Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish[1] (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993) was an American actress. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the "First Lady of American Cinema", and is credited with pioneering fundamental film performance techniques.[2] In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Gish as the 17th greatest female movie star of Classic Hollywood cinema.
Lillian Gish
February 27, 1993 (aged 99)
Actress
1902–1988
- Mary Robinson McConnell (mother)
Dorothy Gish (sister)
Having acted on stage with her sister as a child, Gish was a prominent film star from 1912 into the 1920s, being particularly associated with the films of director D. W. Griffith. This included her leading role in the highest-grossing film of the silent era, Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). Her other major films and performances from the silent era are: Intolerance (1916), Broken Blossoms (1919), Way Down East (1920), Orphans of the Storm (1921), La Bohème (1926), and The Wind (1928).
At the dawn of the sound era, she returned to the stage and appeared in film occasionally, including well-known leading roles in the Western Duel in the Sun (1946) and the thriller The Night of the Hunter (1955). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Duel in the Sun. Gish also had major supporting roles in Portrait of Jennie (1948), A Wedding (1978), and Sweet Liberty (1986).
She also did considerable television work from the early 1950s into the 1980s, and retired after playing opposite Bette Davis in the 1987 film The Whales of August. During her later years, Gish became a dedicated advocate for the appreciation and preservation of silent film. Despite being better known for her film work, she was also accomplished on stage, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1972.[3] In 1971, she was awarded an Academy Honorary Award for her career achievements. She was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor for her contribution to American culture through performing arts in 1982.
Death[edit]
Gish died of heart failure on February 27, 1993, at the age of 99.[33] She was cremated and her ashes were interred beside those of her sister Dorothy at Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City.[37] Her estate was valued at several million dollars, the bulk of which went toward the creation of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize Trust.
A retrospective of Gish's life and achievements was showcased in an episode of the Emmy award-winning PBS series, American Masters.
The AllMovie Guide wrote on her legacy:[38]
Turner Classic Movies wrote,[39]
In popular culture[edit]
American rock band The Smashing Pumpkins named their 1991 debut album Gish after her. Singer Billy Corgan explained in an interview, "My grandmother used to tell me that one of the biggest things that ever happened was when Lillian Gish rode through town on a train, my grandmother lived in the middle of nowhere, so that was a big deal..."[44]
"Lillian Gish" is Scottish rhyming slang for fish and urinating.[45] An example of the latter occurs in the Scottish sitcom, Still Game, when Winston Ingram says, "I'm away for a Lillian Gish"—meaning "I'm away for a pish" ("pish" being Scottish vernacular for piss).
American rock band Fruit Bats references Lillian Gish in the song Eagles Below Us from their 2021 release The Pet Parade with the lyrics “I’ve never seen you so lovely, Lillian Gish, soft lit.”[46]