Cast & creator
Lillian Gish
Best known for The Love Boat, The Dick Cavett Show, Tony Awards
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.
Also known as: Lillian Diana Gish, The First Lady of American Cinema, Dorothy Elizabeth Carter, 릴리안 기쉬, 릴리안 기시
144
film credits
21
television credits
160
1912–2021 · acting roles
6.6
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (165)
Showing 165 of 165 credits
The Love Boat
Mrs. Williams
1977
The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest
1968
Tony Awards
Self - Award Accepter
1956Tony Awards
Self - Presenter
1956
The South Bank Show
1978
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Bessie Carnby
1962
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
The Defenders
Louisa Clarendon
1961The Defenders
Mrs. Cooper
1961
The Philco Television Playhouse
Abby
1948The Philco Television Playhouse
Narrator
1948The Philco Television Playhouse
Carrie Watts
1948
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
1948Film '72
Self
1971
The Kennedy Center Honors
Self
1978
Mr. Novak
Maude Phipps
1963
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Self
1973Playwrights '56
1955
The Night of the Hunter
Rachel Cooper
1955
The Alcoa Hour
Esther Crampton
1955
Hollywood
Self
1980
The Birth of a Nation
Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
1915
The Unforgiven
Mattilda Zachary
1960
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Grandma Moses
1951
Duel in the Sun
Laura Belle McCanles
1946
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mrs Loftus
1986
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
The Woman Who Rocks the Cradle
1916
Portrait of Jennie
Mother Mary of Mercy
1948
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
1925
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl
Lucy Burrows
1919
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1974
The Whales of August
Sarah Webber
1987
In the Aisles of the Wild
The Younger Daughter
1912
Night of 100 Stars II
Self
1985
Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me
Self (archive footage)
1988
Night of 100 Stars
Self
1982
Follow Me, Boys!
Hetty Seibert
1966
Warning Shot
Alice Willows
1967
The Cobweb
Victoria Inch
1955
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Self (archive footage)
1995
The Women Who Run Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
2016
Orphans of the Storm
Henriette Girard
1921
A Wedding
Nettie Sloan
1978
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
Melissa Harlow
1913
Arsenic and Old Lace
Martha Brewster
1969
Lillian Gish
Self
1984
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
Self
1987
Miss Susie Slagle's
Miss Susie Slagle
1946
The Comedians in Africa
Self (uncredited)
1967
Langlois
Self
1970
Commandos Strike at Dawn
Mrs. Bergesen
1942Sparrow
Widow
1978
Night Hunter
2011
Romola
Romola
1924
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
Self (archive footage)
1975
D.W. Griffith - Years of Discovery 1909-1913
2002Captain Macklin
Beatrice
1915
Lionpower from MGM
Self - Mrs. Smith (archive footage) (uncredited)
1967Film Fun
(archive footage)
1955
The Comedians
Mrs. Smith
1967
The Sisters
May
1914The One She Loved
1912
Moving Pictures: 'The Night of the Hunter'
Self
1995
Hearts of the World
The Girl - Marie Stephenson
1918
The White Sister
Angela Chiaromonte
1923
Sweet Liberty
Cecelia Burgess
1986
The Wind
Letty
1928
An Indian's Loyalty
The Ranchero's Daughter
1913
The New York Hat
Customer in Shop / Outside Church
1912
Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies
Self (archive footage)
2008The Folly of Anne
Anne
1914
Judith of Bethulia
The Young Mother
1914
D.W. Griffith: An American Genius
Self
1975
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Self (archive footage)
1961
Hambone and Hillie
Hillie Radcliffe
1983
The Angel of Contention
Nettie - the Angel
1914
The Musketeers of Pig Alley
The Little Lady
1912
So Near, Yet So Far
A Friend
1912
I Am Not a Racist
Elsie (archive footage) (uncredited)
2019
The Tear That Burned
Anita - the Truant
1914
Early Directors on Directing
Self
2009
Twin Detectives
Billy Jo Haskins
1976
A Cry for Help
The Maid
1912
Screen Snapshots (Series 1, No. 20)
Herself
1921
Orders to Kill
Mrs. Summers
1958Diane of the Follies
Diane
1916
A Romance of Happy Valley
Jennie Timberlake
1919
Discovering: Robert Mitchum
Self (archive footage)
2014
The House of Darkness
The Nurse
1913
The Rebellion of Kitty Belle
Kitty Belle
1914So Runs the Way
Fred's Wife
1913
Remodeling Her Husband
Director
1920Remodeling Her Husband
Scenario Writer
1920Remodeling Her Husband
Story
1920
Top Man
Beth Warren
1943
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
Lucy - The Girl (archive footage)
1998
The Burglar’s Dilemma
Birthday Wellwisher
1912
The Battle of the Sexes
Jane Andrews, the daughter
1914
The Greatest Thing in Life
Jeannette Peret
1918The Greatest Thing in Life
Story
1918Madonna of the Storm
The Mother
1913Just Gold
The First Brother's Sweetheart
1913
Home, Sweet Home
Payne's Sweetheart
1914
Way Down East
Anna Moore
1920
Brutality
At Theatre
1912
Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown
Self (archive footage)
1986The Trip to Bountiful
Carrie Watts
1953
The Silent Feminists: America's First Women Directors
Thanks
1993
The Making of 'The Birth of a Nation'
Self (Archive footage)
1993The Left-Handed Man
The Old Soldier's Daughter
1913The Conscience of Hassan Bey
The Rugmaker's Daughter
1913
The Lily and the Rose
Mary Randolph
1915During the Round-Up
The Ranchero's Daughter
1913
One Romantic Night
Princess Alexandra
1930A Duel for Love
1914
Sigrid Holmquist
Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)
2010
The Flapper
(archive footage)
2021
A Woman in the Ultimate
Verda
1913
Daphne and the Pirate
Daphne La Tour
1916
Hobson's Choice
Miss Molly Winkle
1983The Green-Eyed Devil
Mary Miller
1914
True Heart Susie
Susie May Trueheart
1919A Modest Hero
The Wife
1913
The Great Love
Susie Broadplains
1918
Two Daughters of Eve
In Theatre Crowd
1912
The Lady and the Mouse
The First Sister
1913
Oil and Water
In First Audience (uncredited)
1913
Gold and Glitter
The Young Woman
1912The House Built Upon Sand
Evelyn Dare
1916
The Spiral Staircase
Mrs. Warren
1961
The Enemy
Pauli Arndt
1927
His Double Life
Alice Chalice
1933
The Children Pay
Millicent
1916
The Scarlet Letter
Hester Prynne
1927
La Bohème
Mimi
1926The Stolen Bride
1913
The Informer
Walk on role
1912
The Movie Album
(archive footage)
1932
Sold for Marriage
Marfa
1916The Blue or the Gray
1913
The Painted Lady
Belle at Ice Cream Festival
1912
An Unseen Enemy
Eldest Sister
1912
The Mothering Heart
The Wife
1913
Thin Ice
Grandmother
1981
Mrs. Winchester's House
Narrator
1963
Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal
1918
The Great Chase
1962A Misunderstood Boy
The Daughter
1913
An Innocent Magdalene
Dorothy Raleigh
1916
The Unwelcome Guest
At Auction (uncredited)
1913
From Farm to Fame
Lillian Gish
1922
Enoch Arden
Annie Lee
1915
Annie Laurie
Annie Laurie
1927
Souls Triumphant
Lillian Vale
1917
A Timely Interception
The Farmer's Daughter
1913
The Greatest Question
Nellie Jarvis
1919
The Little Tease
Girl in bandana
1913His Lesson
Participant in Mob Scene (uncredited)
1915Lord Chumley
Eleanor Butterworth
1914The Quicksands
1914
My Baby
1912The Hunchback
The Orphan - as an Adult
1914
The Lost House
Dosia Dale
1915Pathways of Life
1916Man's Enemy
Grace Lisle
1914