Lillian Gish

Award won Role or nomination

1. 1893 age 0

   Born

2. 1915 age 22

   CreditThe Birth of a Nation

3. 1916 age 23

   CreditIntolerance

4. 1919 age 26

   CreditBroken Blossoms

5. 1920 age 27

   CreditWay Down East

6. 1925 age 32

   CreditBen-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

7. 1955 age 62

   CreditThe Night of the Hunter

8. 1993 age 99

   Died

• DGD. W. Griffith4 titles
• BBBilly Bitzer4 titles
• DCDonald Crisp3 titles
• JSJames Smith3 titles
• ESErich von Stroheim2 titles
• FWFrank E. Woods2 titles
• JBJoseph Carl Breil2 titles
• MMMae Marsh2 titles
• MCMiriam Cooper2 titles
• RLRalph Lewis2 titles

• Siblings

  • DGDorothy Gish

Nothing recorded for: Spouse, Partner, Parents, Children, Influenced by, Studied under, Taught.

• You know, when I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later he played my father, and finally he played my husband. If he had lived I'm sure I would have played his mother. That's the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.

  Lillian Gish, CC BY-SA 4.0

• I don't feel I'm old. I just feel I'm me. And I've always been a happy person. I love the human race. I love my work. I love the world—I've been around it four times, you know. And I'm a believing person. I believe in God, even though I can't see him. You can't see the air in this room, right? But take it away and you're dead. And I believe there's something for us after we die. The world isn't wasteful. It keeps going on and I think we do too.

  Lillian Gish, CC BY-SA 4.0

• If you're caught acting, nobody believes you.

  Lillian Gish, CC BY-SA 4.0

• When I was in films, we pretended to kiss but we didn't. It was considered unsanitary. Now they swallow each others' tonsils. It's disgusting.

  Lillian Gish, CC BY-SA 4.0

• I never chose money, I always chose people. I wanted to be around people who knew more than I did. I think that’s why I never fell in love with an actor. They never seemed to know any more than I did. I wanted to be with writers… My idea of a dream man was Thornton Wilder.

  Lillian Gish, CC BY-SA 4.0

• I'm so glad I didn't ruin a man's life by marrying him.

  Lillian Gish, CC BY-SA 4.0

Nationalities

United States

Cause of death

heart failure

Languages

English

Years active

1902–1988