Information from IMDb
Date of Birth
14 October 1893,
Springfield, Ohio, USA
Date of Death
27 February 1993,
New York City, New York, USA (heart failure)
Birth Name
Lillian Diana Gish
Height
5' 5½" (1.66 m)
Trade Mark
Small frame
Doll-like looks
Early roles as innocent, virginal characters who are victimized by a cruel world
Later often played willful but conflicted women
Trivia
The Smashing Pumpkins first album was named "Gish" after her.
Sister of Dorothy Gish. Daughter of actress Mary Gish.
American Film Institute Life Achievement Award [1984]
On 11 June 1976, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Film Theater was dedicated on the Bowling Green State University campus in Bowling Green, Ohio, USA.
Interred at Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York City, New York, USA.
Career spanned 75 years.
Every year on Gish's birthdate, October 14, New York's Museum of Modern Art shows at least one of her films or television performances.
She once autographed an 8mm copy of her film The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1913) for a young filmmaker named Harry McDevitt.
Related, on her mother's side, to United States President Zachary Taylor.
Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1720 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
After her amicable parting with D.W. Griffith she joined MGM in 1925, but was unceremoniously dumped when Greta Garbo emerged as a star. Considered a "sexless antique," she turned to radio and her first love, the theater. Ironically, MGM had Garbo on the set of The Scarlet Letter (1926) every day to watch Gish work as part of her apprenticeship.
John Gilbert was infatuated with her, and would mess up his "love scenes" with her in the filming of La bohème (1926) on purpose, so he could keep kissing her.
While shooting Way Down East (1920), she was required to lie down on a slab of ice that was floating in a river for several hours in order to shoot a scene. While she did this, one of her hands was immersed in freezing cold water for hours, which permanently damaged the nerves in her wrist.
She held director D.W. Griffith in such high regard that, up until her death in 1993, she would always refer to him as "Mr. Griffith."
Lillian and Mary Pickford were childhood friends, but Mary tried to never be left alone with Lillian--remembering her mother's superstitious belief that "the good die young," Mary was in constant fear that Lillian would drop dead at any moment.
Was named #17 Actress, The American Film Institutes 50 Greatest Screen Legends
Is portrayed by Mackenzie Phillips in The Silent Lovers (1980) (TV)
Was of French, English and German descent.
She and Dorothy Gish both started working for D.W. Griffith in the early days of 'American Mutoscope & Biograph [us]'. While it's been claimed that Griffith was immediately infatuated with Lillian, in their first film for him, Biograph's An Unseen Enemy (1912), he thought they were twins. According to Lillian's autobiography, he had to tie different colored hair ribbons on the girls to tell them apart and give them direction: "Red, you hear a strange noise. Run to your sister. Blue, you're scared too. Look toward me, where the camera is.".
Gish was taught how to shoot by notorious outlaw Al J. Jennings, who was in one of her films. When John Huston and Burt Lancaster took her to the desert to teach her how to shoot for The Unforgiven (1960) they were astounded to discover she could shoot more accurately and faster than they. She found that she liked shooting and over the years had developed into an expert shot.
She was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party and an active anti-communist. She went to her grave denying that The Birth of a Nation (1915) was racist, despite ongoing protests that it was a glorification of the Ku Klux Klan. She was thrilled to be invited to the White House by President Warren G. Harding following the premiere of Orphans of the Storm (1921), and met with Benito Mussolini, whom she greatly admired, while filming Romola (1924) in Italy. She was an ardent supporter of the America First Committee, which was opposed to the United States entering World War II, and refused to vote for either Franklin D. Roosevelt or Wendell Willkie in 1940 because both "were more interested in other countries than in their own.".
In 1970, she wrote to congratulate California's First Lady Nancy Davis after the Governor's wife likened anti-war protesters to Nazis in an interview. "Every time you and Ronnie open your mouths you echo my thoughts," Gish wrote.
Ended her relationship with George Jean Nathan when she discovered he was Jewish by birth, although his mother was a convent-educated convert to Roman Catholicism and he himself shared Gish's conservative views.
Left her entire estate, which was valued at several million dollars, to Helen Hayes. Hayes died eighteen days after Gish.
Member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
She never married or had children.
Lillian and her sister Dorothy were once offered the chance of buying the Sunset Strip in Hollywood for $300. The Gish sisters talked the matter over, weighing the pros and cons. They then went down to fashionable Bullock's and bought a dress each instead.
She was filmed for a scene in Woody Allen's film, Zelig (1983) She scolded legendary director of photography, Gordon Willis on his lighting set-up and, while the crew watched aghast, gave Willis step by step instructions on how to re-light the scene. Willis complied. The scene did not make it into the final version of the film.
At her 1984 AFI Life Achievment Award ceremony, John Houseman claimed that Gish and her sister Dorothy were offered the chance to buy the Sunset strip for $300. After considering the offer, they decided to spend the money for two dresses at the fashionable Bullock's instead.
Upon her death, her remains were interred at Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City.
Mini Biography
Lillian Diana Gish was born on October 14, 1893 in Springfield, Ohio. Her father James Lee Gish was an alcoholic who caroused around, was rarely at home and left the family to more or less to fend for themselves. To help make ends meet, Lillian, her sister Dorothy Gish and their mother Mary Gish a.k.a. Mary Robinson McConnell tried their hand at acting in local productions. Lillian was all of six years old when she first appeared in front of an audience. For the next 13 years, she and Dorothy appeared before stage audiences with great success. Actually, had she not made her way into films, Lillian quite possibly could have been one of the great stage actresses of all time. Ultimately, though, she found her way onto the big screen. In 1912, she met famed director D.W. Griffith. Impressed with what he saw, he immediately cast her in what was to be her first film, An Unseen Enemy (1912), followed by The One She Loved (1912) and My Baby (1912). She would make 12 films for Griffith in 1912. With 25 films in the next two years, Lillian's exposure to the public was so great that she fast became one of the top stars in the industry, right alongside Mary Pickford, "America's Sweetheart". In 1915, Lillian starred as Elsie Stoneman in Griffith's most ambitious project to date, The Birth of a Nation (1915). She was not making the large number of films that she was in the beginning, because she was successful and popular enough to be able to pick and choose the right films to appear in. The following year, she appeared in another Griffith classic, Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916). By the early 1920s, her career was on its way down. As in anything else, be it sports or politics, new faces appeared on the scene to replace the "old", and Lillian was no different. In fact, she did not appear at all on the screen in 1922, 1925 or 1929. However, 1926 was her busiest of the decade with roles in La bohème (1926) and The Scarlet Letter (1926). As the decade wound to a close, "talkies" were replacing silent films. However, Lillian was not idle during her time away from the screen. She appeared in stage productions to acclaim of the public and critics alike. In 1933, she filmed His Double Life (1933), and then didn't make another film for ten years. When she did return in 1943, she played in two big-budget pictures, Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942) and Man of the Family (1943). It was as though she had never been away. Although these roles did not bring her the attention she had in her early career, Lillian still proved she could hold her own with the best of them. She earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her role of Laura Belle McCanles in Duel in the Sun (1946), but lost to Anne Baxter in The Razor's Edge (1946). One of the most critically acclaimed roles of her career came in the thriller The Night of the Hunter (1955), also notable as the only film directed by actor Charles Laughton. In 1969, she published her autobiography "The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me". In 1987, she made what was to be her last motion picture, The Whales of August (1987), a box-office success that exposed her to a new generation of fans. Her 75-year career is almost unbeatable in any field, let alone the film industry. On February 27, 1993, Lillian Gish died at age 99 peacefully in her sleep in New York City.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson
Personal Quotes
Lionel Barrymore first played my grandfather, later my father, and finally, he played my husband. If he'd lived, I'm sure I'd have played his mother. That's the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.
I never approved of talkies. Silent movies were well on their way to developing an entirely new art form. It was not just pantomine, but something wonderfully expressive.
Fans always write asking why I didn't smile more in films. I smiled in Annie Laurie (1927), but I can't recall that it helped much.
Those little virgins, after five minutes you got sick of playing them - to make them more interesting was hard work.
[1919] Marriage is a business. A woman cannot combine a career and marriage . . . I should not wish to unite the two.
[1939] I believe that marriage is a career in itself. I have preferred a stage career to a marriage career.
[after failing to receive a best actress nomination for The Whales of August (1987)] Oh, well. At least I won't have to lose to Cher.
I don't care for modern films -- all crashing cars and close-ups of people's feet.
I've never been in style, so I can't go out of style.
I can't remember a time when I wasn't acting, so I can't imagine what I would do if I stopped now.
[on D.W. Griffith] He inspired in us his belief that we were working in a medium that was powerful enough to influence the whole world.
[on Mary Pickford] It was always Mary herself that shone through. Her personality was the thing that made her movies memorable and the pictures that showed her personality were the best.
[on D.W. Griffith] It's true, sometimes I called him David. Even so, I might have said David, but I always thought Mr. Griffith. He was a born general. His voice was a voice of command. It was resonant, deep and full.
I think the things that are necessary in my profession are these: Taste, Talent and Tenacity. I think I have had a little of all three.
[on Richard Barthelmess] The most beautiful face of any man who went before the camera.
[on Greta Garbo] Garbo's temperament reflected the rain and gloom of the long dark Swedish winters.
[Receiving an honorary Oscar in 1971] Oh, all the charming ghosts I feel around me who should share this! It was our privilege for a little while to serve that beautiful thing, the film, and we never doubted for a moment that it was the most powerful thing, the mind and heartbeat of our technical century.
[on why she acted in few comedies] I'm as funny as a barrel of dead babies.
Salary
An Unseen Enemy (1912) $20
The White Sister (1923) $5,000/week
Filmography
Actress
1987 The Whales of August...Sarah Webber
1986 Sweet Liberty...Cecelia Burgess
1986 American Playhouse (TV series)– Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Part I (1986) … Mrs Loftus
1983 Hobson's Choice (TV movie)...Miss Molly Winkle
1983 Hambone and Hillie...Hillie Radcliffe
1981 Thin Ice (TV movie)...Grandmother
1981 The Love Boat (TV series)– Isaac's Teacher/Seal of Approval/The Successor (1981) … Mrs. Williams
1978 A Wedding...Nettie Sloan
1978 Sparrow (TV movie)...Widow
1976 Twin Detectives (TV movie)...Billy Jo Haskins
1969 Arsenic and Old Lace (TV movie)...Martha Brewster
1967 The Comedians...Mrs. Smith
1967 Warning Shot (TV movie)...Alice Willows
1966 Follow Me, Boys!...Hetty Seibert
1964 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV series)– Body in the Barn (1964) … Bessie Carnby
1962-1964 The Defenders (TV series)
Louisa Clarendon / Mrs. Cooper
– Stowaway (1964) … Mrs. Cooper
– Grandma TNT (1962) … Louisa Clarendon
1963 Breaking Point (TV series)– The Gnu, Now Almost Extinct (1963) … Stella Manville
1963 Mr. Novak (TV series)– Hello, Miss Phipps (1963) … Maude Phipps
1961 Theatre '62 (TV series)– The Spiral Staircase (1961)
1961 The Spiral Staircase (TV movie)...Mrs. Warren
1960 The Unforgiven...Mattilda Zachary
1960 Play of the Week (TV series)– The Grass Harp (1960) … Dolly Talbo
1958 Orders to Kill...Mrs. Summers
1956 The Alcoa Hour (TV series) Morning's at Seven (1956) … Esther Crampton
1956 Ford Star Jubilee (TV series)– The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1956) … Mary Todd Lincoln
1955 Playwrights '56 (TV series)– The Sound and the Fury (1955) … Mrs. Compson
1955 Kraft Television Theatre (TV series)– I, Mrs. Bibb (1955)
1955 The Night of the Hunter...Rachel Cooper
1955 The Cobweb...Victoria Inch
1954 Campbell Playhouse (TV series)– The Corner Druggist (1954) … Miss Harrington
1951-1954 Robert Montgomery Presents (TV series)
– The Quality of Mercy (1954)
– Ladies in Retirement (1951)
1953 Christmas Festival Hour of Music (TV movie)
1953 The Trip to Bountiful (TV movie)...Carrie Watts
1949-1953 The Philco Television Playhouse (TV series)
Abby / Carrie Watts
– The Trip to Bountiful (1953) … Carrie Watts
– The Late Christopher Bean (1949) … Abby
1952 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (TV series)– The Autobiography of Grandma Moses (1952) … Grandma Moses
1951 Celanese Theatre (TV series)– The Joyous Season (1951) … Sister Christina
1949 The Ford Theatre Hour (TV series)– Outward Bound (1949) … Mrs. Midget
1948 Portrait of Jennie...Mother Mary of Mercy
1946 Duel in the Sun...Laura Belle McCanles
1946 Miss Susie Slagle's...Miss Susie Slagle
1943 Man of the Family...Beth Warren
1942 Commandos Strike at Dawn...Mrs. Bergesen
1933 His Double Life...Alice Chalice
1930 One Romantic Night...Princess Alexandra
1928 The Wind...Letty
1927 The Enemy...Pauli Arndt
1927 Annie Laurie...Annie Laurie
1926 The Scarlet Letter...Hester Prynne
1926 La bohème...Mimi
1925 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ...Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
1924 Romola...Romola
1923 The White Sister...Angela Chiaromonte
1921 Orphans of the Storm...Henriette Girard
1920 Way Down East...Anna Moore
1919 The Greatest Question...Nellie Jarvis
1919 True Heart Susie...True Heart Susie
1919 Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl...Lucy - The Girl (as Miss Lillian Gish)
1919 A Romance of Happy Valley...Jennie Timberlake
1918 The Greatest Thing in Life...Jeannette Peret
1918 The Great Love...Susie Broadplains
1918 Hearts of the World...The Girl - Marie Stephenson
1917 Souls Triumphant...Lillian Vale
1916 The House Built Upon Sand...Evelyn Dare
1916 The Children Pay...Millicent
1916 Diane of the Follies...Diane
1916 Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages...The Woman Who Rocks the Cradle/Eternal Mother
1916 An Innocent Magdalene...Dorothy Raleigh
1916 Sold for Marriage...Marfa
1916 Daphne and the Pirate...Daphne La Tour
1916 Pathways of Life (short)
1915 The Lily and the Rose...Mary Randolph
1915 Captain Macklin...Beatrice
1915 Enoch Arden (short)...Annie Lee
1915 The Lost House (short)...Dosia Dale
1915 The Birth of a Nation...Elsie - Stoneman's Daughter
1914 The Sisters (short)...May
1914 The Folly of Anne (short)...Anne
1914 The Tear That Burned (short)...Meg - the Wild Girl
1914 Man's Enemy (short)
1914 The Angel of Contention (short)
1914 The Rebellion of Kitty Belle (short)...Kitty Bell
1914 Lord Chumley (short)...Eleanor Butterworth
1914 Home, Sweet Home...Payne's Sweetheart
1914/I The Quicksands (short)
1914/I The Hunchback (short)...The Orphan - as an Adult
1914 The Battle of the Sexes...Jane Andrews, the daughter
1914 Judith of Bethulia...The young mother
1914 The Green-Eyed Devil (short)...Mary Miller
1914 A Duel for Love (short)
1913 The Conscience of Hassan Bey (short) (unconfirmed)
1913 The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (short)...Melissa Harlow
1913 Madonna of the Storm (short)...The Mother
1913 So Runs the Way (short)...Fred's Wife
1913 A Modest Hero (short)...The Wife
1913 A Woman in the Ultimate (short)...Verda
1913 An Indian's Loyalty (short)...The Ranchero's Daughter
1913 During the Round-Up (short)...The Ranchero's Daughter
1913 The Mothering Heart (short)...The Young Wife
1913 A Timely Interception (short)...The Farmer's Daughter
1913 Just Gold (short)...The Sweetheart
1913 The House of Darkness (short)...Nurse Playing Piano
1913 The Lady and the Mouse (short)...The Young Woman
1913 The Left-Handed Man (short)...The Old Soldier's Daughter
1913 A Misunderstood Boy (short)...The Daughter
1913 The Unwelcome Guest (short)...At Auction (uncredited)
1913 Oil and Water (short)...In First Audience
1912 A Cry for Help (short)...The Maid
1912 The Burglar's Dilemma (short)...Birthday Wellwisher
1912 The New York Hat (short)...Customer in Shop/Outside Church
1912 Brutality (short)...At Theatre
1912 The Informer (short)
1912 My Baby (short)
1912 Gold and Glitter (short)...The Young Woman
1912 The Musketeers of Pig Alley (short)...The Little Lady
1912 The Painted Lady (short)...Belle at Ice Cream Festival
1912 The One She Loved (short)
1912 In the Aisles of the Wild (short)...The Younger Daughter
1912 So Near, Yet So Far (short)...A Friend
1912 Two Daughters of Eve (short)...Theater crowd extra
1912 An Unseen Enemy (short)...The Sister (older)