Lillian Gish
Biography
Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993) was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987. She was a prominent film star of the 1910s and 1920s, particularly associated with the films of director D.W. Griffith, including her leading role in Griffith's seminal Birth of a Nation (1915). Her sound-era film appearances were sporadic, but included memorable roles in the controversial western Duel in the Sun (1946) and the offbeat thriller Night of the Hunter (1955). She did considerable television work from the early 1950s into the 1980s, and closed her career playing, for the first time, opposite Bette Davis in the 1987 film The Whales of August. The American Film Institute (AFI) named Gish 17th among the greatest female stars of all time. She was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 1971, and in 1984 she received an AFI Life Achievement Award.
Known For
Lucy Burrows
Broken Blossoms
Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
The Birth of a Nation
The Woman Who Rocks the Cradle
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Rachel Cooper
The Night of the Hunter
Letty
The Wind
Mattilda Zachary
The Unforgiven
Anna Moore
Way Down East
Herself, Archive footage
Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me
Laura Belle McCanles
Duel in the Sun
Mother Mary of Mercy
Portrait of Jennie
Mrs. Summers
Orders to Kill
Self
Early Directors on Directing
Hetty Seibert
Follow Me, Boys!
Elsie
I Am Not a Racist
Susie May Trueheart
True Heart Susie
Henriette Girard
Orphans of the Storm
The Little Lady
The Musketeers of Pig Alley
Nettie Sloan
A Wedding
Cecelia Burgess
Sweet Liberty
Sarah Webber
The Whales of August
Angela Chiaromonte
The White Sister
Romola
Romola
Self (archive footage)
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Victoria Inch
The Cobweb
In Theatre Crowd
Two Daughters of Eve
Hester Prynne
The Scarlet Letter
The Young Woman
Gold and Glitter
The Maid
A Cry for Help
The Old Soldier's Daughter
The Left-Handed Man
The First Brother's Sweetheart
Just Gold
The Ranchero's Daughter
During the Round-Up
The Wife
A Modest Hero
Fred's Wife
So Runs the Way
The Rugmaker's Daughter
The Conscience of Hassan Bey
The Orphan - as an Adult
The Hunchback
Alice Willows
Warning Shot
Eldest Sister
An Unseen Enemy
The Wife
The Mothering Heart
The Young Mother
Judith of Bethulia
Mrs. Bergesen
Commandos Strike at Dawn
Annie Lee
Enoch Arden
Melissa Harlow
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
Mimi
La Bohème
Night Hunter
Customer in Shop / Outside Church
The New York Hat
Hillie Radcliffe
Hambone and Hillie
Lillian Gish
From Farm to Fame
Mrs. Warren
The Spiral Staircase
Belle at Ice Cream Festival
The Painted Lady
Alice Chalice
His Double Life
Jennie Timberlake
A Romance of Happy Valley
A Friend
So Near, Yet So Far
Birthday Wellwisher
The Burglar’s Dilemma
Princess Alexandra
One Romantic Night
Payne's Sweetheart
Home, Sweet Home
The Girl - Marie Stephenson
Hearts of the World
Nellie Jarvis
The Greatest Question
Annie Laurie
Annie Laurie
Mary Randolph
The Lily and the Rose
Beth Warren
Top Man
A Duel for Love
Participant in Mob Scene (uncredited)
His Lesson
Miss Susie Slagle
Miss Susie Slagle's
Mrs. Smith
The Comedians
Daphne La Tour
Daphne and the Pirate
Self (archive footage)
Charles Laughton Directs 'The Night of the Hunter'
Mrs Loftus
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Self
Night of 100 Stars II
Dorothy Raleigh
An Innocent Magdalene
Diane
Diane of the Follies
Millicent
The Children Pay
Evelyn Dare
The House Built Upon Sand
Susie Broadplains
The Great Love
Jeannette Peret
The Greatest Thing in Life
The Ranchero's Daughter
An Indian's Loyalty
Verda
A Woman in the Ultimate
Pauli Arndt
The Enemy
Self (archive footage)
Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Self
Langlois
Marfa
Sold for Marriage
Self (archive footage)
Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown
Lillian Vale
Souls Triumphant
Herself
Screen Snapshots (Series 1, No. 20)
Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal
Self (uncredited)
The Comedians in Africa
Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
D.W. Griffith - Years of Discovery 1909-1913
Self (archive footage)
Bienvenue à Cannes
Girl in bandana
The Little Tease
Self
Moving Pictures: 'The Night of the Hunter'
Martha Brewster
Arsenic and Old Lace
Lucy - The Girl (archive footage)
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
Jane Andrews, the daughter
The Battle of the Sexes
Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)
Sigrid Holmquist
Miss Molly Winkle
Hobson's Choice
The Farmer's Daughter
A Timely Interception
Self (archive footage)
And the Oscar Goes To...
Narrator
Mrs. Winchester's House
Self (archive footage)
Et la femme créa Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
Grandmother
Thin Ice
The First Sister
The Lady and the Mouse
(archive footage)
Film Fun
The Younger Daughter
In the Aisles of the Wild
The Daughter
A Misunderstood Boy
The Mother
Madonna of the Storm
Mary Miller
The Green-Eyed Devil
The Quicksands
Kitty Belle
The Rebellion of Kitty Belle
Eleanor Butterworth
Lord Chumley
Nettie - the Angel
The Angel of Contention
Grace Lisle
Man's Enemy
Anita - the Truant
The Tear That Burned
Anne
The Folly of Anne
May
The Sisters
Dosia Dale
The Lost House
Beatrice
Captain Macklin
Pathways of Life
Carrie Watts
The Trip to Bountiful
Billy Jo Haskins
Twin Detectives
The Nurse
The House of Darkness
The Blue or the Gray
Walk on role
The Informer
The One She Loved
My Baby
In First Audience (uncredited)
Oil and Water
At Auction (uncredited)
The Unwelcome Guest
The Stolen Bride
At Theatre
Brutality
(archive footage)
The Flapper
Self
Lillian Gish
Self
Night of 100 Stars
The Great Chase
Self
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
135
Gender
Female
Birthday
1893-10-14
Place of Birth
Springfield, Ohio, USA
Also Known As
Lillian Diana Gish