Lillian Gish

At the time of her death in 1993, Lillian Gish was universally recognized as a film legend. In this revealing and absorbing narrative, Charles Affron uses newly released documents to uncover a life that was cast in the shadow of self-generated myth. Filling the gaps left by Gish's selective memoirs and authorized biographies, he shows how the actress carefully shaped her public identity while keeping much of her life private.

A New York Times Notable Book

Charles Affron is Professor of French at New York University. He is the author of Sets in Motion, Cinema and Sentiment, Divine Garbo, and Star Acting: Gish, Garbo, Davis. He lives in New York City.

Author's Note
Introduction: Just to Make a Movie
1 An American Family
2 The Wicked Stage
3 "I Don't Know Why I Ever Left Massillon"
4 The "Flickers" and D. W. Griffith
5 Becoming a Movie Actress
6 The Mothering Heart
7 Dorothy Gish' s Sister
8 A Role for Movie History
9 "Griffith's Girls"
10 Becoming a Movie Star
11 The Movies and the Great War
12 "You Can Photograph Her Upside Down,
Because It's All Even"
13 From Melodrama to Tragedy
14 In the Director's Chair
15 "The Most Superlatively Exquisite and Poignantly
Enchaining Thing I Have Ever Seen in My Life"
16 Good-bye Mr. Griffith
17 "A Wistful April Moon"
18 Inspiration Pictures
19 Charles Holland Duell Jr.
20 George Jean Nathan
21 Kisses for Mimi
22 The Perils of The Wind
23 The Master of Schloss Leopoldskron
24 Interlude
25 GishSpeaks
26 "The Most Interesting Actress on Our Stage"
27 "Dreadful Man"
28 Sinners, Saints, and Shakespeare
29 America First
30 "Oldtime Cinemactress"
31 "Asking Nothing of the Role for Herself"
32 The Small Screen
33 Acting American
34 "Will Come Running at Any Time"
35 "My Blessed Sister"
36 Oscar
37 Final Close-Ups
38 The Girl and the Rose
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Chronological Record of Lillian Gish's
Dramatic Performances
Acknowledgments
Index