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.

Filmography

• 2021The Flapper — (archive footage)
• 2019I Am Not a Racist — Elsie (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2011Night Hunter
• 2010Sigrid Holmquist — Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)
• 2002D.W. Griffith - Years of Discovery 1909-1913
• 1998Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists — Lucy - The Girl (archive footage)
• 1993The Silent Feminists: America's First Women Directors — Thanks
• 1987The Whales of August — Sarah Webber
• 1986Sweet Liberty — Cecelia Burgess
• 1986The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn — Mrs Loftus
• 1983Hambone and Hillie — Hillie Radcliffe
• 1983Hobson's Choice — Miss Molly Winkle
• 1981Thin Ice — Grandmother
• 1978A Wedding — Nettie Sloan
• 1978Sparrow — Widow
• The South Bank Show
• The Love Boat — Mrs. Williams
• 1976Twin Detectives — Billy Jo Haskins
• 1969Arsenic and Old Lace — Martha Brewster
• 1967The Comedians — Mrs. Smith
• 1967Warning Shot — Alice Willows
• 1966Follow Me, Boys! — Hetty Seibert
• Mr. Novak — Maude Phipps
• 1963Mrs. Winchester's House — Narrator
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour — Bessie Carnby
• 1962The Great Chase
• The Defenders — Louisa Clarendon, Mrs. Cooper
• 1961The Spiral Staircase — Mrs. Warren
• 1960The Unforgiven — Mattilda Zachary
• 1958Orders to Kill — Mrs. Summers
• 1955Film Fun — (archive footage)
• Playwrights '56
• The Alcoa Hour — Esther Crampton
• 1955The Cobweb — Victoria Inch
• 1955The Night of the Hunter — Rachel Cooper
• 1953The Trip to Bountiful — Carrie Watts
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars — Grandma Moses
• Robert Montgomery Presents
• 1948Portrait of Jennie — Mother Mary of Mercy
• The Philco Television Playhouse — Abby, Narrator, Carrie Watts
• 1946Duel in the Sun — Laura Belle McCanles
• 1946Miss Susie Slagle's — Miss Susie Slagle
• 1943Top Man — Beth Warren
• 1942Commandos Strike at Dawn — Mrs. Bergesen
• 1933His Double Life — Alice Chalice
• 1932The Movie Album — (archive footage)
• 1930One Romantic Night — Princess Alexandra
• 1928The Wind — Letty
• 1927Annie Laurie — Annie Laurie
• 1927The Enemy — Pauli Arndt
• 1927The Scarlet Letter — Hester Prynne
• 1926La Bohème — Mimi
• 1925Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ — Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
• 1924Romola — Romola
• 1923The White Sister — Angela Chiaromonte
• 1922From Farm to Fame — Lillian Gish
• 1921Orphans of the Storm — Henriette Girard
• 1920Remodeling Her Husband — Director, Scenario Writer, Story
• 1920Way Down East — Anna Moore
• 1919A Romance of Happy Valley — Jennie Timberlake
• 1919Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl — Lucy Burrows
• 1919The Greatest Question — Nellie Jarvis
• 1919True Heart Susie — Susie May Trueheart
• 1918Hearts of the World — The Girl - Marie Stephenson
• 1918Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal
• 1918The Great Love — Susie Broadplains
• 1918The Greatest Thing in Life — Jeannette Peret, Story
• 1917Souls Triumphant — Lillian Vale
• 1916An Innocent Magdalene — Dorothy Raleigh
• 1916Daphne and the Pirate — Daphne La Tour
• 1916Diane of the Follies — Diane
• 1916Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages — The Woman Who Rocks the Cradle
• 1916Pathways of Life
• 1916Sold for Marriage — Marfa
• 1916The Children Pay — Millicent
• 1916The House Built Upon Sand — Evelyn Dare
• 1915Captain Macklin — Beatrice
• 1915Enoch Arden — Annie Lee
• 1915His Lesson — Participant in Mob Scene (uncredited)
• 1915The Birth of a Nation — Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
• 1915The Lily and the Rose — Mary Randolph
• 1915The Lost House — Dosia Dale
• 1914A Duel for Love
• 1914Home, Sweet Home — Payne's Sweetheart
• 1914Judith of Bethulia — The Young Mother
• 1914Lord Chumley — Eleanor Butterworth
• 1914Man's Enemy — Grace Lisle
• 1914The Angel of Contention — Nettie - the Angel
• 1914The Battle of the Sexes — Jane Andrews, the daughter
• 1914The Folly of Anne — Anne
• 1914The Green-Eyed Devil — Mary Miller
• 1914The Hunchback — The Orphan - as an Adult
• 1914The Quicksands
• 1914The Rebellion of Kitty Belle — Kitty Belle
• 1914The Sisters — May
• 1914The Tear That Burned — Anita - the Truant
• 1913A Misunderstood Boy — The Daughter
• 1913A Modest Hero — The Wife
• 1913A Timely Interception — The Farmer's Daughter
• 1913A Woman in the Ultimate — Verda
• 1913An Indian's Loyalty — The Ranchero's Daughter
• 1913During the Round-Up — The Ranchero's Daughter
• 1913Just Gold — The First Brother's Sweetheart
• 1913Madonna of the Storm — The Mother
• 1913Oil and Water — In First Audience (uncredited)
• 1913So Runs the Way — Fred's Wife
• 1913The Battle at Elderbush Gulch — Melissa Harlow
• 1913The Blue or the Gray
• 1913The Conscience of Hassan Bey — The Rugmaker's Daughter
• 1913The House of Darkness — The Nurse
• 1913The Lady and the Mouse — The First Sister
• 1913The Left-Handed Man — The Old Soldier's Daughter
• 1913The Little Tease — Girl in bandana
• 1913The Mothering Heart — The Wife
• 1913The Stolen Bride
• 1913The Unwelcome Guest — At Auction (uncredited)
• 1912A Cry for Help — The Maid
• 1912An Unseen Enemy — Eldest Sister
• 1912Brutality — At Theatre
• 1912Gold and Glitter — The Young Woman
• 1912In the Aisles of the Wild — The Younger Daughter
• 1912My Baby
• 1912So Near, Yet So Far — A Friend
• 1912The Burglar’s Dilemma — Birthday Wellwisher
• 1912The Informer — Walk on role
• 1912The Musketeers of Pig Alley — The Little Lady
• 1912The New York Hat — Customer in Shop / Outside Church
• 1912The One She Loved
• 1912The Painted Lady — Belle at Ice Cream Festival
• 1912Two Daughters of Eve — In Theatre Crowd

Appearances as themselves (28)

• 2016The Women Who Run Hollywood — Self (archive footage)
• 2014Discovering: Robert Mitchum — Self (archive footage)
• 2009Early Directors on Directing — Self
• 2008Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies — Self (archive footage)
• 1995Moving Pictures: 'The Night of the Hunter' — Self
• 1995The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies — Self (archive footage)
• 1993The Making of 'The Birth of a Nation' — Self (Archive footage)
• 1988Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me — Self (archive footage)
• 1987Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood — Self
• 1986Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown — Self (archive footage)
• 1985Night of 100 Stars II — Self
• 1984Lillian Gish — Self
• 1982Night of 100 Stars — Self
• Hollywood — Self
• The Kennedy Center Honors — Self
• 1975Black Shadows on a Silver Screen — Self (archive footage)
• 1975D.W. Griffith: An American Genius — Self
• 1974Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• The American Film Institute Salute to ... — Self
• Film '72 — Self
• 1970Langlois — Self
• The Dick Cavett Show — Self - Guest
• 1967Lionpower from MGM — Self - Mrs. Smith (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1967The Comedians in Africa — Self (uncredited)
• 1961The Legend of Rudolph Valentino — Self (archive footage)
• Tony Awards — Self - Award Accepter, Self - Presenter
• The Ed Sullivan Show — Self
• 1921Screen Snapshots (Series 1, No. 20) — Herself