edna May Oliver, Marie Dressler, Marjorie Main, May Robson, Esther Dale, and Ethel Barrymore.

[5] As she had in her heyday, Helen became a featured guest at benefit rodeos and events such as the Annual Santa Barbara Horse Show.

In 1940, he asked for active duty, and while he was serving in World War II, she carried on working as an extra and became treasurer of the stunt girl's fraternal organization.

[14] In Universal's Hollywood Story (1951), she was cast as a retired silent film actress alongside Francis X. Bushman, William Farnum, and Betty Blythe, and earned $55 for one scene.

"[3] Gibson continued to take character parts and extra work until 1954, when the couple moved to Lake Tahoe for health reasons.

[citation needed] After trying unsuccessfully to sell real estate, they returned and bought a home in Panorama City, in the San Fernando Valley.