Lillian Gish

Lillian Diana Gish ( born October 14, 1893 in Springfield, Ohio, † February 27, 1993 in New York City ) was an American actress.

Life

Lillian Gish was the first time in 1902 at the age of nine years in the theater on the stage. Together with her mother and her sister Dorothy, she went on tour of America in 1905 and landed in New York. To escape the constant poverty, they tried as a teenager, supported by the mother to gain a foothold in the fledgling movie business. In 1912, she auditioned for the Biograph Company at D W. Griffith, who was impressed by their intense game such that he cast her immediately for his next film. Lillian Gish was with her ​​delicate, childlike facial features as the new star of the Biograph and she turned over the next two years, 25 films that made ​​them one of the greatest female silent film stars alongside Mary Pickford. Your main roles, directed Griffiths were The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, and Broken Blossoms, Way Down East and Orphans of the Storm.

Gish produced after first two films himself and changed in 1925 to the newly formed MGM. It was regarded as the most important star of the studio, even before Marion Davies. The Prestige was also reflected in the large financial outlay, with which their films were produced. She appeared in 1926 under King Vidor with John Gilbert in La Boheme with and turned later in the year, The Scarlett Letter. Both films were financially successful. However, the emergence of Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer changed their weight in the studio hierarchy. Your last artistic, if not financial success they had under the direction of Victor Seastrom in the film The Wind from the year 1928. At the beginning of the sound film is also the public taste changed very rapidly. Lillian Gish was now in the eye of the audience to a representative of a bygone era and came therefore only sporadically in films. The more she worked again in the theater. Politically Gish was a Republican and supported inter alia Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, they also supported the America First Committee, an isolationist movement that sought 1940/41, to prevent the participation of the U.S. in World War II.

Very early she began to work for the emerging medium of television. In 1947 she was nominated for Duel in the Sun by King Vidor for an Oscar for best supporting actor. In 1955 she had a brilliant supporting role as antagonist of Robert Mitchum in Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter. She played among others 1960 with Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn in John Huston's The Unforgiven. Your last movie role next to it in 1987 Bette Davis in The Whales of August had.

1971 Lillian Gish was awarded the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. In the 1970s she appeared increasingly for preservation of film heritage and the silent film restoration. She held this lectures in universities and film societies. Lillian Gish has published several books of memoirs.

Films (selection )

513081
de