Lillian Gish Ranked
A ranking of Lillian Gish's film performances.
List activity
117 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
45 titles
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsLillian GishLars HansonMontagu LoveA frail young woman from the East moves in with her cousin in the West, where she causes tension within the family and is slowly driven mad.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRichard BarthelmessDonald CrispA frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.
- DirectorCharles LaughtonStarsRobert MitchumShelley WintersLillian GishA self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsLillian GishLars HansonHenry B. WalthallAfter having a child out of wedlock, a young Puritan woman is pressured to reveal the name of her lover.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronWilbur HigbySusie, a plain young country girl, secretly loves a neighbor boy, William. She believes in him and sacrifices much of her own happiness to promote his own ambitions, all without his knowledge. Eventually he rises to a position of success and sophistication, and Susie realizes that she has through her own efforts raised him to a level where he is inaccessible to her.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenEthel BarrymoreIn Depression-era New York, an impoverished painter has a chance encounter with an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl in Central Park who inspires him and changes his destiny.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRichard BarthelmessMrs. David LandauA naive country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock.
- DirectorLindsay AndersonStarsBette DavisLillian GishVincent PriceTwo aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.
- DirectorKing VidorOtto BrowerWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenGregory PeckBeautiful, biracial Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between two brothers, one good and the other bad.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishMae MarshHenry B. WalthallThe Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishDorothy GishJoseph SchildkrautTwo orphaned sisters are caught up in the turmoil of the French Revolution, encountering misery and love along the way.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsLillian GishJohn GilbertRenée AdoréeA group of starving artists try to survive in 1830s Paris, including a seamstress and the would-be playwright she loves.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsLillian GishDorothy GishWilliam PowellIn Renaissance Florence, Tito, a no-good young man pretending to be a scholar, wins the admiration of a blind man who has long looked for someone to finish his scholarly work. He has a beautiful daughter named Romola. Tito flirts with a peasant girl in the streets, and for fun goes through a mock marriage with her -- but she takes it seriously. Romola doesn't really love him, but marries him because her father wishes it. When the Medici are forced out, Tito joins the new government and rises to be chief magistrate. His evil actions earn him the hatred of Romola and of the people, and he is killed by his stepfather. Romola ends up with sculptor Carlo, who has always loved her.
- DirectorJohn S. RobertsonStarsLillian GishNorman KerryCreighton HaleThe story of the famous battle between the Scots clans of Macdonald and Campbell, and the young woman who comes between them, Annie Laurie.
- DirectorPeter GlenvilleStarsRichard BurtonElizabeth TaylorAlec GuinnessA cynical Welsh hotel owner secretly romances a diplomat's wife in Haiti, under the violent reign of the despot "Papa Doc" Duvalier.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsBurt LancasterAudrey HepburnAudie MurphyThe neighbors of a frontier family turn on them when it is suspected that their adopted daughter was stolen from the local Kiowa tribe.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronMae MarshThe story of a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsCarol BurnettDesi Arnaz Jr.Geraldine ChaplinThe daughter of a Louisville truck driver marries the scion of a very wealthy family, but the reception at the family estate is boycotted by the invited guests.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishDorothy GishRobert HarronYoung lovers in a French village are torn apart with the coming of the Great War.
- DirectorChristy CabanneStarsLillian GishElliott DexterWalter LongPhilip de Mornay, a courtier in the French royal court of the 18th century, falls in love with Daphne La Tour, the daughter of a nobleman. Knowing that her family would never approve of their marriage, he takes her and hides her in a brothel, but is soon captured by pirates. Soldiers looking for women to bring with them to a settlement across the ocean in Louisiana raid the brothel and take the girls, including Daphne. Later on the trip to the new world their ship is attacked by pirates--and she discovers that her lover Philip is on board the pirate ship.
- DirectorPaul PowellStarsLillian GishWilfred LucasRosie DollyTo the dismay of Allison Edwards, her adoring bookworm neighbor Mary Randolph falls in love and marries Jack Van Norman, a rich, handsome former football star. After a few months of marital contentment, Jack becomes infatuated with exotic dancer Rose. Despite Mary's attempts to win him back, Jack agrees to a divorce, moves in with Rose, and leaves Mary to bear their baby alone.The new couple lives happily at the seashore until Jack discovers that whenever he goes away on business, Rose entertains other men. Despondent over Rose's repeated infidelities, Jack commits suicide. At his coffin, Mary forgives him, then finds solace in the arms of the faithful Allison, now a successful author. After dedicating his latest book to her, Allison proposes marriage, and he and Mary happily wed.
- DirectorJohn B. O'BrienStarsLillian GishWilfred LucasSpottiswoode AitkenRobert Powers devotes himself to a life of dissipation until he meets Lillian Vale, the daughter of the curate of St. Anthony's church. Lillian marries Powers, determined to reform him. Years later, the happiness of their home threatened by the appearance of Hattie Lee, one of Powers' former lovers. While Lillian is at her father's deathbed, Powers is lured away by Hattie Lee one night. That evening, the house catches fire and when he returns, the place is in ashes. Frenzied with the belief that his son has perished in the flames, Powers goes to beg the forgiveness of his wife and discovers that she has saved the child's life. Her all-forgiving nature and the love of their son causes Powers to rise from his past life with a triumphant soul.
- DirectorChristy CabanneStarsLillian GishSam De GrasseHoward GayePhillips Christy, a strait-laced amateur sociologist from a wealthy family, subscribes to the theory that people are shaped by their environments. When he fall in love with Diane, a showgirl from the Follies, he sees a chance to prove that his theory is correct: he will marry her and mold her to be "cultured" and "sophisticated." However, fate intervenes to put a crimp in his plans.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronAdolph LestinaJeannette Peret, daughter of a cigar-store owner, leaves her Greenwich Village home for France in hopes of finding there the love which eludes her at home. She becomes enamored of le Bebe, a giant of a vegetable peddler, but his unsophisticated ways disillusion her. Edward Livingston, a wealthy young man from home who had spurned Jeannette, now turns up and realizes the error of his ways. But he, too, has a great flaw, and only the outbreak of war , ironically, is able to lead Jeannette to a peaceful conclusion to her quest.
- DirectorFred NibloStarsLillian GishRalph ForbesRalph EmersonCarl Behrend, son of a wealthy businessman, marries Pauli Arndt, daughter of a pacifist professor. When World War I breaks out, Carl is drafted. Pauli and her family and friends are left behind to experience the suffering which befell civilians during the war. Her luck worsens when her father is dismissed from his professorship for teaching that war is evil. Her father argues violently with Carl's father, and degradation and despair descend on Pauli and her family as they await Carl's return from the front.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsRichard WidmarkLauren BacallCharles BoyerAt a private psychiatric clinic, the daily dramas and interactions between the doctors, nurses, administrators, benefactors and patients are accentuated by the personal and family crises of these individuals.
- DirectorJohn BerryStarsVeronica LakeSonny TuftsJoan CaulfieldA student nurse falls in love with a young intern in 1910 Baltimore, but tragedy ensues when he contracts a fatal disease.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsLillian GishRonald ColmanGail KaneA young woman becomes a nun when she believes her sweetheart has been killed, then things get complicated when he returns alive.
- DirectorEdward MorrisseyStarsLillian GishRoy StewartWilliam H. BrownEvelyn Dare is a butterfly of fashion. David Westebrooke, her fiancé, is an altruist interested in sociology. He has made his home in the factory town of Oreville, where he works among his employees as factory manager. The two young people were affianced by their parents, and although they have not seen each other for a number of years they are strongly attracted to each other and have no desire to break the engagement. When David discovers that Evelyn plans an elaborate wedding and that he is scheduled to appear at a series of smart social functions, he rebels. Through his attorney, he arranges a marriage, and afterward tells his wife that she is to accompany him to their home and telegraph her friends that she has run away. Evelyn opposes chis, but David is firm. He takes her to their home in the factory town and there orders his housekeeper to take away her useless clothes and to supply those befitting the wife of a factory manager. For some time Evelyn is miserable. Finally she becomes interested in the life of the factory town and starts a woman's club for the benefit of the factory workers. David maintains a club for the men of the town, but they change it into a gambling den. Complications arise when the men become angry because their women folk also have a club. This is aggravated when Ted, the husband of Josie, a mill-hand, returns from a term in prison and proceeds to poison Evelyn's mind against her husband. The men's club is burned down and David saves both Ted and Josie from the burning building. In the meantime Evelyn returns to her home, taking Josie's baby with her. After a time Ted, becoming conscience-smitten, goes to Evelyn and tells her the truth. David becomes lonely for his wife and leaves the factory town. There follows a reconciliation between him and Evelyn, the latter promising to assist him in his work, not only for love of him, but also because she is now interested in the people of the factory.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsGeorge FawcettLillian GishRobert HarronAn idealistic young American during World War I, itching to fight the Germans and not wanting to wait until the U. S. joined the war, journeys to Canada and enlists in the British army. He is sent for training to England, and then to the front in France, where he is wounded. Returned back to England to recuperate from his wounds, he falls in love with the daughter of an Australian minister.
- DirectorAllan DwanStarsLillian GishSpottiswoode AitkenSam De GrasseDorothy Raleigh is a high-spirited Southern beauty who has been brought up by her father, Col. Raleigh, an unreconstructed Kentuckian, to have nothing to do with the townspeople of the little village of Norwalk, just outside of Louisville. She has no other companions than the old negro servants, her animal pets and her books. One day there comes into her life by chance a young millionaire gambler named Forbes Stewart. He makes love to her and asks the Colonel for her hand. Indignant at his presumption, the Colonel orders him from the house. But the young people elope. When Dorothy meets her husband's friends she is grievously disappointed. He determines, rather than cause her unhappiness. to change his mode of living, and give up his old friends. But a detective who knows something of his past, tries to blackmail him. His defiance leads to his arrest, and he is sentenced to a year in the penitentiary. Dorothy is loyal to him at first but when another woman enters her home and seemingly proves that she is Stewart's wife by an earlier marriage, she goes back to her father. The stern old man, however, has disowned her, and she is compelled to seek shelter in a cabin with her old negro mammy. When Stewart is released from the penitentiary he hastens to his home to find his wife. Instead he finds this other woman, an old flame who has taken this method to win him back again. He repudiates her, however, and hurries to Norwalk to see the Colonel and demand Dorothy. The Colonel refuses to tell her whereabouts, but from an old servant Stewart learns the truth. Dorothy in the meantime has been led to believe her baby illegitimate, and the villagers, glad to see the proud name of the Raleighs dragged in the dust, make her life miserable. She is about to kill herself when Stewart arrives. The outcome reunite the lovers and brings a change in the heart of the father that is supremely satisfying.
- DirectorArthur HopkinsStarsRoland YoungLillian GishMontagu LovePriam Farrel is a celebrated artist but a social recluse. When his valet dies of a sudden illness, a mix-up leads to the body being identified as Farrel's. The timid artist then assumes the identity of his former servant, but finds himself faced with constant dilemmas as a result.
- DirectorNorman TokarStarsFred MacMurrayVera MilesLillian GishA man settles down in a small town and becomes the scoutmaster.
- DirectorLloyd IngrahamStarsLillian GishViolet WilkeyKeith ArmourAs part of a divorce settlement, Theodore Ainsley gets custody of his older daughter Millicent, and his wife Elinor gets their younger daughter Jean. The two girls, normally inseparable, can't bear to be away from each other and run away together, but are soon caught by the authorities. Another custody hearing ensues, during which the girls' attorney Horace Craig makes an unusual, and somewhat shocking, proposal.
- DirectorPaul L. SteinStarsLillian GishRod La RocqueConrad NagelA scheming mother wishes to make a successful match between her daughter and a prince, yet another man, a commoner, may stand in the way.
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsDonald O'ConnorSusanna FosterLillian GishMusical in which a family puts on a show to boost the morale of the local factory workers.
- DirectorRoy WattsStarsLillian GishCandy ClarkO.J. SimpsonA dog (Hambone) treks from New York City to Los Angeles to be reunited with his owner (Hillie), meeting a host of helpers along the way.
- DirectorChristy CabanneStarsLillian GishFrank BennettWalter LongA poor Russian girl's beauty leads her unscrupulous uncle to bring her to the United States. There he is going to sell her into a marriage with a rich old man she has never met. But her lover, an returning immigrant visiting Russia from the U.S., sails on the same ship. When they arrive he learns, to his surprise, that the American police, unlike those of his native country, are not oppressors of the poor, but friends that will aid in securing the release of his beloved Maria.
- DirectorAlan AldaStarsAlan AldaMichael CaineMichelle PfeifferAfter selling the rights of his book to a movie production company, a writer finds himself fighting the many egos and varying views around him.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsEddie AlbertPaul MassieLillian GishAmerican agent faces an engrossing moral dilemma when he is parachuted into France to eliminate a suspected traitor in the French Resistance.
- DirectorBuzz KulikStarsDavid JanssenEd BegleyKeenan WynnDuring a stakeout, an L.A. cop kills a doctor who presumably pulled a gun but the coroner's inquest finds no gun, forcing the cop to look for it to clear his name.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronRalph GravesAn orphan girl is given shelter by a farm family, but soon finds herself in the clutches of a murderous farmer and his wife.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsPaul MuniAnna LeeLillian GishA gentle widower, enraged at German atrocities against his peaceful Norwegian fishing village, escapes to Britain and returns leading a commando force against the oppressors.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsHenry B. WalthallJosephine CrowellLillian GishJohn Howard Payne at his most miserable point in life, writes a song which becomes popular and inspires other people at some point in their lives.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsBlanche SweetHenry B. WalthallMae MarshA religious woman seeks to save her people from destruction by seducing and murdering the enemy leader, but her plans get complicated once she falls for him.