Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993) was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987. She was a prominent film star of the 1910s and 1920s, particularly associated with the films of director D.W. Griffith, including her leading role in Griffith's seminal Birth of a Nation (1915). Her sound-era film appearances were sporadic, but included memorable roles in the controversial western Duel in the Sun (1946) and the offbeat thriller Night of the Hunter (1955). She did considerable television work from the early 1950s into the 1980s, and closed her career playing, for the first time, opposite Bette Davis in the 1987 film The Whales of August. The American Film Institute (AFI) named Gish 17th among the greatest female stars of all time. She was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 1971, and in 1984 she received an AFI Life Achievement Award.
The Night of the Hunter
as Rachel CooperIn Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the...
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Portrait of Jennie
as Mother Mary of MercyA mysterious girl inspires a struggling artist.
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The Birth of a Nation
as Stoneman's Daughter ElsieTwo families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons,...
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The Unforgiven
as Mattilda ZacharyThe neighbors of a frontier family turn on them when it is suspected that their beloved adopted...
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Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
as The Woman Who Rocks the CradleThe story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven...
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And the Oscar Goes To...
as Self (archive footage)The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND...
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Way Down East
as Anna MooreA naive country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild...
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Duel in the Sun
as Laura Belle McCanlesBeautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds...
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Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
as Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with...
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The Scarlet Letter
as Hester PrynneIn Puritan Boston, seamstress Hester Prynne and kindly Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale fall in love....
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The Comedians
as Mrs. SmithAmerican and British tourists get caught up in political unrest in Haiti.
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The Musketeers of Pig Alley
as The Little LadyA man recognizes the thief who had previously robbed him as one of the men involved in an...
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Broken Blossoms
as Lucy BurrowsThe love story of an abused English girl and a Chinese Buddhist in a time when London was a...
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His Double Life
as Alice ChalicePriam Farrel is a celebrated artist but a social recluse. When his valet dies of a sudden...
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The Greatest Question
as Nellie JarvisYoung Nellie Jarvis, daughter of a wandering couple, witnesses the murder of a woman by a man...
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Orphans of the Storm
as Henriette GirardFrance, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as...
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Night of 100 Stars II
as SelfThis special is the second "Night of 100 Stars" to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Edited...
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The Wind
as LettyWhen Letty Mason relocates to West Texas, she finds herself unsettled by the ever-present wind...
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The One She Loved
as uncreditedRoy Norris, a young author, proposes to pretty Mary Ford and is accepted. The first year or more...
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Orders to Kill
as Mrs. SummersA grounded American fighter pilot is switched to espionage on a special job in which he must...
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The Burglar’s Dilemma
as Birthday WellwisherIn this latter day Cain and Abel story, a jealous brother strikes down his sibling just as a...
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The Whales of August
as Sarah WebberTwo aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.
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The Cobweb
as Victoria InchPatients and staff at a posh psychiatric clinic clash over who chooses the clinic’s new drapes -...
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The Mothering Heart
as The WifeA young couple struggle to get ahead, the wife always assuaging the troubles of her melancholy...
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Commandos Strike at Dawn
as Mrs. BergesenA gentle widower, enraged at Nazi atrocities against his peaceful Norwegian fishing village,...
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Follow Me, Boys!
as Hetty SeibertLem Siddons is part of a traveling band who has a dream of becoming a lawyer. Deciding to settle...
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A Romance of Happy Valley
as Jennie TimberlakeJohn Logan leaves his parents and sweetheart in bucolic Happy Valley to make his fortune in the...
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A Wedding
as Nettie SloanMuffin's wedding to Dino Corelli is to be a big affair. Except the ageing priest isn't too sure...
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Hearts of the World
as The Girl - Marie StephensonA group of youngsters grow up and love in a peaceful French village. But war intrudes and peace...
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Sweet Liberty
as Cecelia BurgessMichael Burgess is an academic who has written a scholarly book on the American Revolution which...
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Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies
as Self (archive footage)This documentary traces the life and work of the legendary "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford,...
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Judith of Bethulia
as The Young MotherGriffith adapts the story of the Apocryphal Book of Judith to the screen. During the siege of...
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Sold for Marriage
as MarfaA poor Russian girl's beauty leads her unscrupulous uncle to bring her to the United States....
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Home, Sweet Home
as Payne's SweetheartJohn Howard Payne leaves home and begins a career in the theater. Despite encouragement from his...
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Warning Shot
as Alice WillowsHounded by the press for shooting a doctor, an ousted Los Angeles policeman works his own case.
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Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)The film's subject is a photograph of Jane Fonda visiting Hanoi during the Vietnam War. It asks...
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Night of 100 Stars
as SelfThe most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took...
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So Near, Yet So Far
as A FriendIt's love at first sight for the Boy, but obstacles-- namely shyness, and the temerity of other...
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Cannes: All Access
as Self (archive footage)From its simple beginnings in 1939 in a sleepy beach town in the south of France, the...
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Daphne and the Pirate
as Daphne La TourPhilip de Mornay, a courtier in the French royal court of the 18th century, falls in love with...
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I Am Not a Racist
as ElsieA parody of D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation", "I Am Not a Racist" rearranges the scenes...
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An Unseen Enemy
as Eldest SisterThe physician's death orphans his two adolescent daughters. Their older brother is able to...
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Arsenic and Old Lace
as Martha BrewsterA drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs,...
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True Heart Susie
as Susie May TrueheartSusie secretly loves her neighbor, William Jenkins, but neither, it seems, can confess their...
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D.W. Griffith - Years of Discovery 1909-1913
as uncreditedIn the span of five years, pioneering director D.W. Griffith delivered some 450 films for the...
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Top Man
as Beth WarrenIn this WW II musical, a young man suddenly finds himself in charge of his family when his...
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The Love Goddesses
as (archive footage)This insightful documentary features some of the major and most beautiful actresses to grace the...
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The Battle of the Sexes
as Jane Andrews, the daughterFrank Andrews is a successful businessman. He has always found pride and joy in the company of...
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Hambone and Hillie
as Hillie RadcliffeAn elderly woman searches for her lost dog. Director Roy Watts' 1984 drama stars Lillian Gish,...
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Screen Snapshots (Series 1, No. 20)
as HerselfIntimate views of the movie stars of the Silent Era, at work and play; featuring Sessue...
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Langlois
as SelfDocumentary portrait of Henri Langlois, co-founder of the Cinémathèque Française.
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The Comedians in Africa
as Self (uncredited)Behind the scenes short documentary about the cast and crew during the filming of The Comedians.
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The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
as Melissa HarlowTwo young girls are sent away to live with their uncle, which sets off a chain of events...
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Annie Laurie
as Annie LaurieThe story of the famous battle between the Scots clans of Macdonald and Campbell, and the young...
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Gold and Glitter
as The Young WomanAs the husband leaves for the lumber regions, his wife gives him a memory message to be opened...
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
as Mrs LoftusAdventurous Huck Finn prefers rafting on the Mississippi River rather than being a part of...
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Moving Pictures: 'The Night of the Hunter'
as SelfShort documentary about Charles Laughton's 1995 film "The Night of the Hunter," with interviews...
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The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
as Self (archive footage)A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life,...
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The Greatest Thing in Life
as Jeannette PeretA lost film. Leo Peret has a small quiet tobacco shop in Greenwich Village. Edward Livingston, a...
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The White Sister
as Angela ChiaromonteAngela Chiaromonte is the daughter of a wealthy Italian prince who is killed in a fall from his...
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My Baby
as uncreditedWhen the double wedding takes two daughters away from the old man at once, the youngest, now the...
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The New York Hat
as Customer in Shop / Outside ChurchTo fulfill a dying mother's bequest for her daughter, the town pastor purchases the daughter a...
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Oil and Water
as In First Audience (uncredited)A stage dancer (Sweet) and a serious-type homebody (Walthall) discover, after marriage, that...
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The Painted Lady
as Belle at Ice Cream FestivalA lonely young woman lives with her strict father who forbids her to wear make-up. One day at an...
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A Cry for Help
as The MaidKnocked down by an automobile, the intoxicated tramp is taken to the doctor's house, received...
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The Spiral Staircase
as Mrs. WarrenBased on the screenplay by Mel Dinelli, this story revolves around Helen Warren, a beautiful...
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One Romantic Night
as Princess AlexandraA princess is forced to choose between a charming tutor and a rakish prince.
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The Women Who Run Hollywood
as Self (archive footage)The first talkie was directed by Alice Guy, the first color film was produced by Lois Weber, who...
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The House of Darkness
as The NurseA potentially violent patient in an insane asylum is calmed when he hears a nurse playing the...
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Charles Laughton Directs 'The Night of the Hunter'
as Self (archive footage)An assembled compilation of footage from rushes, outtakes, and behind-the-scenes moments...
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La Bohème
as MimiIt is 1830 in Paris and the rent is due, but the money is not there. An article here, a painting...
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Brutality
as At TheatreAn abusive father and husband attends a play one night and sees that the "villain" in the piece...
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The Angel of Contention
as Nettie - the AngelNettie is beloved by all the boys in the mining camp. Magoon, a big, jovial miner, loves her...
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Two Daughters of Eve
as In Theatre CrowdCalumny is one of the most despicable crimes against our neighbor, and while the wife in this...
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Twin Detectives
as Billy Jo HaskinsIdentical twin brothers who own a detective agency hatch a plan to expose a phony group of...
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Romola
as RomolaIn Renaissance Florence, a Florentine trader meets a shipwrecked stranger, who introduces...
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An Innocent Magdalene
as Dorothy RaleighWhen Dorothy's Southern, aristocratic father Colonel Raleigh refuses to let her marry Forbes...
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Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
as Self (archive footage)Ossie Davis narrates a history of "race films," films made before 1950 which catered to a...
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The Great Love
as Susie BroadplainsJim Young of Youngstown, Pennsylvania, reads of the German war atrocities and decides to enlist...
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Lillian Gish
as HerselfNew York, summer 1983. Jeanne Moreau goes to meet Lillian Gish to film a portrait of her. The...
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Thin Ice
as GrandmotherA teacher falls in love with a student, and deals with the reactions of the people around her.
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In the Aisles of the Wild
as The Younger DaughterA widower and his two daughters live in the wilds of the north woods. They form the acquaintance...
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The Lady and the Mouse
as The First SisterThe question is, would the young tramp really have fallen in love with the groceryman's daughter...
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The Little Tease
as Girl in bandanaThe supposition was that she was born a tease, for from her first teeth to the time she was...
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The Flapper
as (archive footage)The buoyant energy of a modern woman who bobs her hair and dances to jazz is too often...
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The Sisters
as MayMay and her younger sister, Carol, live in a small town. May is the more lovely of the two, but...
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An Indian's Loyalty
as The Ranchero's DaughterSuspected of theft, the Indian was discharged on the ranch-hand's accusation, but the foreman's...
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A Timely Interception
as The Farmer's DaughterA farmer has saved all his life to pay for his daughter's wedding, but when his brother is fired...
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Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
as Lucy - The Girl (archive footage)The careers of D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Charlie Chaplin are...
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Miss Susie Slagle's
as Miss Susie SlagleA student nurse falls in love with a young intern in 1910 Baltimore, but tragedy ensues when he...
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The Informer
as Walk on roleThe young lover leaving home at the opening of the war to join the Confederate Army, tells his...
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The Enemy
as Pauli ArndtCarl Behrend, son of a wealthy businessman, marries Pauli Arndt, daughter of a pacifist...
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The Rebellion of Kitty Belle
as Kitty BelleKitty, the pretty young wife of a Texas businessman, feels neglected and unwanted as her husband...
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Night Hunter
as uncreditedIn this handmade film, composed of more than four thousand collages, the actress Lillian Gish is...
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The Lost House
as Dosia DaleBefore his niece and ward, Dosia Dale, comes of age, her uncle, who has spent her entire...
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Enoch Arden
as Annie LeeSeamen Enoch Arden returns home after a long absence marooned on a desert island. At home he...
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Hobson's Choice
as Miss Molly WinkleDaughter of the owner of a shoe store rebels against her father by marrying one of his employees.
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The Tear That Burned
as Anita - the TruantThe Tear That Burned is a silent movie drama.
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The Unwelcome Guest
as At Auction (uncredited)Just before she dies, an elderly married woman stashes the horde of money she's secretly...
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Mrs. Winchester's House
as NarratorDocumentary about the life and legend of Sarah L. Winchester, heiress to the Winchester...
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The Children Pay
as MillicentWhat will become of the Children in a home divided....
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Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me
as Herself, Archive footageCalled "the first lady of the silent screen," Lillian Gish was the archetypal silent film...
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Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal
as uncreditedInstead of buying bonds, Lillian buys new clothes. Then she has a dream that her home has been...
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Sigrid Holmquist
as Sigrid Holmquist (archive footage)The story of Swedish silent film actress Sigrid Holmquist's life (1899-1970), by using the...
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A Woman in the Ultimate
as VerdaThe unwilling dupe of her step-father, she became the decoy of the wealthy young man, but at the...
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Souls Triumphant
as Lillian ValeLillian Vale is the naïve and unworldly daughter of minister Josiah Vale. Swept off her feet by...
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From Farm to Fame
as Lillian GishA two-reel comedy featuring Corliss Palmer, First Prize Winner of the 1920 Fame and Fortune...
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The Love Boat
as Mrs. WilliamsPassengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or...
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The Dick Cavett Show
as Self - GuestThe Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various...
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Tony Awards
as Self - PresenterThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award,...
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Tony Awards
as Self - Award AccepterThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award,...
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The Philco Television Playhouse
as AbbyThe Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC...
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The Philco Television Playhouse
as NarratorThe Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC...
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The Philco Television Playhouse
as Carrie WattsThe Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC...
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The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
as Bessie CarnbyA continuation of the anthology series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, hosted by the master of...
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Robert Montgomery Presents
as uncreditedRobert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC...
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The Ed Sullivan Show
as SelfThe Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June...
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The Defenders
as Louisa ClarendonThe Defenders is an American courtroom drama series . It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed...
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The Defenders
as Mrs. CooperThe Defenders is an American courtroom drama series . It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed...
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The Kennedy Center Honors
as SelfThe Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their...
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Mr. Novak
as Maude PhippsMr. Novak is an American dramatic series starring James Franciscus in the title role, which...
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Hollywood
as SelfA 1980 documentary series exploring the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios...
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The American Film Institute Salute to ...
as SelfIn 1973 the American Film Institute initiated its Life Achievement Award, to be presented to a...
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The Alcoa Hour
as Esther CramptonThe Alcoa Hour is an American anthology television series that was aired live on NBC from 1955...
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Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
as Grandma MosesSchlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS....
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