Actor
· Acting
Lillian Gish
Born 1893-10-14
Died 1993-02-27
📍 Springfield, Ohio, USA
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 129
The Flapper
as (archive footage)
2021
I Am Not a Racist
as Elsie (archive footage) (uncredited)
2019
The Women Who Run Hollywood
as Self (archive footage)
2016
Night Hunter
2011
Sigrid Holmquist
as Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)
2010
Early Directors on Directing
as Self
2009
Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies
as Self (archive footage)
2008
D.W. Griffith - Years of Discovery 1909-1913
2002
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
as Lucy - The Girl (archive footage)
1998
Moving Pictures: 'The Night of the Hunter'
as Self
1995
The Making of 'The Birth of a Nation'
as Self (Archive footage)
1993
Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me
as Herself, Archive footage
1988
The Whales of August
as Sarah Webber
1987
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
as Self
1987
Sweet Liberty
as Cecelia Burgess
1986
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
as Mrs Loftus
1986
Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown
as Self (archive footage)
1986
Night of 100 Stars II
as Self
1985
Lillian Gish
as Self
1984
Hobson's Choice
as Miss Molly Winkle
1983
Hambone and Hillie
as Hillie Radcliffe
1983
Night of 100 Stars
as Self
1982
Thin Ice
as Grandmother
1981
Hollywood
as Self
1980
The Kennedy Center Honors
as Self
1978
A Wedding
as Nettie Sloan
1978
The Love Boat
as Mrs. Williams
1977
Twin Detectives
as Billy Jo Haskins
1976
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
as Self (archive footage)
1975
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1974
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
as Self
1973
Langlois
as Self
1970
Arsenic and Old Lace
as Martha Brewster
1969
The Dick Cavett Show
as Self - Guest
1968
The Comedians
as Mrs. Smith
1967
The Comedians in Africa
as Self (uncredited)
1967
Warning Shot
as Alice Willows
1967
Lionpower from MGM
as Self - Mrs. Smith (archive footage) (uncredited)
1967
Follow Me, Boys!
as Hetty Seibert
1966
Mrs. Winchester's House
as Narrator
1963
Mr. Novak
as Maude Phipps
1963
The Great Chase
1962
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
as Bessie Carnby
1962
The Spiral Staircase
as Mrs. Warren
1961
The Defenders
as Louisa Clarendon
1961
The Defenders
as Mrs. Cooper
1961
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
as Self (archive footage)
1961
The Unforgiven
as Mattilda Zachary
1960
Orders to Kill
as Mrs. Summers
1958
Tony Awards
as Self - Award Accepter
1956
Tony Awards
as Self - Presenter
1956
The Alcoa Hour
as Esther Crampton
1955
The Night of the Hunter
as Rachel Cooper
1955
The Cobweb
as Victoria Inch
1955
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
as Grandma Moses
1951
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
Portrait of Jennie
as Mother Mary of Mercy
1948
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Abby
1948
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Narrator
1948
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Carrie Watts
1948
The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self
1948
Duel in the Sun
as Laura Belle McCanles
1946
Miss Susie Slagle's
as Miss Susie Slagle
1946
Top Man
as Beth Warren
1943
Commandos Strike at Dawn
as Mrs. Bergesen
1942
His Double Life
as Alice Chalice
1933
The Movie Album
as (archive footage)
1932
One Romantic Night
as Princess Alexandra
1930
The Wind
as Letty
1928
The Enemy
as Pauli Arndt
1927
Annie Laurie
as Annie Laurie
1927
The Scarlet Letter
as Hester Prynne
1927
La Bohème
as Mimi
1926
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
as Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
1925
Romola
as Romola
1924
The White Sister
as Angela Chiaromonte
1923
From Farm to Fame
as Lillian Gish
1922
Orphans of the Storm
as Henriette Girard
1921
Screen Snapshots (Series 1, No. 20)
as Herself
1921
Way Down East
as Anna Moore
1920
The Greatest Question
as Nellie Jarvis
1919
True Heart Susie
as Susie May Trueheart
1919
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl
as Lucy Burrows
1919
A Romance of Happy Valley
as Jennie Timberlake
1919
The Greatest Thing in Life
as Jeannette Peret
1918
Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal
1918
The Great Love
as Susie Broadplains
1918
Hearts of the World
as The Girl - Marie Stephenson
1918
Souls Triumphant
as Lillian Vale
1917
The Children Pay
as Millicent
1916
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
as The Woman Who Rocks the Cradle
1916
An Innocent Magdalene
as Dorothy Raleigh
1916
Sold for Marriage
as Marfa
1916
Daphne and the Pirate
as Daphne La Tour
1916
The Lily and the Rose
as Mary Randolph
1915
Enoch Arden
as Annie Lee
1915
The Lost House
as Dosia Dale
1915
The Birth of a Nation
as Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
1915
The Sisters
as May
1914
The Tear That Burned
as Anita - the Truant
1914
The Angel of Contention
as Nettie - the Angel
1914
The Rebellion of Kitty Belle
as Kitty Belle
1914
Home, Sweet Home
as Payne's Sweetheart
1914
The Battle of the Sexes
as Jane Andrews, the daughter
1914
Judith of Bethulia
as The Young Mother
1914
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
as Melissa Harlow
1913
A Woman in the Ultimate
as Verda
1913
An Indian's Loyalty
as The Ranchero's Daughter
1913
The Mothering Heart
as The Wife
1913
A Timely Interception
as The Farmer's Daughter
1913
The House of Darkness
as The Nurse
1913
The Lady and the Mouse
as The First Sister
1913
The Little Tease
as Girl in bandana
1913
The Unwelcome Guest
as At Auction (uncredited)
1913
Oil and Water
as In First Audience (uncredited)
1913
A Cry for Help
as The Maid
1912
The Burglar’s Dilemma
as Birthday Wellwisher
1912
The New York Hat
as Customer in Shop / Outside Church
1912
Brutality
as At Theatre
1912
The Informer
as Walk on role
1912
My Baby
1912
Gold and Glitter
as The Young Woman
1912
The Musketeers of Pig Alley
as The Little Lady
1912
The Painted Lady
as Belle at Ice Cream Festival
1912
The One She Loved
1912
In the Aisles of the Wild
as The Younger Daughter
1912
So Near, Yet So Far
as A Friend
1912
Two Daughters of Eve
as In Theatre Crowd
1912
An Unseen Enemy
as Eldest Sister
1912