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.
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National Board of Review Awards
Best Actress
Known For
Way Down East
(1920)
Anna Moore
The Night of the Hunter
(1955)
Rachel Cooper
The Unforgiven
(1960)
Mattilda Zachary
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
(1916)
The Woman Who Rocks the Cradle
A Wedding
(1978)
Nettie Sloan
The Birth of a Nation
(1915)
Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
Duel in the Sun
(1946)
Laura Belle McCanles
The Wind
(1928)
Letty
AFI Life Achievement Award: 50th Anniversary Special
(2023)
Self (archive footage)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
(1925)
Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
Follow Me, Boys!
(1966)
Hetty Seibert
The Love Goddesses
(1965)
(archive footage)
The Comedians
(1967)
Mrs. Smith
Broken Blossoms
(1919)
Lucy Burrows
The Whales of August
(1987)
Sarah Webber
Orphans of the Storm
(1921)
Henriette Girard
Full Filmography
Acting
The One She Loved
(1912)
The Burglar’s Dilemma
(1912)
Birthday Wellwisher
So Near, Yet So Far
(1912)
A Friend
A Cry for Help
(1912)
The Maid
In the Aisles of the Wild
(1912)
The Younger Daughter
The Painted Lady
(1912)
Belle at Ice Cream Festival
The New York Hat
(1912)
Customer in Shop / Outside Church
Two Daughters of Eve
(1912)
In Theatre Crowd
Gold and Glitter
(1912)
The Young Woman
The Musketeers of Pig Alley
(1912)
The Little Lady
Brutality
(1912)
At Theatre
My Baby
(1912)
The Informer
(1912)
Walk on role
An Unseen Enemy
(1912)
Eldest Sister
The Stolen Bride
(1913)
A Modest Hero
(1913)
The Wife
The Unwelcome Guest
(1913)
At Auction (uncredited)
The Blue or the Gray
(1913)
Oil and Water
(1913)
In First Audience (uncredited)
A Misunderstood Boy
(1913)
The Daughter
The Little Tease
(1913)
Girl in bandana
The Mothering Heart
(1913)
The Wife
The House of Darkness
(1913)
The Nurse
Just Gold
(1913)
The First Brother's Sweetheart
The Lady and the Mouse
(1913)
The First Sister
So Runs the Way
(1913)
Fred's Wife
A Timely Interception
(1913)
The Farmer's Daughter
During the Round-Up
(1913)
The Ranchero's Daughter
The Left-Handed Man
(1913)
The Old Soldier's Daughter
A Woman in the Ultimate
(1913)
Verda
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
(1913)
Melissa Harlow
The Conscience of Hassan Bey
(1913)
The Rugmaker's Daughter
Madonna of the Storm
(1913)
The Mother
An Indian's Loyalty
(1913)
The Ranchero's Daughter
The Angel of Contention
(1914)
Nettie - the Angel
Home, Sweet Home
(1914)
Payne's Sweetheart
The Rebellion of Kitty Belle
(1914)
Kitty Belle
The Hunchback
(1914)
The Orphan - as an Adult
The Battle of the Sexes
(1914)
Jane Andrews, the daughter
The Tear That Burned
(1914)
Anita - the Truant
Judith of Bethulia
(1914)
The Young Mother
The Green-Eyed Devil
(1914)
Mary Miller
The Folly of Anne
(1914)
Anne
The Quicksands
(1914)
Man's Enemy
(1914)
Grace Lisle
The Sisters
(1914)
May
A Duel for Love
(1914)
Lord Chumley
(1914)
Eleanor Butterworth
The Lily and the Rose
(1915)
Mary Randolph
Enoch Arden
(1915)
Annie Lee
His Lesson
(1915)
Participant in Mob Scene (uncredited)
Captain Macklin
(1915)
Beatrice
The Birth of a Nation
(1915)
Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
The Lost House
(1915)
Dosia Dale
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
(1916)
The Woman Who Rocks the Cradle
The Children Pay
(1916)
Millicent
Diane of the Follies
(1916)
Diane
The House Built Upon Sand
(1916)
Evelyn Dare
Daphne and the Pirate
(1916)
Daphne La Tour
An Innocent Magdalene
(1916)
Dorothy Raleigh
Pathways of Life
(1916)
Sold for Marriage
(1916)
Marfa
Souls Triumphant
(1917)
Lillian Vale
The Great Love
(1918)
Susie Broadplains
Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal
(1918)
The Greatest Thing in Life
(1918)
Jeannette Peret
Hearts of the World
(1918)
The Girl - Marie Stephenson
The Greatest Question
(1919)
Nellie Jarvis
A Romance of Happy Valley
(1919)
Jennie Timberlake
True Heart Susie
(1919)
Susie May Trueheart
Broken Blossoms
(1919)
Lucy Burrows
Way Down East
(1920)
Anna Moore
Screen Snapshots (Series 1, No. 20)
(1921)
Herself
Orphans of the Storm
(1921)
Henriette Girard
From Farm to Fame
(1922)
Lillian Gish
The White Sister
(1923)
Angela Chiaromonte
Romola
(1924)
Romola
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
(1925)
Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
La Bohème
(1926)
Mimi
The Enemy
(1927)
Pauli Arndt
Annie Laurie
(1927)
Annie Laurie
The Scarlet Letter
(1927)
Hester Prynne
The Wind
(1928)
Letty
One Romantic Night
(1930)
Princess Alexandra
His Double Life
(1933)
Alice Chalice
Commandos Strike at Dawn
(1942)
Mrs. Bergesen
Top Man
(1943)
Beth Warren
Miss Susie Slagle's
(1946)
Miss Susie Slagle
Duel in the Sun
(1946)
Laura Belle McCanles
Portrait of Jennie
(1948)
Mother Mary of Mercy
The Trip to Bountiful
(1953)
Carrie Watts
The Cobweb
(1955)
Victoria Inch
The Night of the Hunter
(1955)
Rachel Cooper
Film Fun
(1955)
(archive footage)
Orders to Kill
(1958)
Mrs. Summers
The Unforgiven
(1960)
Mattilda Zachary
The Spiral Staircase
(1961)
Mrs. Warren
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
(1961)
Self (archive footage)
Mrs. Winchester's House
(1963)
Narrator
The Love Goddesses
(1965)
(archive footage)
Follow Me, Boys!
(1966)
Hetty Seibert
The Comedians in Africa
(1967)
Self (uncredited)
The Comedians
(1967)
Mrs. Smith
Warning Shot
(1967)
Alice Willows
Arsenic and Old Lace
(1969)
Martha Brewster
Langlois
(1970)
Self
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
(1975)
Self (archive footage)
Twin Detectives
(1976)
Billy Jo Haskins
A Wedding
(1978)
Nettie Sloan
Thin Ice
(1981)
Grandmother
Night of 100 Stars
(1982)
Self
Hobson's Choice
(1983)
Miss Molly Winkle
Hambone and Hillie
(1983)
Hillie Radcliffe
Lillian Gish
(1983)
Herself
Night of 100 Stars II
(1985)
Self
Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown
(1986)
Self (archive footage)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(1986)
Mrs Loftus
Sweet Liberty
(1986)
Cecelia Burgess
The Whales of August
(1987)
Sarah Webber
Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me
(1988)
Herself, Archive footage
Moving Pictures: 'The Night of the Hunter'
(1995)
Self
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
(1998)
Lucy - The Girl (archive footage)
Charles Laughton Directs 'The Night of the Hunter'
(2002)
Self (archive footage)
D.W. Griffith - Years of Discovery 1909-1913
(2002)
Cannes: All Access
(2007)
Self (archive footage)
Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies
(2008)
Self (archive footage)
Sigrid Holmquist
(2010)
Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)
Night Hunter
(2011)
And the Oscar Goes To...
(2014)
Self (archive footage)
The Women Who Run Hollywood
(2016)
Herself (archive footage)
The Flapper
(2021)
(archival footage)
AFI Life Achievement Award: 50th Anniversary Special
(2023)
Self (archive footage)
Writing
Directing
Crew