The Southland Firestorm: Holding the Line : Friends Fondly Remember Writer-Director Gibbins

Three weeks ago, British screenwriter-director Duncan Gibbins celebrated his 41st birthday by visiting Disneyland and Universal Studios with his mother and a cousin, both tourists from Gibbins’ native England.

Now, Gibbins’ mother, Yvonne, was expected to arrive here again late Thursday for a sorrowful visit--this time to help plan a memorial service, as yet unscheduled, for her son, who became the first known fatality of Southern California’s most recent firestorm.

Gibbins died Wednesday night at the Sherman Oaks Hospital and Health Center after suffering second- and third-degree burns when he returned to his residence in Topanga Canyon to try to save a pet cat.

Gibbins directed the 1991 sci-fi drama “Eve of Destruction” and other films, as well as music videos by groups such as the Eurythmics and Wham! His most recent work was “A Case for Murder,” a television film he directed for release last May on the USA Network.

His agent, Geoff Brandt of Studio City, remembered him Thursday as “one of the greatest guys ever”--an artist with a ruddy face and a fresh, ready wit.

“In the count of egos, Duncan’s was less than most others,” Brandt said. “He got knocked to the mat during his career, but he always managed to pull himself back up. His work got better and better. He was both a writer who directs and a director who writes.”

A historical drama written by Gibbins--”Crossbow,” about legendary Swiss archer William Tell--is being considered by a major studio, Brandt said. More recently, Gibbins traveled to Alaska to research a script about a U. S. congressman and a Greenpeace activist fighting to survive after a plane crash in the wilderness.

Gibbons moved to California in the early 1980s after directing music videos in London and reporting news from Northern Ireland and soccer matches for the BBC, friends said. Friends remembered him as a spirited amateur soccer player who was deeply interested in world events.

When the fire started late Tuesday morning near a guest house where Gibbins lived on Old Topanga Canyon Road, he frantically tried to rescue his pet Siamese cat, only to be engulfed by flames himself.

He and a carpenter, Ron Mass, 40, who lived nearby, were taken by helicopter to the Sherman Oaks hospital’s burn unit, where officials said Thursday that Mass’ condition remained critical.

“That story about Duncan trying to save his cat,” Brandt said forlornly, “tells you what a special kind of a guy he was.”