Lillian Gish

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Lillian Gish (1973)

Lillian Diana Gish (born October 14, 1893 in Springfield , Ohio , as Lillian Diana de Guiche , † February 27, 1993 in New York ) was an American actress . Her film career lasted from 1912 to 1987. She was one of the greatest female stars of the silent film era in Hollywood, where she was best known for her long collaboration with DW Griffith on such films as The Birth of a Nation . Gish was awarded an honorary Oscar at the 1971 Academy Awardsexcellent. As one of the first film stars, she recognized the differences between film and theater acting and cultivated an art of representation that was unusually natural and subtle in early film.

Life

Mary Gish with her two daughters in the early 1900s

Lillian Gish first appeared on stage in 1902 at the age of nine. Together with her mother Mary McConnell Gish (1876-1948) and her sister Dorothy , she went on tour of America and landed in New York in 1905. In order to escape the constant poverty, the sisters tried as teenagers, supported by their mother, to gain a foothold in the fledgling film business. The father was an alcoholic and had left the family.

In 1912 they auditioned at the Biograph Company for David Wark Griffith , who was so impressed by their intense playing that he immediately cast them for his next film. Gish made a total of 25 films for Biograph , which made her one of the greatest female silent film stars alongside Mary Pickford . Her major appearances under the direction of Griffiths include roles in The Birth of a Nation , Broken Blossoms , True Heart Susie , Far To The East and Two Orphans In The Storm . In Intolerance , Gish starred in the supporting role of the Eternal Mother . After ending her collaboration with Griffith, Gish initially produced two films herself and switched to the newly formed MGM in 1925 . She was considered the main star of the studio, even before Marion Davies . The prestige was also evident in the great financial outlay with which their films were produced. Gish was also known as The First Lady of American Cinema at the height of her success . In addition, Gish proved to be an important pioneer of film acting:

“Lilian Gish was the first real actress in the film industry. A pioneer of fundamental film acting techniques, she was the first star to recognize the many crucial differences between acting for the theater and acting for the big screen; and while her colleagues brought their representations forward with extravagant, dramatic thrusts, Gish delivered finely etched, nuanced performances that had a formidable emotional impact. (...) Their seemingly elven fragility hid unseen reserves of physical and mental strength; more than any other early star, she struggled to bring film recognition as a true art form, and her accomplishments became the standard against which all other actors are measured. "

- All Movie Guide
Lillian Gish (1915)

In the early 1920s her last work was done with Griffith and she then worked successfully on two films with director Henry King . In 1926 Gish worked under King Vidor with John Gilbert in La Boheme and later that year turned the literary film adaptation of The Scarlet Letter . Both films were financially successful. However, the advent of Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer changed their weight in the studio hierarchy. Her last artistic, albeit not financial, success as a leading actress was in Der Wind , directed by Victor Sjöström, in 1928 , in which she portrays a young, sensitive woman who slowly goes mad and kills a man in self-defense. With the advent of talkies in the late 1920s, public tastes changed very quickly. Gish now became a representative of a bygone era in the eyes of the audience and appeared in films only at irregular intervals for the next six decades. All the more she worked at the theater again. Politically, Gish was a Republican and supported Warren G. Harding , Calvin Coolidge and Herbert C. Hoover , among others. The pacifist was also involved in the America First Committee , an isolationist movement that sought to prevent the United States from participating in World War II in 1940/41 .

In Vidor's Western Duel in the Sun , Gish played Lionel Barrymore, a couple whose sons, played by Gregory Peck and Joseph Cotten , are in love with the same girl. Her appearance earned the actress at the 1947 Academy Awards nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress . Since the early 1950s, Gish has also been featured in television roles. In 1955, she defended two children from a murderer played by Robert Mitchum in Charles Laughton's thriller The Hunter's Night . In the following years, Gish played, among others, with Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn in John Huston's Unforgiven . In Robert Altman's star-studded society satire A Wedding , Gish played an old lady whose unexpected death overshadowed the eponymous wedding. She took on her last film role - at the age of 93 - alongside Bette Davis in the old age drama Wale in August (1987), for which she was awarded the Best Actress Award by the National Board of Review .

At the 1971 Academy Awards , Gish received an honorary Oscar for her life's work. In the 1970s, she increasingly advocated the preservation of cinematic heritage and the restoration of silent films. She has written numerous books about her work with Griffith, in which she emphasized its importance for the technical and artistic development of the film. To this end, she gave lectures in universities and film clubs. Gish published several books of memoirs. She was never married and had no children, but had a relationship with the theater critic George Jean Nathan , among others . Seven months before her 100th birthday, she died of heart failure in 1993.

A star on Hollywood Boulevard at 1720 Vine Street commemorates the actress. The prestigious Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize is named after her and her sister .

Filmography (selection)

Lillian Gish (around 1930), picture by Ruth Harriet Louise
Lillian Gish in Paris (1983)
  • 1912: An Unseen Enemy (short film)
  • 1912: Two Daughters of Eve (short film)
  • 1912: So Near, Yet So Far (short film)
  • 1912: In the Aisles of the Wild (short film)
  • 1912: The Painted Lady (short film)
  • 1912: The Musketeers of Pig Alley (short film)
  • 1912: Gold and Glitter (short film)
  • 1912: My Baby (short film)
  • 1912: Brutality (short film)
  • 1912: The New York Hat (short film)
  • 1912: The Burglar's Dilemma (short film)
  • 1912: A Cry for Help (short film)
  • 1913: Oil and Water (short film)
  • 1913: The Unwelcome Guest (short film)
  • 1913: A Misunderstood Boy (short film)
  • 1913: The Left − Handed Man (short film)
  • 1913: The Lady and the Mouse (short film)
  • 1913: The House of Darkness (short film)
  • 1913: Just Gold (short film)
  • 1913: A Timely Interception (short film)
  • 1913: The Mothering Heart (short film)
  • 1913: During the Round-Up (short film)
  • 1913: An Indian's Loyalty (short film)
  • 1913: A Woman in the Ultimate (short film)
  • 1913: A Modest Hero (short film)
  • 1913: So Runs the Way (short film)
  • 1913: Madonna of the Storm (short film)
  • 1913: The Conscience of Hassan Bey (short film)
  • 1913: The Orphans of the Settlement ( The Battle of Elderbush Gulch , short film)
  • 1913: The Battle of Elderbush Gulch
  • 1914: The Green − Eyed Devil (short film)
  • 1914: Judith of Bethulia
  • 1914: The Hunchback (short film)
  • 1914: The Battle of the Sexes
  • 1914: The Quicksands (short film)
  • 1914: Home, Sweet Home
  • 1914: The Rebellion of Kitty Belle (short film)
  • 1914: Lord Chumley (short film)
  • 1914: The Angel of Contention (short film)
  • 1914: Man's Enemy (short film)
  • 1914: The Tear That Burned (short film)
  • 1914: The Folly of Anne (short film)
  • 1914: The Sisters (short film)
  • 1914: A Duel for Love (short film)
  • 1914: Judith of Bethulien (Judith of Bethulia)
  • 1915: His Lesson (short film)
  • 1915: The Birth of a Nation (The Birth of a Nation)
  • 1915: The Lost House (short film, Lost)
  • 1915: Enoch Arden (short film)
  • 1915: Captain Macklin (short film, missing)
  • 1914: The Lily and the Rose
  • 1916: Daphne and the Pirate (short film)
  • 1916: Sold for Marriage (short film)
  • 1916: To Innocent Magdalene (short film, missing)
  • 1916: Intolerance (Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages)
  • 1916: Diane of the Follies
  • 1916: The Children Pay
  • 1916: The House Built Upon Sand
  • 1916: Pathways of Life (short film)
  • 1917: Souls Triumphant (missing)
  • 1918: Hearts of the World
  • 1918: The Great Love
  • 1918: Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal (short film, Lost)
  • 1918: The Greatest Thing in Life
  • 1919: A Romance of Happy Valley
  • 1919: Broken Blossoms (Broken Blossoms)
  • 1919: True Heart Susie
  • 1919: The Greatest Question
  • 1920: Remodeling Her Husband (as a director, missing)
  • 1920: Far to the east (Way Down East)
  • 1921: Orphans of the Storm (Orphans of the Storm)
  • 1923: The White Sister (The White Sister)
  • 1924: The Wedding of Florence (Romola)
  • 1925: Ben Hur
  • 1926: La Boheme
  • 1926: The Red Letter (The Scarlet Letter)
  • 1927: Annie Laurie - A Hero Song of the Highlands (Annie Laurie)
  • 1927: The Heartbeat of the World (The Enemy)
  • 1928: The wind (The wind)
  • 1930: One Romantic Night
  • 1933: His Double Life
  • 1942: Commandos Strike at Dawn
  • 1943: Top Man
  • 1946: Miss Susie Slagle's
  • 1946: Duel in the Sun (Duel in the Sun)
  • 1948: Jenny - The Portrait of a Love (Portrait of Jenny)
  • 1949: The Ford Theater Hour (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1949–1953: The Philco Television Playhouse (TV series, 3 episodes)
  • 1951: Celanese Theater
  • 1951–1954: Robert Montgomery Presents (TV series, 2 episodes)
  • 1952: Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1953: The Trip to Bountiful
  • 1954: Campbell Playhouse (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1955: The Lost (The Cobweb)
  • 1955: The Night of the Hunter (The Night of the Hunter)
  • 1955: Kraft Television Theater (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1955: Playwrights '56 (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1956: Ford Star Jubilee (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1956: The Alcoa Hour (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1958: The Silent War (Orders to Kill)
  • 1960: Play of the Week (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1960: To those Unforgiven (The Unforgiven)
  • 1961: The Ed Sullivan Show (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1961: The Spiral Staircase (TV movie)
  • 1961: Theater '62 (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1962–1964: Preston & Preston (TV series, 2 episodes)
  • 1963: Mr. Novak (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1963: Breaking Point (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1964: Alfred Hitchcock shows ( The Alfred Hitchcock Hour , TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1966: Forty Daredevils (Follow Me, Boys)
  • 1967: Warning Shot
  • 1967: The Comedians (The Comedians)
  • 1969: Arsenic and Old Lace (TV movie)
  • 1976: Twin Detectives (TV movie)
  • 1978: The Wedding (A Wedding)
  • 1978: Sparrow (TV movie)
  • 1981: Love Boat (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1981: Thin Ice (TV movie)
  • 1983: Hobson's Choice (TV movie)
  • 1983: Hambone and Hillie (Hambone and Hillie)
  • 1986: American Playhouse (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1986: Sweet Liberty
  • 1987: Whales in August (The Whales of August)

Books

Autobiographies:

  • The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me (with Ann Pinchot) (Prentice-Hall, 1969)
  • Dorothy and Lillian Gish (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973)
  • An Actor's Life For Me (with Selma G. Lanes) (Viking Penguin, 1987)

Biographies:

  • Lillian Gish on Interpretation  - Edward Wagenknecht (University of Washington, 1927)
  • Life and Lillian Gish  - Albert Bigelow Paine (Macmillan, 1932)
  • Lillian Gish: the Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me, ISBN 0-491-00103-7 , WH Allen 1969, and ISBN 0-916515-40-0 Mercury House, 1988.
  • Star Acting - Gish, Garbo, Davis  - Charles Affron (EP Dutton, 1977)
  • A Moment with Miss Gish  - Peter Bogdanovich (Santa Teresa Press, 1995)
  • Lillian Gish A Life on Stage and Screen  - Stuart Oderman (McFarland & Company, 2000)
  • Lillian Gish Her Legend, Her Life  - Charles Affron (Scribner, 2001)

Awards

Oscar

Golden Globe Award

  • Golden Globe Awards 1968 - Nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Comedians' Hour

Further awards

The American Film Institute also ranked her 17th among America's greatest female film legends.

Web links

Commons : Lillian Gish  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Throughout her life, Gish made contradicting statements about her age and year of birth; it was often assumed that she was 1896. However, a review of the registered birth records brought to light in 1893. For details see Charles Affron: Lillian Gish. Her legend, her life. Scribner, New York NY et al. 2001, ISBN 0-684-85514-3 , p. 17 ff.
  2. ^ Lillian Diana Gish, originally Lillian de Guiche. She played a lot ... Retrieved December 23, 2020 (French).
  3. ↑ Biography in the All Movie Guide
  4. ↑ TCM celebrates Lillian Gish; a look at First Lady of American's Cinemas Career
  5. ↑ Biography in the All Movie Guide
  6. ↑ Albin Krebs: Lillian Gish, 99, a Movie Star Since Movies Began, is Dead . In: The New York Times . March 1, 1993, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed August 26, 2020]).
personal data
SURNAME Gish, Lillian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gish, Lillian Diana (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
BIRTH DATE October 14, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Springfield , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1993
PLACE OF DEATH New York City