1920: Remodeling Her Husband (+ co-scenarist/scriptwriter).
Films as Actress: 1912: An Unseen Enemy (D. W. Griffith); Two Daughters of Eve (D. W. Griffith); In the Aisles of the Wild (D. W. Griffith); The One She Loved (D. W. Griffith); The Musketeers of Pig Alley (D. W. Griffith); My Baby (F. Powell); Gold and Glitter (F. Powell); The New York Hat (D. W. Griffith); The Burglar?s Dilemma (D. W. Griffith); A Cry for Help (D. W. Griffith). 1913: Oil and Water (D. W. Griffith); The Unwelcome Guest (D. W. Griffith); The Stolen Bride (O?Sullivan); A Misunderstood Boy(D. W. Griffith); The Left-Handed Man (D. W. Griffith); The Lady and the Mouse (D. W. Griffith); The House of Darkness (D. W. Griffith); Just Gold (D. W. Griffith); A Timely Interception (D. W. Griffith) Just Kids (Henderson); The Mothering Heart (D. W. Griffith); During the Round Up (D. W. Griffith); An Indian?s Loyalty (F. Powell); A Woman in the Ultimate (D. W. Griffith); A Modest Hero (D. W. Griffith); So Runs the Way (D. W. Griffith); The Madonna of the Storm (D. W. Griffith); The Blue or the Gray (Cabanne); The Conscience of Hassan Bey (Cabanne); The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (D. W. Griffith). 1914: The Green-Eyed Devil (Kirkwood); The Battle of the Sexes (D. W. Griffith); The Hunchback (Cabanne); The Quicksands (Cabanne); Home, Sweet Home (D. W. Griffith); Judith of Bethulia (D. W. Griffith) (as the young mother); Silent Sandy (Kirkwood); The Escape (D. W. Griffith); The Rebellion of Kitty Belle (Cabanne); Lord Chumley (Kirkwood); Man?s Enemy (F. Powell); The Angel of Contention (O?Brien); The Wife; The Tear that Burned (O?Brien); The Folly of Anne (O?Brien); The Sisters (Cabanne); His Lesson (Crisp) (as extra). 1915: The Birth of a Nation (D. W. Griffith) (as Elsie Stoneman); The Lost House (Cabanne); Enoch Arden (As Fate Ordained) (Cabanne); Captain Macklin (O?Brien); Souls Triumphant (O?Brien); The Lily and the Rose (P. Powell). 1916: Daphne and the Pirate (Cabanne) (as Daphne); Sold for Marriage (Cabanne); An Innocent Magdalene (Dwan); Intolerance (D. W. Griffith); Diane of the Follies (Cabanne) (title role); Pathways of Life, Flirting with Fate (Cabanne); The Children Pay (Ingraham). 1917: The House Built upon Sand (Morrissey). 1918: Hearts of the World (D. W. Griffith) (as the Girl, Marie Stephenson); The Great Love (D. W. Griffith); Liberty Bond short (D. W. Griffith); The Greatest Thing in Life (D. W. Griffith); The Romance of Happy Valley (D. W. Griffith). 1919: Broken Blossoms (D. W. Griffith) (as Lucy Burrows); True Heart Susie (D. W. Griffith) (title role); The Greatest Question (D. W. Griffith). 1920: Way Down East (D. W. Griffith) (as Anna Moore). 1921: Orphans of the Storm (D. W. Griffith) (as Henriette Girard). 1923: The White Sister (H. King) (as Angela Chiaromonte). 1924: Romola (H. King) (title role). 1926: La Boh?me (K. Vidor) (as Mimi); The Scarlet Letter (Seastrom) (as Hester Prynne). 1927: Annie Laurie (Robertson) (title role); The Enemy (Niblo). 1928: The Wind (Seastrom) (as Letty Mason). 1930: One Romantic Night (Stein) (as Alexandra). 1933: His Double Life (Hopkins and W. B. deMille) (as Mrs. Alice Hunter). 1942: The Commandos Strike at Dawn (Farrow) (as Mrs. Bergesen). 1943: Top Man (Man of the Family) (Lamont) (as Beth Warren). 1946: Miss Susie Slagle?s (Berry) (title role); Duel in the Sun (K. Vidor) (as Mrs. Laura Belle McCanles). 1948: Portrait of Jennie (Jennie) (Dieterle) (as Mother Mary of Mercy). 1955: The Cobweb (Minnelli) (as Victoria Inch); The Night of the Hunter (Laughton) (as Rachel); Salute to the Theatres (supervisor: Loud?short) (appearance). 1958: Orders to Kill (Asquith) (as Mrs. Summers). 1960: The Unforgiven (J. Huston) (as Mattilda Zachary). 1963: The Great Chase (killiam?documentary). 1966: Follow Me, Boys! (Tokar) (as Hetty Seiber). 1967: Warning Shot (Kulik) (as Alice Willows); The Comedians (Glenville) (as Mrs. Smith); The Comedians in Africa (short) (appearance). 1970: Henri Langlois (Hershon and Guerra) (as guest). 1976: Twin Detectives (Day?for TV). 1978: A Wedding (Altman) (as Nettie Sloan). 1981: Thin Ice (Aaron?for TV). 1983: Hobson?s Choice (Cates?for TV). 1984: Hambone and Hillie (Watts) (as Hillie). 1986: Sweet Liberty (Alda) (as Cecelia Burgess); The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Hunt). 1987: The Whales of August (L. Anderson) (as Sarah Webber).
About 1902?stage debut in Rising Sun, Ohio, in The Little Red Schoolhouse; 1903-04?with mother and sister Dorothy, toured in Her First False Step; 1905?danced with Sarah Bernhardt production in New York City; 1908-11?lived with aunt in Massillon, Ohio, and with mother in East St. Louis, and briefly with father in Oklahoma; 1912?film debut as featured player, with sister, in An Unseen Enemy for D. W. Griffith; 1913?in Belasco production of A Good Little Devil starring Mary Pickford; collapsed during run of play with pernicious anemia; 1920?directed sister Dorothy Gish in Remodeling Her Husband for D. W. Griffith; 1921?last film under Griffith?s direction, Orphans of the Storm; joined Inspiration Films; 1924?$800,000 contract with MGM; 1930?first talkie, One Romantic Night; resumed stage career in Uncle Vanya; 1930s?began working in radio; 1948?TV debut in Philco Playhouse production The Late Christopher Bean; 1969?began giving film lecture ?Lillian Gish and the Movies: The Art of Film, 1900-1928?; 1987?starred in her last film, with Bette Davis, in The Whales of August.
Honorary Academy Award, ?for superlative artistry and for distinguished contribution to the progress of motion pictures,? 1970; Life Achievement Award, American Film Institute, 1984; D. W. Griffith Award, for ?an outstanding career in motion pictures,? 1987.
Lillian Diana Gish in Springfield, Ohio, 14 October 1896 (some sources say 1893); sister of the actress Dorothy Gish.
Briefly attended Ursuline Academy, East St. Louis, Illinois.
In New York City, 27 February 1993
In 1919 Lillian Gish was one of Hollywood?s most respected performers and D. W. Griffith?s favorite actress. That year, confident that her knowledge of the movies was equal to his own, Griffith asked her to direct a movie starring her sister Dorothy for Paramount. Convinced that women had already proven to be proficient directors, Gish happily accepted the offer. Griffith gave her a $50,000 budget and total liberty in the production. He also asked, however, that she supervise the conversion of a recently acquired Long Island estate into a studio, which was far from properly equipped for film production. It proved to be an enormous task, but she completed both it and the film successfully.
Believing that Dorothy?s considerable charm and comedic skills had never been fully captured on film by her directors, Lillian was committed to doing a better job. In addition, she wanted the production to be an ?all-woman picture,? so she recruited Dorothy Parker to bring her immense wit to the task of writing the intertitles, a first for Parker. The Gish sisters worked together to develop a comedy scenario that was inspired by a ?little piece of business? that Dorothy had discovered in a magazine. The result was Remodeling Her Husband, which provides a clever take on the notions of male prerogative and feminine ?charms,? with a heroine who was quite different from the fragile, demure, and often-victimized heroines Lillian usually played. Specifically, a husband complains that his wife is so dowdy that she never attracts the admiring gazes of men. Furious, the wife determines to teach him a lesson by insisting that he follow her as she walks down the street. Each time she passes a man she makes amusing or seductive faces at him, which her husband cannot see. Consequently, each man turns to stare intently at her and she successfully convinces her surprised husband that he is wrong about her lack of sex appeal. The film gently mocks masculine expectations about femininity as its heroine cleverly avoids making herself over to satisfy her husband?a common theme in films at the time. Instead, she uses her natural charms to entice the looks of men, and more importantly, to ?remodel? her husband?s opinion of her.
In addition to preparing Griffith?s studio for film production in general, Gish recalled her overwhelming responsibilities during the production of Remodeling Her Husband, including designing and furnishing all of the sets, coordinating the costumes, negotiating the hazards of filming in winter, and calming the frazzled nerves of the cinematographer?a shell-shocked war veteran. One of Gish?s favorite anecdotes about the production involved learning the day before shooting one of the film?s most complicated scenes that a police permit was required. Set in downtown Manhattan?where a bus on which Dorothy was riding would pass a taxicab that held her husband and another woman?the scene was crucial to the narrative. So, because it would take several days to acquire one, and because she was without the budget to pay her crew in the meantime, Gish decided to film the scene as scheduled. Risking jail, the film company agreed to the plan. Their gamble paid off, with the help of a sympathetic policeman?a fan of Lillian?s?who allowed the cast and crew to continue shooting after he discovered them breaking the law. In the end, she was able to complete the film for $58,000 and it netted more than $460,000. Interestingly, the film erroneously credited Gish with being the first woman director; that is, it included an introductory title card that suggested that because the modern woman was becoming active in all of the arts, it was time for her to undertake motion picture directing.
When Remodeling Her Husband was completed, Griffith praised Lillian?s work but the critics were less kind, suggesting that Dorothy?s performance was its only strength. In any event, the film marked the beginning and the end of Lillian Gish?s career as a director. She subsequently told an interviewer that she thought directing was ?no career for a lady,? mostly because she was not enamored of the myriad administrative details it requires. By the time she left Griffith?s employ, Gish had acquired considerable filmmaking expertise, and her subsequent studio contracts gave her unusual power in the production of her films; at both the smaller Inspiration Pictures studio and later for MGM, she had script control and her choice of directors. Thus, in the mid-1920s, she made two of her most memorable films, which were directed by two virtuoso directors: La Boh?me directed by King Vidor, and The Scarlet Letter directed by Victor Seastrom. In addition, she diligently scouted locations and sought to bring authenticity to her films and performances.?CYNTHIA FELANDO
Great info on important women filmmakers!
Wow, this is a great site! Nice to see so many women featured prominently.