Lillian Gish
Acting • Born 1893-10-14 – Died 1993-02-27
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.
Filmography
151 credits
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl
Movie • 1919
Lucy Burrows
The Birth of a Nation
Movie • 1915
Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Movie • 1916
The Woman Who Rocks the Cradle
The Night of the Hunter
Movie • 1955
Rachel Cooper
The Wind
Movie • 1928
Letty
The Unforgiven
Movie • 1960
Mattilda Zachary
Way Down East
Movie • 1920
Anna Moore
Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me
Movie • 1988
Herself, Archive footage
Duel in the Sun
Movie • 1946
Laura Belle McCanles
Portrait of Jennie
Movie • 1948
Mother Mary of Mercy
Orders to Kill
Movie • 1958
Mrs. Summers
Early Directors on Directing
Movie • 2009
Self
I Am Not a Racist
Movie • 2019
Elsie (archive footage) (uncredited)
Follow Me, Boys!
Movie • 1966
Hetty Seibert
True Heart Susie
Movie • 1919
Susie May Trueheart
Orphans of the Storm
Movie • 1921
Henriette Girard
The Musketeers of Pig Alley
Movie • 1912
The Little Lady
A Wedding
Movie • 1978
Nettie Sloan
Sweet Liberty
Movie • 1986
Cecelia Burgess
The Whales of August
Movie • 1987
Sarah Webber
The White Sister
Movie • 1923
Angela Chiaromonte
Romola
Movie • 1924
Romola
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Movie • 1961
Self (archive footage)
The Cobweb
Movie • 1955
Victoria Inch
Two Daughters of Eve
Movie • 1912
In Theatre Crowd
The Scarlet Letter
Movie • 1927
Hester Prynne
Gold and Glitter
Movie • 1912
The Young Woman
Just Gold
Movie • 1913
The First Brother's Sweetheart
A Cry for Help
Movie • 1912
The Maid
During the Round-Up
Movie • 1913
The Ranchero's Daughter
A Modest Hero
Movie • 1913
The Wife
The Left-Handed Man
Movie • 1913
The Old Soldier's Daughter
The Conscience of Hassan Bey
Movie • 1913
The Rugmaker's Daughter
The Hunchback
Movie • 1914
The Orphan - as an Adult
So Runs the Way
Movie • 1913
Fred's Wife
Warning Shot
Movie • 1967
Alice Willows
Judith of Bethulia
Movie • 1914
The Young Mother
An Unseen Enemy
Movie • 1912
Eldest Sister
The Mothering Heart
Movie • 1913
The Wife
Commandos Strike at Dawn
Movie • 1942
Mrs. Bergesen
Enoch Arden
Movie • 1915
Annie Lee
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
Movie • 1913
Melissa Harlow
La Bohème
Movie • 1926
Mimi
Night Hunter
Movie • 2011
The New York Hat
Movie • 1912
Customer in Shop / Outside Church
Hambone and Hillie
Movie • 1983
Hillie Radcliffe
From Farm to Fame
Movie • 1922
Lillian Gish
The Spiral Staircase
Movie • 1961
Mrs. Warren
The Painted Lady
Movie • 1912
Belle at Ice Cream Festival
His Double Life
Movie • 1933
Alice Chalice
A Romance of Happy Valley
Movie • 1919
Jennie Timberlake
So Near, Yet So Far
Movie • 1912
A Friend
The Burglar’s Dilemma
Movie • 1912
Birthday Wellwisher
One Romantic Night
Movie • 1930
Princess Alexandra
Home, Sweet Home
Movie • 1914
Payne's Sweetheart
Hearts of the World
Movie • 1918
The Girl - Marie Stephenson
The Greatest Question
Movie • 1919
Nellie Jarvis
Annie Laurie
Movie • 1927
Annie Laurie
The Lily and the Rose
Movie • 1915
Mary Randolph
Top Man
Movie • 1943
Beth Warren
A Duel for Love
Movie • 1914
His Lesson
Movie • 1915
Participant in Mob Scene (uncredited)
Miss Susie Slagle's
Movie • 1946
Miss Susie Slagle
The Comedians
Movie • 1967
Mrs. Smith
Daphne and the Pirate
Movie • 1916
Daphne La Tour
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Movie • 1986
Mrs Loftus
Night of 100 Stars II
Movie • 1985
Self
The Children Pay
Movie • 1916
Millicent
An Innocent Magdalene
Movie • 1916
Dorothy Raleigh
Diane of the Follies
Movie • 1916
Diane
The House Built Upon Sand
Movie • 1916
Evelyn Dare
The Great Love
Movie • 1918
Susie Broadplains
The Greatest Thing in Life
Movie • 1918
Jeannette Peret
A Woman in the Ultimate
Movie • 1913
Verda
An Indian's Loyalty
Movie • 1913
The Ranchero's Daughter
The Enemy
Movie • 1927
Pauli Arndt
Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies
Movie • 2008
Self (archive footage)
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Movie • 1974
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Langlois
Movie • 1970
Self
Sold for Marriage
Movie • 1916
Marfa
Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown
Movie • 1986
Self (archive footage)
Souls Triumphant
Movie • 1917
Lillian Vale
Screen Snapshots (Series 1, No. 20)
Movie • 1921
Herself
Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal
Movie • 1918
The Comedians in Africa
Movie • 1967
Self (uncredited)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Movie • 1925
Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
D.W. Griffith - Years of Discovery 1909-1913
Movie • 2002
The Little Tease
Movie • 1913
Girl in bandana
Moving Pictures: 'The Night of the Hunter'
Movie • 1995
Self
Arsenic and Old Lace
Movie • 1969
Martha Brewster
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
Movie • 1998
Lucy - The Girl (archive footage)
The Battle of the Sexes
Movie • 1914
Jane Andrews, the daughter
Sigrid Holmquist
Movie • 2010
Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)
Hobson's Choice
Movie • 1983
Miss Molly Winkle
A Timely Interception
Movie • 1913
The Farmer's Daughter
Mrs. Winchester's House
Movie • 1963
Narrator
The Women Who Run Hollywood
Movie • 2016
Self (archive footage)
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
Movie • 1975
Self (archive footage)
Thin Ice
Movie • 1981
Grandmother
The Lady and the Mouse
Movie • 1913
The First Sister
Film Fun
Movie • 1955
(archive footage)
Madonna of the Storm
Movie • 1913
The Mother
A Misunderstood Boy
Movie • 1913
The Daughter
In the Aisles of the Wild
Movie • 1912
The Younger Daughter
The Green-Eyed Devil
Movie • 1914
Mary Miller
The Quicksands
Movie • 1914
The Tear That Burned
Movie • 1914
Anita - the Truant
The Trip to Bountiful
Movie • 1953
Carrie Watts
Lord Chumley
Movie • 1914
Eleanor Butterworth
The Folly of Anne
Movie • 1914
Anne
Twin Detectives
Movie • 1976
Billy Jo Haskins
The Angel of Contention
Movie • 1914
Nettie - the Angel
The Rebellion of Kitty Belle
Movie • 1914
Kitty Belle
Man's Enemy
Movie • 1914
Grace Lisle
Captain Macklin
Movie • 1915
Beatrice
Pathways of Life
Movie • 1916
The Sisters
Movie • 1914
May
The Lost House
Movie • 1915
Dosia Dale
The House of Darkness
Movie • 1913
The Nurse
The One She Loved
Movie • 1912
The Blue or the Gray
Movie • 1913
Oil and Water
Movie • 1913
In First Audience (uncredited)
The Informer
Movie • 1912
Walk on role
My Baby
Movie • 1912
The Stolen Bride
Movie • 1913
The Unwelcome Guest
Movie • 1913
At Auction (uncredited)
Brutality
Movie • 1912
At Theatre
The Flapper
Movie • 2021
(archive footage)
Lillian Gish
Movie • 1984
Self
Night of 100 Stars
Movie • 1982
Self
The Great Chase
Movie • 1962
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
Movie • 1987
Self
Lionpower from MGM
Movie • 1967
Self - Mrs. Smith (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Grandma Moses
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Abby
Mr. Novak
TV • 1963
Maude Phipps
Robert Montgomery Presents
TV • 1950
Playwrights '56
TV • 1955
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
TV • 1973
Self
The Defenders
TV • 1961
Louisa Clarendon
The Defenders
TV • 1961
Mrs. Cooper
The Kennedy Center Honors
TV • 1978
Self
Hollywood
TV • 1980
Self
The Alcoa Hour
TV • 1955
Esther Crampton
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Narrator
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Carrie Watts
The Love Boat
TV • 1977
Mrs. Williams
The Dick Cavett Show
TV • 1968
Self - Guest
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
TV • 1962
Bessie Carnby
Film '72
TV • 1971
Self