Lillian Gish
USABiography of Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish was born on October 14, 1896, in the United States. At the age of five, she made her debut on stage. In 1912, she starred alongside her younger sister Dorothy in D.W. Griffith's film "An Unseen Enemy." Lillian Gish's delicate and tender beauty perfectly suited the noble and feminine characters portrayed by this director. Under Griffith's guidance, she became the most significant actress of American silent cinema, appearing in a long list of his productions, including films such as "The Birth Of A Nation" (1915), "Intolerance" (1916), "Hearts Of The World" (1918), "Broken Blossoms" (1919), "Way Down East" (1920), and "Orphans Of The Storm" (1922).
Independence and Success
In the 1920s, Lillian Gish began to independently choose scripts and directors, achieving an unimaginable level of subtlety and depth in psychological portrayal in silent films such as "La Bohème" (1926), "The Scarlet Letter" (1926), and "The Wind" (1928). In 1930, she returned to the stage, performing in plays by Chekhov, Dumas, and Shakespeare. Only from 1943 did she occasionally appear in films again, including "Duel In The Sun" (1947), "The Night Of The Hunter" (1955), "The Comedians" (1966), "A Wedding" (1978), and "The Whales Of August" (1987).
Recognition and Awards
Lillian Gish was honored with an honorary Academy Award in 1970 and received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984 for her overall contribution to the industry.
