Lillian Diana Gish
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Film credits
9
Awards
Lillian Gish made her screen debut in 1912 in D.W. Griffith’s An Unseen Enemy and quickly became a top star with The Birth of a Nation 1915 and Intolerance 1916. Her 75-year career included starring roles in The Night of the Hunter 1955 and The Whales of August 1987. She never married, died at age 99 in 1993, and received an Academy Honorary Award in 1971.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Lillian Gish — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Lillian Gish by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Lillian Gish — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
At age six in 1899, Lillian Gish first performed on stage in Springfield, Ohio, alongside her sister Dorothy Gish and their mother Mary Gish. The family had been abandoned by James Leigh Gish, Lillian’s alcoholic father, forcing them to fend for themselves through acting. For the next 13 years, Lillian and Dorothy appeared in stage productions with great success, building the foundation for a film career that began when they met director D.W. Griffith in 1912.
In 1912, D.W. Griffith cast Lillian Gish in her first film, An Unseen Enemy 1912, followed by 11 more films that year. By 1915 she was starring as Elsie Stoneman in Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, and the next year she appeared in Intolerance 1916. After a slowdown in the 1920s, she made The Scarlet Letter 1926 and La Bohème 1926. She earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Duel in the Sun 1946. One of her most notable roles came in 1955 in The Night of the Hunter, the only film directed by Charles Laughton. Her final film was The Whales of August 1987.
Lillian Gish never married or had children. She maintained a close relationship with her sister Dorothy Gish and childhood friend Mary Pickford. She had a romantic partnership with critic George Jean Nathan and was associated with the Algonquin Round Table through friendships with H.L. Mencken and Dorothy Parker. In her memoirs, she recalled living on box lunches of cheese sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs during the silent film era.
In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lillian Gish #19 on its list of the 50 Greatest American Female Screen Legends. She received an Academy Honorary Award in 1971 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1984. Seven of her films are preserved in the National Film Registry, including The Birth of a Nation 1915 and The Night of the Hunter 1955. The rock band The Smashing Pumpkins named their debut album Gish after her. She is remembered as the First Lady of American Cinema for her work in silent film and her 75-year career.
The complete filmography of Lillian Gish — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Lillian Gish — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Lillian Gish — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Lionel Barrymore First Played My Grandfather, Later My Father, and Finally, He Played My Husband. If He’d Lived, I’m Sure I Would 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.
Those Little Virgins, After Five Minutes You Got Sick of Playing Them to Make Them More Interesting Was Hard Work.
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.
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.
Little-known facts about Lillian Gish — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
She learned to shoot from outlaw Al J. Jennings, and later surprised John Huston and Burt Lancaster with her marksmanship while preparing for The Unforgiven 1960.
Her entire estate, valued at several million dollars, was left to Helen Hayes, who died 18 days after Gish.
Mary Pickford avoided being alone with Lillian Gish due to her mother’s belief that the good die young.
After parting with D.W. Griffith, she joined MGM in 1925 but was dropped when Greta Garbo emerged; MGM had Garbo watch Gish on the set of The Scarlet Letter 1926 as part of her apprenticeship.
She maintained a very close relationship with her sister Dorothy Gish and Mary Pickford for her entire life, and never married or had children.
While shooting Way Down East 1920, she lay on an ice floe for hours, permanently damaging the nerves in her wrist from immersion in freezing water.
In their first film for D.W. Griffith, he tied different colored hair ribbons on Lillian and Dorothy to tell them apart.
At her 1984 AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony, John Houseman claimed she and Dorothy Gish passed up buying the Sunset Strip for $300 to buy two dresses instead.
The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Film Theater was dedicated at Bowling Green State University in 1976; it was renamed in 2019 due to protests over The Birth of a Nation.
The Museum of Modern Art in New York screens at least one of her films every year on her birthday, October 14.
John Gilbert deliberately messed up love scenes with her in La Bohème 1926 so he could keep kissing her.
She was originally a member of the America First Committee, resigning months before Pearl Harbor; she later wrote a letter titled I made War Propaganda.
She was filmed for a scene in Woody Allen’s Zelig 1983 but scolded cinematographer Gordon Willis on lighting and gave him instructions; the scene was cut.
The debut album of the rock band The Smashing Pumpkins was named Gish after her.
She was related on her mother’s side to U.S. President Zachary Taylor.
She always referred to D.W. Griffith as Mr. Griffith until her death in 1993.
She said she could not eat a sandwich after years of box lunches consisting of cheese sandwich, hard-boiled egg, fruit, and milk.
Her film career spanned 75 years, from An Unseen Enemy 1912 to The Whales of August 1987.
She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
In 1984 she received the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.
She kept a supply of gold christening rings to send to newborn daughters named Lillian after her.
She was interred beside her sister Dorothy Gish at Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York City.
Seven of her films are in the National Film Registry: The Musketeers of Pig Alley 1912, The Birth of a Nation 1915, Intolerance 1916, Broken Blossoms 1919, Ben-Hur 1925, The Wind 1928, and The Night of the Hunter 1955.
At her death, she was less than 8 months away from becoming a centenarian.
She was the sister of Dorothy Gish and daughter of Mary Gish.
She never appeared in a film nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.
In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked her #19 on its list of the 50 Greatest American Female Screen Legends.
She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1720 Vine Street on February 8, 1960.
She strongly denied that The Birth of a Nation 1915 was racist until her death.
She was of English, French and German heritage.
She autographed an 8mm copy of her film The Battle of Elderbush Gulch 1913 for a young filmmaker named Harry McDevitt.
She and Eva Marie Saint starred in the original television and stage versions of Trip to Bountiful and had great respect for each other.
She met and admired Benito Mussolini during a visit to Italy.
Both sisters returned to screen after Broadway success: Dorothy in Our Hearts Were Young and Gay and Lillian in Miss Susie Slagle’s.
She considered her two big mistakes turning down the role of Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire and the play Arsenic and Old Lace.
Mary Pickford, whom she knew as child actress Gladys Smith, introduced her and Dorothy to D.W. Griffith.
She was the elder of two sisters who went on stage at 5 and remained in show business for life.
During the filming of Way Down East 1920, she lay on an ice floe 20 times a day for three weeks; four people died during filming.
She once filmed in the Mojave Desert in such heat that she lost flesh from her hand on a car door handle.
With the arrival of talkies, she left Hollywood for New York and spent the rest of her life there.
She became associated with the Algonquin Round Table through her romantic partner George Jean Nathan and friends H.L. Mencken and Dorothy Parker.
Her mother took to the stage to support her daughters during the frequent absences of her husband.
Her closest friend was actress Colleen Moore.
She was considered for the role of Ellen O’Hara in Gone with the Wind 1939.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Lillian Gish.
Celebrities similar to Lillian Gish — same craft, ranked by reach.
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