Dorothy Gish was four years old in 1902 when her acting career began with a road company production of East Lynne. In 1912, Dorothy and her sister Lillian saw a film featuring a friend of theirs, Gladys Smith (known professionally as Mary Pickford), and thought they would like to try film acting. Gladys got them introductions with her employer, the Biograph Company. Under the tutelage of Biograph director D.W. Griffith, the Gish sisters soon became accomplished screen stars. From Biograph, Lillian and Dorothy moved with Griffith to the Majestic Motion Picture Company, a production company founded by businessman Harry E. Aitken in 1911. Both Biograph and Majestic produced one-reel short films. In 1915, Aitken founded Triangle Motion Picture Company to make feature length films. Griffith and the Gish sisters joined Triangle and continued producing films from Griffith's studio Fine Arts Film Company.
Dorothy remained with Fine Arts until 1917. Her specialty was romantic comedy; her Fine Arts films include Little Meena’s Romance, Susan Rocks the Boat, The Little School Ma’am, and Gretchen the Greenhorn, all released in 1916. She made films through the silent era, but mostly left the movies at the advent of talkies. Her career continued in the theater. She appeared on Broadway many times during the 1930s and 1940s and on television through the 1950s and 1960s.
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