Gish

Gish, name of two pioneering American acting sisters, Lillian Gish (1893-1993) and Dorothy Gish (1898-1968).

Born in Ohio, the sisters made their theatrical debuts at a very early age and by 1902 had begun touring through the eastern United States and Canada. In 1912 they joined the production company of the prominent American film director D. W. Griffith. Silent-film classics by Griffith in which they appeared include Hearts of the World (1918) and Orphans of the Storm (1921); Lillian, the more famous of the two, appeared without her sister in Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), Broken Blossoms (1919), and Way Down East (1920). Each of the actors made many more silent films; with the advent of talking pictures, they returned to the stage.

Lillian appeared in revivals of Uncle Vanya (1930) and Camille (1932). Dorothy also acted in many Broadway productions, including The Magnificent Yankee (1946). Both sisters appeared as Mother in Life with Father in 1941, Lillian in the national company in Chicago and Dorothy on tour with the road company. Dorothy did not appear on the Broadway stage after The Man (1950). Lillian, however, continued to make frequent appearances, among them in All the Way Home (1960) and I Never Sang for My Father (1968), and went on to star in many talking pictures, including Duel in the Sun (1946), The Night of the Hunter (1955), A Wedding (1978), Sweet Liberty (1986), and The Whales of August (1987). One of Dorothy's few talking pictures was The Cardinal (1963), her last film.

Lillian was co-author of the book Lillian Gish: The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me (1969).