Profile of Lillian Gish by Philip Van Rensselaer

Beautiful portrait of Lillian Gish from her early silent film years, likely before 1918. Artist unknown.  



My World by Philip Van Rensselaer Note: Profile of Lillian Gish

Lillian Gish recalls her golden career

“What an intriguing woman Lillian Gish is to talk to. Miss Gish was serenely sitting in a lime-green silk armchair that made her fine eyes very blue, her skin very clear and pink. We were in her feminine living room with its ivory colored walls and charming French antiques of the 18^th century with lots of books lining one wall and some quiet Grandma Moses paintings. Miss Gish was pouring tea into pink porcelain cups, and she was telling me in her low, well-modulated voice about the early days of the movies, and her career in films, TV and the theater over half a century.

“You’d never dream that Miss Gish is in her 70s. Her figure is still slim; her eyes bright and shining, her manner eager and curious and child-like. And her hair is still ash blonde and falls to her waist; of course now, it was drawn simply back at the nape of her neck. Miss Gish and I had met in Capri some 15 years ago and gone on to a party for Joan Crawford; I can tell you how delighted I was to renew my friendship with Lillian Gish. She is such a soft, appealing person; she’s hard to resist.

“I asked her what was her secret of eternal youth, and a delicate smile played across her pink lips. ‘I’ve never smoked,’ she confessed. ‘I’m a very fastidious woman. If I go to those crowded cocktail parties, I come away with my hair smelling of smoke which I can’t abide.’

“Lillian Gish is the kind of person who stares you directly in the eye when she looks at you; you feel she is concentrating all her attention on you, which is very flattering. ‘I like a glass of champagne now and then,’ she continued in her gentle manner. ‘But really I have no talent for alcohol. When I’m at one of those parties, I always look around for a large green plant where I can pour my drink.’ She gave a soft laugh. ‘Lived 15 years in Europe and they don’t serve cocktails there; just wine, thank goodness.’

“Lillian Gish has just written a book called “The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me.” It’s her memories of her fabulous past with Mary Pickford, the Barrymores, Helen Hayes, and everyone famous you can think of. Her sister Dorothy apparently discovered Valentino, and she discovered Richard Barthelmess. Miss Gish spent 12 years writing it, and the Readers Digest helped her with a good deal of the research. And now she’s touring all over the world showcasing her history of the movies from 1900 to 1930

“Miss Gish is very amused about all the films today. ‘We act as if we’ve just discovered sex.’ Her wide-apart blue eyes twinkled. ‘It’s been around a long, long time. ‘The Sound of Music’ was the greatest hit in Sweden; that’s a beautiful film; they can’t sell those awful dirty films in their own country.’

“Miss Gish gave me an intense gaze. ‘Do you know I’ve been acting since I was 5? I’ve always led a very disciplined life. We couldn’t be tired in the early days of movies. We worked seen days a week from dawn to dusk, and you had to generate a lot of electricity. I had to have electricity. I had to have so much energy. I was delicate as a child, but I got interested in health when I was 15, making all those films for D. W. Griffith, the father of films. I realized at an early age that you had to respect your body and not abuse it.’

“Her blue eyes wandered up to the ceiling for a moment in a thoughtful fashion. ‘I feel sorry for all these youngsters today. Of course, even in the old days we had drug addicts. Poor Wallace Reid died of drugs. But did you see what happened to Art Linkletter’s daughter? Of course, all these youngsters have been given so much; they have too much, they’re surfeited. If we got an orange in our Christmas stockings, we considered ourselves lucky’   

“I think beauty is so important; there seems to be no need for beauty here. Look at the filth on the streets and on the highways.’

 The telephone rang and Miss Gish got to her feet. ‘I’m just back in New York after a tour with my one-woman show of the movies so much to do …’

“:I kissed her fondly good bye, and hoped it wouldn’t be 15 years before we saw each other again.”

Source: My World by Philip Van Rensselaer

Early 1970s

Note: The column had a very unflattering photo of Lillian Gish wearing a conical hat and captioned “Lillian Gish is a very fastidious woman who has been acting since she was five.”  No photo credit given. A very nice photo of Mr. Philip Van Rensselaer appears with his arms crossed. See photo.   Both photos are black and white. No official date or name of publication. 

From this article, I submitted two quotes to BrainyQuotes and two other quote sites for their page of Quotes by actress Lillian Gish. The 2 quotes are:

"I have no talent for alcohol." 

"I realized at an early age that you had to respect your body and not abuse it."