Both frail and tough, innocent and powerful, charming and serious, actress Lillian Gish has defied both categorization and convention. Best known for her work with director D. W. Griffith, in her younger years Gish portrayed pale, waiflike heroines who used emotional strength, hard work, and persistence to protect their chastity—and spirit—from destruction at the hands of lustful men. To many filmgoers, Gish served as a bridge between nineteenth-and twentieth-century values, uniting Griffith's Victorian views on sexual purity with the strong-willed independence of the "modern" girl. Even after Gish left Griffith's studio in 1923, she continued to shy away from overtly sexual roles, and for the rest of her career, Gish remained an icon of propriety—and a firm believer in the dignity of acting. Gish, who pioneered many of the acting techniques of silent film, worked tirelessly to elevate the cinema from the...