D.W. Griffith - biography

“It takes two years on the stage for an actor or an actress to learn how to speak correctly and to manage his voice properly, and it takes about ten years to master the subtle art of being able to hold one’s audience.”

“Now supposing I had the part of a young woman to give out, one that wanted some excellent acting.  If I were to go to the stage for my actress I would have to take a matured woman, one who would act splendidly, but who would look too old for the requirements.”

“I pick out young people and teach them in less time than it would take me to alter the methods of people from the boards, and I get actors who look the parts they have to fill.”

“Probably on an average of a dozen times each week persons ask me if I think colour photography in the motion pictures will be perfected and made practical.  Most assuredly, I do think so...  On the other hand, I am quite positive that when a century has passed, all thought of our so-called speaking pictures will have been abandoned.  It will never be possible to synchronize the voice with the pictures.”

“Well, I certainly did not think that I could do worse.”

“In the year 2024 the most important single thing which the cinema will have helped in a large way to accomplish will be that of eliminating from the face of the civilised world all armed conflict.”

“In the year 2024 we shall have orchestras of many kinds playing for the pictures...  We have scarcely an inkling of what the development of music is going to be in the film play.”

“The average supposedly high-class film play in 2024 will be on view at not less than 5 dollars a seat.”

“I am fond of depicting the lives of young folks for one thing, and if you have parts for girls or young men, you must absolutely have young people to fill them - that is generally acknowledged now.”

D.W. Griffith directed the following films:
The Adventures of Dollie (1908)
The Fight for Freedom (1908)
The Tavern Keeper’s Daughter (1908)
The Black Viper (1908)
The Red Man and the Child (1908)
Deceived Slumming Party (1908)
The Bandit’s Waterloo (1908)
A Calamitous Elopement (1908)
The Greaser’s Gauntlet (1908)
The Man and the Woman (1908)
The Fatal Hour (1908)
For Love of Gold (1908)
Balked at the Altar (1908)
For a Wife’s Honor (1908)
Betrayed by a Handprint (1908)
Monday Morning in a Coney Island Police Court (1908)
The Girl and the Outlaw (1908)
Behind the Scenes (1908)
The Red Girl (1908)
The Heart of O’Yama (1908)
Where the Breakers Roar (1908)
A Smoked Husband (1908)
The Stolen Jewels (1908)
The Devil (1908)
The Zulu’s Heart (1908)
Father Gets in the Game (1908)
Ingomar, the Barbarian (1908)
The Vaquero’s Vow (1908)
The Planter’s Wife (1908)
Romance of a Jewess (1908)
The Call of the Wild (1908)
Concealing a Burglar (1908)
After Many Years (1908)
The Pirate’s Gold (1908)
The Taming of the Shrew (1908)
The Guerrilla (1908)
The Song of the Shirt (1908)
The Ingrate (1908)
A Woman’s Way (1908)
The Clubman and the Tramp (1908)
Money Mad (1908)
The Valet’s Wife (1908)
The Feud and the Turkey (1908)
The Reckoning (1908)
The Test of Friendship (1908)
An Awful Moment (1908)
The Christmas Burglars (1908)
Mr. Jones at the Ball (1908)
The Helping Hand (1908)
One Touch of Nature (1909)
Mamma (1909)
The Heart of an Outlaw (1909)
Bill Sharkey’s Last Game (1909)
The Maniac Cook (1909)
Mrs. Jones Entertains (1909)
Love Finds a Way (1909)
The Honor of Thieves (1909)
The Sacrifice (1909)
A Rural Elopement (1909)
Those Boys! (1909)
The Criminal Hypnotist (1909)
Mr. Jones Has a Card Party (1909)
The Fascinating Mrs. Francis (1909)
The Welcome Burglar (1909)
Those Awful Hats (1909)
The Cord of Life (1909)
The Girls and Daddy (1909)
The Brahma Diamond (1909)
A Wreath in Time (1909)
Edgar Allan Poe (1909)
Tragic Love (1909)
His Ward’s Love (1909)
The Curtain Pole (1909)
The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals (1909)
The Hindoo Dagger (1909)
The Politician’s Love Story (1909)
The Golden Louis (1909)
At the Altar (1909)
The Prussian Spy (1909)
His Wife’s Mother (1909)
A Fool’s Revenge (1909)
The Wooden Leg (1909)
The Roue’s Heart (1909)
The Salvation Army Lass (1909)
The Lure of the Gown (1909)
I Did It (1909)
The Voice of the Violin (1909)
The Deception (1909)
And a Little Child Shall Lead Them (1909)
A Burglar’s Mistake (1909)
The Medicine Bottle (1909)
Jones and His New Neighbors (1909)
A Drunkard’s Reformation (1909)
Trying to Get Arrested (1909)
The Road to the Heart (1909)
Schneider’s Anti-Noise Crusade (1909)
A Rude Hostess (1909)
The Winning Coat (1909)
A Sound Sleeper (1909)
Confidence (1909)
A Troublesome Satchel (1909)
Lady Helen’s Escapade (1909)
The Drive for a Life (1909)
Twin Brothers (1909)
Lucky Jim (1909)
Tis an Ill Wind That Blows No Good (1909)
The Suicide Club (1909)
The Eavesdropper (1909)
One Busy Hour (1909)
The Note in the Shoe (1909)
Jones and the Lady Book Agent (1909)
The French Duel (1909)
A Baby’s Shoe (1909)
The Jilt (1909)
Resurrection (1909)
Two Memories (1909)
Eloping with Auntie (1909)
The Cricket on the Hearth (1909)
His Duty (1909)
Eradicating Aunty (1909)
What Drink Did (1909)
The Violin Maker of Cremona (1909)
A New Trick (1909)
The Lonely Villa (1909)
The Son’s Return (1909)
Her First Biscuits (1909)
The Faded Lilies (1909)
Was Justice Served? (1909)
The Peachbasket Hat (1909)
The Mexican Sweethearts (1909)
The Way of Man (1909)
The Necklace (1909)
The Message (1909)
The Country Doctor (1909)
The Cardinal’s Conspiracy (1909)
Tender Hearts (1909)
The Friend of the Family (1909)
The Renunciation (1909)
Sweet and Twenty (1909)
Jealousy and the Man (1909)
A Convict’s Sacrifice (1909)
The Slave (1909)
A Strange Meeting (1909)
The Mended Lute (1909)
They Would Elope (1909)
Mr. Jones’ Burglar (1909)
The Better Way (1909)
With Her Card (1909)
Mrs. Jones’ Lover; or, ’I Want My Hat’ (1909)
His Wife’s Visitor (1909)
The Indian Runner’s Romance (1909)
The Seventh Day (1909)
Oh, Uncle! (1909)
Pranks (1909)
The Mills of the Gods (1909)
The Sealed Room (1909)
The Little Darling (1909)
The Hessian Renegades (1909)
Comata, the Sioux (1909)
Getting Even (1909)
The Children’s Friend (1909)
The Broken Locket (1909)
In Old Kentucky (1909)
A Fair Exchange (1909)
Leather Stocking (1909)
Wanted, a Child (1909)
The Awakening (1909)
Pippa Passes; or, The Song of Conscience (1909)
Fools of Fate (1909)
The Little Teacher (1909)
A Change of Heart (1909)
His Lost Love (1909)
The Expiation (1909)
In the Watches of the Night (1909)
Lines of White on a Sullen Sea (1909)
What’s Your Hurry? (1909)
The Gibson Goddess (1909)
Nursing a Viper (1909)
The Restoration (1909)
The Light That Came (1909)
Two Women and a Man (1909)
A Sweet Revenge (1909)
A Midnight Adventure (1909)
The Open Gate (1909)
The Mountaineer’s Honor (1909)
The Trick That Failed (1909)
In the Window Recess (1909)
The Death Disc: A Story of the Cromwellian Period (1909)
Through the Breakers (1909)
The Red Man’s View (1909)
A Corner in Wheat (1909)
The Test (1909)
In a Hempen Bag (1909)
A Trap for Santa Claus (1909)
In Little Italy (1909)
To Save Her Soul (1909)
The Day After (1909)
Choosing a Husband (1909)
The Rocky Road (1910)
The Dancing Girl of Butte (1910)
Her Terrible Ordeal (1910)
On the Reef (1910)
The Call (1910)
The Honor of His Family (1910)
The Last Deal (1910)
The Cloister’s Touch (1910)
The Woman from Mellon’s (1910)
The Course of True Love (1910)
The Duke’s Plan (1910)
One Night and Then (1910)
The Englishman and the Girl (1910)
His Last Burglary (1910)
Taming a Husband (1910)
The Final Settlement (1910)
The Newlyweds (1910)
The Thread of Destiny (1910)
In Old California (1910)
The Man (1910)
The Converts (1910)
Faithful (1910)
The Twisted Trail (1910)
Gold Is Not All (1910)
The Smoker (1910)
His Last Dollar (1910)
The Two Brothers (1910)
As It Is in Life (1910)
A Rich Revenge (1910)
A Romance of the Western Hills (1910)
Thou Shalt Not (1910)
The Tenderfoot’s Triumph (1910)
The Way of the World (1910)
Up a Tree (1910)
The Gold Seekers (1910)
The Unchanging Sea (1910)
Love Among the Roses (1910)
Over Silent Paths (1910)
An Affair of Hearts (1910)
Ramona (1910)
A Knot in the Plot (1910)
The Impalement (1910)
In the Season of Buds (1910)
The Purgation (1910)
A Child of the Ghetto (1910)
A Victim of Jealousy (1910)
In the Border States (1910)
The Face at the Window (1910)
Never Again (1910)
May and December (1910)
The Marked Time-Table (1910)
A Child’s Impulse (1910)
Muggsy’s First Sweetheart (1910)
A Midnight Cupid (1910)
What the Daisy Said (1910)
A Child’s Faith (1910)
A Flash of Light (1910)
Serious Sixteen (1910)
As the Bells Rang Out! (1910)
The Call to Arms (1910)
Unexpected Help (1910)
An Arcadian Maid (1910)
Her Father’s Pride (1910)
The House with Closed Shutters (1910)
A Salutary Lesson (1910)
The Usurer (1910)
An Old Story with a New Ending (1910)
The Sorrows of the Unfaithful (1910)
Wilful Peggy (1910)
The Modern Prodigal (1910)
The Affair of an Egg (1910)
A Summer Idyll (1910)
Little Angels of Luck (1910)
A Mohawk’s Way (1910)
In Life’s Cycle (1910)
A Summer Tragedy (1910)
The Oath and the Man (1910)
Rose O’Salem Town (1910)
Examination Day at School (1910)
The Iconoclast (1910)
That Chink at Golden Gulch (1910)
The Broken Doll (1910)
The Banker’s Daughters (1910)
The Message of the Violin (1910)
Two Little Waifs (1910)
Waiter No. 5 (1910)
The Fugitive (1910)
Simple Charity (1910)
Sunshine Sue (1910)
The Song of the Wildwood Flute (1910)
His New Lid (1910)
A Plain Song (1910)
A Child’s Stratagem (1910)
The Golden Supper (1910)
His Sister-In-Law (1910)
The Lesson (1910)
White Roses (1910)
Winning Back His Love (1910)
Flaming Arrows (1911)
The Two Paths (1911)
When a Man Loves (1911)
The Italian Barber (1911)
His Trust (1911)
His Trust Fulfilled (1911)
Fate’s Turning (1911)
The Poor Sick Men (1911)
A Wreath of Orange Blossoms (1911)
Three Sisters (1911)
Heart Beats of Long Ago (1911)
What Shall We Do with Our Old? (1911)
Fisher Folks (1911)
The Diamond Star (1911)
His Daughter (1911)
The Lily of the Tenements (1911)
The Heart of a Savage (1911)
A Decree of Destiny (1911)
Conscience (1911)
Was He a Coward? (1911)
Teaching Dad to Like Her (1911)
The Lonedale Operator (1911)
The Spanish Gypsy (1911)
The Broken Cross (1911)
The Chief’s Daughter (1911)
Paradise Lost (1911)
Madame Rex (1911)
A Knight of the Road (1911)
His Mother’s Scarf (1911)
How She Triumphed (1911)
The Two Sides (1911)
In the Days of ’49 (1911)
The New Dress (1911)
The Crooked Road (1911)
The White Rose of the Wilds (1911)
A Romany Tragedy (1911)
The Smile of a Child (1911)
Enoch Arden: Part I (1911)
Enoch Arden: Part II (1911)
The Primal Call (1911)
Her Sacrifice (1911)
Fighting Blood (1911)
The Thief and the Girl (1911)
The Jealous Husband (1911)
Bobby, the Coward (1911)
The Indian Brothers (1911)
A Country Cupid (1911)
The Last Drop of Water (1911)
Out from the Shadow (1911)
The Ruling Passion (1911)
The Sorrowful Example (1911)
The Blind Princess and the Poet (1911)
The Rose of Kentucky (1911)
Swords and Hearts (1911)
The Stuff Heroes Are Made Of (1911)
The Old Confectioner’s Mistake (1911)
The Squaw’s Love (1911)
Dan the Dandy (1911)
The Revenue Man and the Girl (1911)
Her Awakening (1911)
The Making of a Man (1911)
Italian Blood (1911)
The Unveiling (1911)
The Adventures of Billy (1911)
The Long Road (1911)
Love in the Hills (1911)
The Battle (1911)
The Trail of Books (1911)
Through Darkened Vales (1911)
The Miser’s Heart (1911)
Sunshine Through the Dark (1911)
A Woman Scorned (1911)
The Failure (1911)
Saved from Himself (1911)
As in a Looking Glass (1911)
A Terrible Discovery (1911)
The Voice of the Child (1911)
Grannie (1912)
The Baby and the Stork (1912)
A Tale of the Wilderness (1912)
The Eternal Mother (1912)
The Old Bookkeeper (1912)
For His Son (1912)
A Blot on the ’Scutcheon (1912)
The Transformation of Mike (1912)
A Sister’s Love (1912)
Billy’s Stratagem (1912)
The Mender of Nets (1912)
Under Burning Skies (1912)
The Sunbeam (1912)
A Siren of Impulse (1912)
A String of Pearls (1912)
The Girl and Her Trust (1912)
Iola’s Promise (1912)
The Root of Evil (1912)
The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch (1912)
The Punishment (1912)
Fate’s Interception (1912)
The Female of the Species (1912)
Just Like a Woman (1912)
One Is Business, the Other Crime (1912)
The Lesser Evil (1912)
The Old Actor (1912)
A Lodging for the Night (1912)
His Lesson (1912)
When Kings Were the Law (1912)
A Beast at Bay (1912)
An Outcast Among Outcasts (1912)
Home Folks (1912)
A Temporary Truce (1912)
Lena and the Geese (1912)
The Spirit Awakened (1912)
The School Teacher and the Waif (1912)
Man’s Lust for Gold (1912)
An Indian Summer (1912)
Man’s Genesis (1912)
Heaven Avenges (1912)
The Sands of Dee (1912)
Black Sheep (1912)
The Narrow Road (1912)
A Child’s Remorse (1912)
The Inner Circle (1912)
A Change of Spirit (1912)
A Pueblo Romance (1912)
A Pueblo Legend (1912)
In the North Woods (1912)
An Unseen Enemy (1912)
Blind Love (1912)
Two Daughters of Eve (1912)
Friends (1912)
So Near, Yet So Far (1912)
A Feud in the Kentucky Hills (1912)
The Chief’s Blanket (1912)
In the Aisles of the Wild (1912)
The One She Loved (1912)
The Painted Lady (1912)
The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
Heredity (1912)
Gold and Glitter (1912)
My Baby (1912)
The Informer (1912)
Brutality (1912)
The New York Hat (1912)
My Hero (1912)
The Burglar’s Dilemma (1912)
A Cry for Help (1912)
The God Within (1912)
Mother Love (1913)
Three Friends (1913)
The Telephone Girl and the Lady (1913)
An Adventure in the Autumn Woods (1913)
The Tender Hearted Boy (1913)
A Misappropriated Turkey (1913)
Brothers (1913)
Oil and Water (1913)
Drink’s Lure (1913)
A Chance Deception (1913)
Love in an Apartment Hotel (1913)
Broken Ways (1913)
A Girl’s Stratagem (1913)
The Unwelcome Guest (1913)
Near to Earth (1913)
Fate (1913)
A Welcome Intruder (1913)
The Sheriff’s Baby (1913)
The Hero of Little Italy (1913)
The Perfidy of Mary (1913)
The Little Tease (1913)
A Misunderstood Boy (1913)
The Left-Handed Man (1913)
The Lady and the Mouse (1913)
If We Only Knew (1913)
The Wanderer (1913)
The Stolen Loaf (1913)
The House of Darkness (1913)
The Yaqui Cur (1913)
Just Gold (1913)
His Mother’s Son (1913)
The Ranchero’s Revenge (1913)
A Timely Interception (1913)
Death’s Marathon (1913)
The Mothering Heart (1913)
Her Mother’s Oath (1913)
The Sorrowful Shore (1913)
The Reformers; or, The Lost Art of Minding One’s Business (1913)
The Enemy’s Baby (1913)
The Mistake (1913)
The Coming of Angelo (1913)
Two Men of the Desert (1913)
The Adopted Brother (1913)
Madonna of the Storm (1913)
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1913)
The Conscience of Hassan Bey (1913)
Waifs (1914)
The Massacre (1914)
Judith of Bethulia (1914)
The Battle of the Sexes (1914)
Brute Force (1914)
Home, Sweet Home (1914)
The Escape (1914)
The Avenging Conscience: or ’Thou Shalt Not Kill’ (1914)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Home from the Sea (1915)
A Day with Governor Whitman (1916)
Intolerance (1916)
Pathways of Life (1916)
Hearts of the World (1918)
The Great Love (1918)
Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal (1918)
The Greatest Thing in Life (1918)
The World of Columbus (1919)
A Romance of Happy Valley (1919)
The Girl Who Stayed at Home (1919)
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919)
True Heart Susie (1919)
The Fall of Babylon (1919)
The Mother and the Law (1919)
Scarlet Days (1919)
The Greatest Question (1919)
The Idol Dancer (1920)
Remodeling Her Husband (1920)
The Love Flower (1920)
Way Down East (1920)
Dream Street (1921)
Orphans of the Storm (1921)
One Exciting Night (1922)
Mammy’s Boy (1923)
The White Rose (1923)
America (1924)
Isn’t Life Wonderful (1924)
Sally of the Sawdust (1925)
That Royle Girl (1925)
The Sorrows of Satan (1926)
Topsy and Eva (1927)
Drums of Love (1928)
The Battle of the Sexes (1928)
Lady of the Pavements (1929)
Abraham Lincoln (1930)
The Struggle (1931)
Flicker Flashbacks No. 1, Series 5 (1947)
Footlight Varieties (1951)


D.W. Griffith contributed to the screenplay for the following films:
The Planter’s Wife (1908)
Men and Women (1914)
Strongheart (1914)
The Lily and the Rose (1915)
An Innocent Magdalene (1916)
Daphne and the Pirate (1916)
Diane of the Follies (1916)
The Flying Torpedo (1916)
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)


D.W. Griffith was photography director on the following films:
Classmates (1914)
The Lamb (1915)
The Matrimaniac (1916)
The Hun Within (1918)


D.W. Griffith has appeared in the following films:
Enoch Arden (1915)