LILLIAN GISH

Lillian Gish was born in 1893. She was one of the most legendary actresses of early cinema, with lead roles in Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. When sound came in she oddly switched almost entirely to the stage (as Paul Muni would do a few years later), just when most stage actors were moving TO Hollywood. She did have some choice film roles in later years, but none more memorable than as the righteous Miss Cooper in Charles Laughton's Night of the Hunter (who can forget her singing "Bringing in the Sheaves" with crazy preacher Robert Mitchum?), and in 1987, at the age of 92, she appeared alongside Bette Davis in The Whales of August! Some of her other movies include: The Wind, Ben-Hur, and Duel In the Sun (nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for this film). She passed away in 1993 at the age of 99.