Lillian Gish was born under the birth name of Lillian de Guiche on October 14, 1893 in Springfield, Ohio. Her father was an alcoholic who caroused around, rarely at home, leaving the family to more or less to fend for themselves. To help make ends meet, Lillian, her sister Dorothy, and their mother 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, Lillian 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. But ultimately, she found her way onto the silver screen.
In 1912, Lillian met the famed director from Kentucky, D.W. Griffith. Impressed with what he saw, he immediately cast her in what was to be her first film, AN UNSEEN ENEMY followed by THE ONE SHE LOVED and MY BABY. She would make twelve films for Griffith in 1912, with many more on the horizon.
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. She wasn't making a large number of films that she had 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, Lillian appeared in another Griffith classic, INTOLERANCE.
By the early twenties she was on her way down. As in anything else, be it sports or politics, new faces appeared on the scene to replace the "old". Lillian was no different. As a matter of fact, she didn't appear at all on the silver screen in 1922, 1925, or 1929. In fact, 1926 was her busiest of the decade with roles in LA BOHEME and THE SCARLET LETTER.
As the decade wound to a close, sound motion pictures was replacing the silent ones. This wasn't to say that Lillian was idle during her time away from the silver screen. She appeared in stage productions to the rave of the public and critics alike.
After filming HIS DOUBLE LIFE in 1933, Lillian was away from celluloid for ten years. When she did return in 1943, she played in two big screen films, COMMANDOS STRIKE AT DAWN and TOP MAN. It was as though she had never been away. Although she would not garner the attention she had in her early career, Lillian still proved she could hold her own with the best of them. As a matter of fact, she did get an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her role of Laura Belle McCanles in DUEL IN THE SUN released in 1946. She lost to Anne Baxter in THE RAZOR'S EDGE.
Throughout the fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties, Lillian would, from time to time, appear in movies both theatrical and television. One of the best was in 1955's THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. In 1969, Lillian published her autobiography, "The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me".
In 1987, she made what was to be her last motion picture, entitled THE WHALES OF AUGUST. From 1912 to 1987, films involving Lillian Gish would come to symbolize quality. Her work record of 75 years is almost unbeatable in any field.
On February 27, 1993, Lillian
died peacefully in her sleep in New York City. She was 99 years old.
Lillian Gish Pics are here!
Lillian Pic 1
Lillian Pic 2
Lillian Pic 3
Lillian Pic 4
Lillian Pic 5
Lillian Pic 6
Click here to go to Carole Landis
Email me if you have any info!!
© 1998 Denny C. Jackson dejackso@iglou.com
Get your own Free Home Page
