Lillian Gish (1893-1993), who died just short of her 100th birthday, had the longest career of any major star in movie history. She made her first screen appearance at the age of 19 in D. W. Griffith’s one reeler AN UNSEEN ENEMY in 1912 and made her last in 1987 in THE WHALES OF AUGUST when she was 94. Do the math and you’ll see that it adds up to an unbelievable 75 years in front of the camera.
Yet not all of those years were spent in front of a camera. She was also an accomplished stage actress who spent most of the 1930s in New York after her movie career had come to a sudden halt. It wasn’t that she couldn’t make the transition from silents to talkies like so many other stars but because, as one of the most independent women in Hollywood (she had her own production unit at MGM), she was frequently at odds with studio boss Louis B. Mayer so she was let go.
By the 1940s she had returned to Hollywood as a much in demand character actress and it is for these performances in such movies as DUEL IN THE SUN (1946) with Gregory Peck, PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1949) with Joseph Cotten, and especially NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955) with Robert Mitchum that she is best remembered. That is until now.
Today’s video technology makes it possible for her great performances from the Silent Era to be seen in restored editions that capture not only the picture quality but the range of her acting ability. Films such as 1919’s BROKEN BLOSSOMS (the movie that made her a full fledged star in her own right), WAY DOWN EAST (1920), and the soon to be released TRUE HEART SUSIE (also 1919) are now available for everyone to see.
Living as long as she did, Gish was not only a survivor from the Silent Era but she became a tireless advocate for film preservation but silent and sound. I had the good fortune to see her in person at a press conference in Charleston S.C. in 1980. She was 86 at the time and had come to Charleston to make a TV movie with Kate Jackson who was then at the height of her fame as one of CHARLIE’S ANGELS. Gish talked about her long career and the need to preserve movies for everyone.
Other of her sound films now available on DVD include THE UNFORGIVEN (1960) with Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn, alongside Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in THE COMEDIANS (1967) and the recently released A WEDDING (1978) directed by Robert Altman. Check out these titles when you get the chance to see what a wide variety of movies she appeared in. After all, how many actresses can say that they were directed by both D.W. Griffith and Robert Altman? None.
The Capsule Critic 