Actors - Lillian Gish

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	Actors - Lillian Gish

Lillian Diana de Guiche (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993), was an Oscar-nominated American actress, better known as Lillian Gish.

Early life

Gish was born in Springfield, Ohio, the elder sister of actress Dorothy Gish. The sisters' mother, Mary Robinson McConnell (an Episcopalian), began acting in order to support the family after her husband, James Leigh Gish (who was of German Lutheran descent), abandoned them. When Lillian and Dorothy were old enough, they joined her act. They also took modeling jobs. In 1912, their friend Mary Pickford introduced the sisters to D.W. Griffith, and she got them contracts with Biograph Studios.

Career

Their first role was in Griffith's short film An Unseen Enemy. Lillian went on to star in many of Griffith's most acclaimed films, among these The Birth of a Nation
, Intolerance, Broken Blossoms
, Way Down East, and Orphans of the Storm.

Having appeared in over 25 short films and features in her first two years as a movie actress, Lillian became a major star, becoming known as "The First Lady of the Silent Screen" and appearing in lavish productions, frequently of literary works such as The Scarlet Letter (1926). MGM released her from her contract in 1928 after the failure of The Wind
, now recognized by many as among her finest performances and the most distinguished works of the late silent period.

With her debut in talkies only moderately successful, she acted on the stage for the most part in the 1930s and early 1940s, appearing with distinction in roles as varied as Ophelia in Guthrie McClintic's landmark 1936 production of Hamlet (with John Gielgud and Judith Anderson) and Marguerite in a limited run of La Dame aux Camélias. Of the former, she said, with pride, "I played a lewd Ophelia!," contrasting the role with the virginal "ga-ga babies" she had tired of portraying on screen.

Returning to movies, Gish was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1946 for Duel in the Sun
. She appeared in films from time to time for the rest of her life, in 1971 winning a special Academy Award "For superlative artistry and for distinguished contribution to the progress of motion pictures." In 1984 she received an American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1720 Vine Street.

Her last film role was in The Whales of August
in 1987 at the age of 93, with Vincent Price, Bette Davis, who was dying of cancer and behaving badly, if understandably, and Ann Sothern, who earned her only Academy Award nomination for her final film performance. When Gish herself did not receive an Oscar nomination for the role, she said, "At least I won't have to lose to Cher." (Cher did win that year, for Moonstruck)

Her final professional appearance was a cameo on the 1988 all-star studio recording of Jerome Kern's Show Boat
, in which she affectingly spoke the few lines of The Old Lady on the Levee in the final scene. The last words of her century-spanning career: "Good night, dear."

Private Life

The association between Gish and Griffith was so close that some suspected a romantic connection, an issue never acknowledged by Gish although several of their associates were certain they were at least briefly involved. She was involved in many alleged relationships, including affairs with Charles Duell (a producer), fellow Griffith protégé Robert Harron, and the drama critic and editor George Jean Nathan. Gish's association with Duell was something of a tabloid scandal in the 1920s after he sued her and made the details of their relationship public.

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Actors - Lillian Gish

Early life

Career

Private Life

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