Wynne Gibson, 81; Gangster Moll of ‘30s, ‘40s Films

Wynne Gibson, who emerged from New York City chorus lines and vaudeville acts in the 1920s to make a series of long-forgotten action films at the old Paramount Pictures Corp. Long Island studios and then went on to Hollywood to portray gangster molls and street-wise women through the ‘30s and early ‘40s, is dead.

Miss Gibson, born Winifred Gibson, was 81 when she died Thursday in a nursing home in Laguna Niguel.

She made her first picture, “Nothing But the Truth,” in 1929 and her last, “Mystery Broadcast,” in 1943. In between were “The Gang Buster,” “City Streets,” “Ladies of the Big House,” “Lady and Gent,” “The Falcon Strikes Back” and a dozen more.

After leaving films she turned to radio (“When a Girl Marries,” “Modern Romances,” “Whispering Streets”) and to television (“Studio One,” “Martin Kane,” “Valiant Lady”) before retiring to become a member of the boards of both Actors Equity Assn. and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.