- Born
- 22 January 1875, Crestwood, Kentucky, United States
- First work
- 1908: The Adventures of Dollie
- Peak
- 1914 to 1921 (estimated)
- Last work
- 1931: The Struggle
- Died
- 23 July 1948, Los Angeles, United States; aged 73; natural
D. W. Griffith
Director: director, producer, actor, United States
D. W. Griffith was a pioneer of American silent cinema whose formal innovations established the foundational vocabulary of feature filmmaking. Born in Kentucky in 1875, he began directing shorts at Biograph Studios, pioneering techniques such as the close-up, cross-cutting, and expressive camera movement. His 1915 epic The Birth of a Nation was a tremendous technical breakthrough, though its explicit racism remains a subject of enduring controversy. He followed it with the monumental Intolerance and co-founded United Artists in 1919. Griffith struggled to adapt to the sound era and largely withdrew from production after 1931, living quietly until his death in Hollywood in 1948.
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Signature works
- A Corner in Wheat film1909
- Judith of Bethulia film1914
- The Birth of a Nation film1915
- Intolerance film1916
- Broken Blossoms film1919
- Way Down East film1920
- Orphans of the Storm film1921
Honours
- Academy Honorary Award, 1935
Groups: Biograph Studios, United Artists.