Dorothy Gish

American actress (1898–1968)

Dorothy Elizabeth Gish (March 11, 1898 – June 4, 1968) was an American actress. She was born in Dayton, Ohio. She was very young when her father abandoned the family. Dorothy, her older sister Lillian, and their mother entered the theatrical profession to support themselves.

Dorothy Gish
Dorothy Gish
Born
Dorothy Elizabeth Gish

(1898-03-11)March 11, 1898
DiedJune 4, 1968(1968-06-04) (aged 70)
Cause of deathPneumonia
Occupations
  • Actress
  • director
  • writer
Years active1912–1963
SpouseJames Rennie (m. 1920–1935, divorced)

In 1912, actress Mary Pickford introduced them to director D. W. Griffith. The sisters began acting at Biograph Studios. Dorothy and Lillian Gish both debuted in Griffith's An Unseen Enemy. Dorothy would star in over 100 short movies and feature movies.

Dorothy married actor James Rennie in 1920. They divorced in 1935. Dorothy never remarried. She died in 1968 from bronchial pneumonia in Rapallo, Liguria, Italy. She was laid to rest in Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City.

Her sister Lillian was later laid to rest beside her. Dorothy Gish was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6385 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California. Dorothy and Lillian both appeared in D. W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm in 1921.

Sources

change
  • David W. Menefee, The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era (Connecticut: Praeger, 2004) ISBN 0-275-98259-9
  • Harold Casselton (ed.),Remembering Dorothy Gish (Minneapolis: The Society for Cinephiles, 1986)
  • Homer Croy, Star Maker: The Story of D. W. Griffith (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1959)
  • Dorothy Gish, "And So I am a Comedienne", Ladies Home Journal (July 1925)
  • Lillian Gish, Dorothy and Lillian Gish (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1973)
  • Lillian Gish, The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me (New York: Prentice Hall, 1969)
  • Anthony Slide, The Griffith Actresses (New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1973)
  • Margaret L. Talmadge, The Talmadge Sisters (New York: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1924)

Other websites

change