- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDorothy Elizabeth Gish
- Height5′ 2″ (1.57 m)
- Dorothy Gish was born into a broken family where her restless father James Lee Gish was frequently absent. Mary Robinson McConnell a.k.a. Mary Gish, her mother, had entered into acting to make money to support the family. As soon as Dorothy and her sister Lillian Gish were old enough, they became part of the act. To supplement their income, the two sisters also posed for pictures and acted in melodramas of the time. In 1912 they met fellow child actress Mary Pickford, and she got them extra work with Biograph Pictures. Director D.W. Griffith was impressed by both the girls and cast them in An Unseen Enemy (1912), their first picture. Dorothy would go on to star in over 100 two-reel films and features over the years. She would appear in the very successful Judith of Bethulia (1914) with Blanche Sweet. She and her sister Lillian made a number of films together, including the extremely successful Hearts of the World (1918) and Orphans of the Storm (1921). In both films Dorothy would play French girls, but in different periods of time. Lillian would try her hand at directing, with a movie called Remodeling Her Husband (1920), which starred Dorothy and an actor named James Rennie, whom Dorothy would marry and later divorce. While she would excel in pantomime and light comedy, her popularity would always be overshadowed by that of her sister Lillian, who was considered to be one the silent screen's greatest stars. Dorothy would only make a handful of movies in the 1920s, and in Romola (1924)--a costume picture about Italy in the Middle Ages--she would again co-star with Lillian. By 1926 Dorothy had moved to England, where she would star as the title role in Nell Gwyn (1926). Her last silent film would be Madame Pompadour (1927). In 1928 Dorothy would retire from the screen, except for a few occasional roles, and enjoy a long career on the stage.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
- SpouseJames Rennie(December 26, 1920 - October 11, 1935) (divorced)
- Parents
- RelativesLillian Gish(Sibling)
- Related, on her mother's side, to U.S. President Zachary Taylor.
- On 11 June 1976, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Film Theater was dedicated on the Bowling Green State University campus in Bowling Green, Ohio, USA.
- Upon her death, her remains were interred at Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City.
- While under contract to Paramount in the early 1920s, the studio published an instruction pamphlet titled "Proper Inspection, Splicing, and Care of Films" for local movie theaters and distributors. Dorothy modeled for the photographs in the pamphlet that illustrated how to handle, repair and store film.
- The two airplanes in the movie "High Road To China" were named after Dorothy and her sister Lillian.
- I wanted to be a tragedienne. I only wanted sad parts. When mother read the press notices when I was on the road, saying I was a 'comedienne', the tears rolled down my cheeks. I thought comedians had to have black on their faces or red beards.
- One producer told me of an experience he had when he was showing a picture of the French Revolution. He overheard one girl say to another that she did not want to be educated about the French revolution and that she was fed up until the love scenes came along. The little servant girl and the little shop-girl of America want see pictures where 'Lady Mary' comes majestically into a room full of servants with disdain and has a tray full of bath salts brought to her in her magnificent bathroom so she may select that which pleases her for the day.
- [on why she turned down a million dollar offer from Paramount in 1919] At my age all that money would ruin my character.
- An Unseen Enemy (1912) - $20
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