Lillian Diana Gish 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. Her father left the family her mother,her younger sister Dorothy and her when she was old enough not to remember anything. Then her mother took acting just to take care of the family. Dorothy and Lillian started acting when they were in their early teens.
Lillian went on to star in many of Griffith's most acclaimed films, including The Birth of a Nation (as Elsie), Intolerance,Broken Blossoms, Way Down East and Orphans of the Storm. One of the enduring images of Gish's silent film years is the climax of the melodramatic Way Down East (1920), in which Gish's character floats unconscious on an ice floe towards a raging waterfall, her long hair trailing in the water. Having appeared in over 25 short films and features in her first two years as a movie actress, Lillian became a major star, becoming known as "The First Lady of the Silent Screen" and appearing in lavish productions, frequently of literary works such as The Scarlet Letter.
She directed one film, Remodeling Her Husband, when D. W. Griffith took his unit on location—he told Gish that he thought the crew would work harder for a girl. Gish apparently preferred to remain in front of the camera rather than behind it, since she never directed again. She told reporters at the time that directing was a man's job.Gish was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1946 for Duel in the Sun.Her most acclaimed television work was starring in the original production of The Trip to Bountiful in 1953.Gish received a Special Academy Award in 1971 "For superlative artistry and for distinguished contribution to the progress of motion pictures."
Gish never got married or had children. People rumored that she had a romantic relationship with D. W. Griffith.She was an active member of the America First Committee, an anti-intervention organization founded by retired General Robert E. Wood with aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh as its leading spokesman. She said she was blacklisted by the film and theater industries until she signed a contract in which she promised to cease her anti-interventionist activities and never disclose the fact that she had agreed to do so.
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October 14, 1893
Springfield, Ohio, U.S.
New York, , U.S.
Lillian Diana Gish 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.
Her father left the family her mother,her younger sister Dorothy and her when she was old enough not to remember anything. Then her mother took acting just to take care of the family. Dorothy and Lillian started acting when they were in their early teens.
Lillian went on to star in many of Griffith's most acclaimed films, including The Birth of a Nation (as Elsie), Intolerance,Broken Blossoms, Way Down East and Orphans of the Storm. One of the enduring images of Gish's silent film years is the climax of the melodramatic Way Down East (1920), in which Gish's character floats unconscious on an ice floe towards a raging waterfall, her long hair trailing in the water.
Having appeared in over 25 short films and features in her first two years as a movie actress, Lillian became a major star, becoming known as "The First Lady of the Silent Screen" and appearing in lavish productions, frequently of literary works such as The Scarlet Letter.
She directed one film, Remodeling Her Husband, when D. W. Griffith took his unit on location—he told Gish that he thought the crew would work harder for a girl. Gish apparently preferred to remain in front of the camera rather than behind it, since she never directed again. She told reporters at the time that directing was a man's job.Gish was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1946 for Duel in the Sun.Her most acclaimed television work was starring in the original production of The Trip to Bountiful in 1953.Gish received a Special Academy Award in 1971 "For superlative artistry and for distinguished contribution to the progress of motion pictures."
Her last film role was in The Whales of August in 1987 at the age of 93, with Vincent Price, Bette Davis and Ann Sothern, in which she and Davis starred as elderly sisters in Maine.
Gish never got married or had children. People rumored that she had a romantic relationship with D. W. Griffith.She was an active member of the America First Committee, an anti-intervention organization founded by retired General Robert E. Wood with aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh as its leading spokesman. She said she was blacklisted by the film and theater industries until she signed a contract in which she promised to cease her anti-interventionist activities and never disclose the fact that she had agreed to do so.
Timeline:
1915-her leading role in Griffith's seminal Birth of a Nation
1920-One of the enduring images of Gish's silent film years is the climax of the melodramatic Way Down East
1928-MGM released her from her contract after the failure of The Wind
1936-roles as varied as Ophelia in Guthrie McClintic's landmark
1946- roles in the controversial western Duel in the Sun
1953-acclaimed television work was starring in the original production of The Trip to Bountiful
1955- the offbeat thriller Night of the Hunter
1965- She appeared as Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna in the short-lived Broadway musical Anya.
1971-Gish received a Special Academy Award
1975-she hosted The Silent Years, a PBS film program of silent films
1984-she received an American Film InstituteLifetime Achievement Award
1987-for the first time, opposite Bette Davis in The Whales of August
Bibliography :
Lillian Gish,Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Gish, December 20,2010
Making Movies, 1920,EyeWitness to History - history through the eyes of those who lived it, http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gish.htm,
December 20,2010