Lillian Gish
Known For
Acting
Born
1893-10-14 in Springfield, Ohio, USA
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.
Most Known For
The Love Boat
as Mrs. Williams
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
as Bessie Carnby
The Dick Cavett Show
as Self - Guest
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Abby
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Narrator
The Philco Television Playhouse
as Carrie Watts
Robert Montgomery Presents
The Defenders
as Louisa Clarendon
The Defenders
as Mrs. Cooper
The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self
The Kennedy Center Honors
as Self
Mr. Novak
as Maude Phipps
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
as Self
Film '72
as Self
The Alcoa Hour
as Esther Crampton
The Night of the Hunter
as Rachel Cooper
Playwrights '56
Lillian Gish
as Self
Duel in the Sun
as Laura Belle McCanles
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
as Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)