Born in Springfield (Ohio) on October 14th, 1896, Lillian Gish boasts of one of longest careers of any film diva. Her first film was in 1912, and the last (Whales of August, by Lindsay Anderson) in 1987. She began her career working in theater at the dawn of the century, together with her sister Dorothy. In 1903 she was already a dancer in a show by Sarah Bernhardt. In 1913 she became the favorite actress of Griffith, whom she had met when she went to visit her childhood friend Mary Pickford at Biograph. Leading actress in Birth of a Nation (1915), Broken Blossoms (1919) and Orphans of the Storm (1921, together with her sister) among others, she concluded the first part of her career under the prestigious direction of Victor Sjöström, whom we will discuss later.

With the advent of sound, Ms. Gish chose to retire from film, returning to theater where she met with great success in Hamlet, and Crime and Punishment. After the second world war, she went back to cinema in a series of character roles, among which the mother in Duel in the Sun, the elderly manager of a psychiatric clinic in The Cobweb by Minnelli, the lady farmer who saves the children from Mitchum in Night of the Hunter, and the dying mother in A Wedding by Altman.

I had signed a two years contract, promising to make six pictures. The Wind was my fourth. I had chosen it. It was mine. The third film, Annie Laurie, was not a success. I didn’t ask to make it, and I certainly had no control over any part of it. The Wind was mine. I chose it. I was willing to fight for it.

Suddenly, Mr. Thalberg said: “We don’t know what to do about you. Your work is very artistic, your choice of material is artistic, and you are a very dedicated artist, but we think you should be talked about more”.

I thought he was going to ask me to appear with the film, something I occasionally did for Mr. Griffith. But I was wrong. He wanted me to have a scandal! I couldn’t believe what I had just heard! I didn’t know what he was talking about! I was still taking care of my mother, who still needed my help. Dorothy was in England. It was in the newspapers. Where was there time for a scandal?

Before I could say no, Mr. Thalberg smiled and said he would arrange one for me. Nothing special. Just something for the magazines. Something to knock me off my pedestal. I didn’t know what pedestal he was talking about. I spoke to everyone on the set. I made friends with the crew ever since I was in picture. (…)

I rose from my seat, and I told Mr. Thalberg very politely that I had to discuss this with my mother before I made my decision.

(Lillian Gish in S. Oderman, Lillian Gish. A Life on Stage and Screen, Jefferson and London, Mc Farland, 2000)