Biography
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance (1916). Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera and narrative techniques, and its immense popularity set the stage for the dominance of the feature-length film. It also proved extremely controversial at the time and ever since for its negative depiction of Black Americans and their supporters, and its positive portrayal of slavery and the Ku Klux Klan. Griffith responded to his critics with his next film, Intolerance, intended to show the dangers of prejudiced thought and behavior. The film was not the financial success that its predecessor had been, but was received warmly by critics. Several of his later films were also successful, but high production, promotional, and roadshow costs often made his ventures commercial failures. Even so, he is generally considered one of the most important figures of early cinema.
Directed 298
1950s
- 1951
Footlight Varieties
Director
1930s
- 1936
- 1931
The Struggle
Director
- 1930
1930 Prelude to "The Birth of a Nation"
Director
1920s
- 1929
Lady of the Pavements
Director
- 1928
The Battle of the Sexes
Director
Drums of Love
Director
- 1927
- 1926
The Sorrows of Satan
Director
- 1925
That Royle Girl
Director
Sally of the Sawdust
Director
- 1924
Isn't Life Wonderful
Director
America
Director
- 1923
The White Rose
Director
- 1922
One Exciting Night
Director
- 1921
Orphans of the Storm
Director
Dream Street
Director
- 1920
Way Down East
Director
The Love Flower
Director
Remodeling Her Husband
Director
The Idol Dancer
Director
1910s
- 1919
The Greatest Question
Director
Scarlet Days
Director
The Mother and the Law
Director
The Fall of Babylon
Director
True Heart Susie
Director
The Girl Who Stayed at Home
Director
- 1918
The Greatest Thing in Life
Director
Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal
Director
The Great Love
Director
- 1916
- 1915
- 1914
The Avenging Conscience
Director
The Escape
Director
Home, Sweet Home
Director
Brute Force
Director
The Battle of the Sexes
Director
- 1913
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
Director
The Adopted Brother
Director
Two Men of the Desert
Director
The Reformers
Director
The Mothering Heart
Director
Death's Marathon
Director
A Timely Interception
Director
The Yaqui Cur
Director
The House of Darkness
Director
The Wanderer
Director
If We Only Knew
Director
The Lady and the Mouse
Director
The Little Tease
Director
The Sheriff's Baby
Director
Fate
Director
Near To Earth
Director
The Unwelcome Guest
Director
Broken Ways
Director
Oil and Water
Director
The Telephone Girl and the Lady
Director
Three Friends
Director
The Coming of Angelo
Director
- 1912
A Cry for Help
Director
The Massacre
Director
The Burglar’s Dilemma
Director
The New York Hat
Director
Brutality
Director
The Informer
Director
My Baby
Director
Gold and Glitter
Director
Heredity
Director
The Musketeers of Pig Alley
Director
The Painted Lady
Director
In the Aisles of the Wild
Director
The Chief's Blanket
Director
A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
Director
So Near, Yet So Far
Director
Friends
Director
Two Daughters of Eve
Director
Blind Love
Director
An Unseen Enemy
Director
A Pueblo Legend
Director
The Inner Circle
Director
The Narrow Road
Director
Man's Genesis
Director
An Indian Summer
Director
The School Teacher and the Waif
Director
Lena and the Geese
Director
A Temporary Truce
Director
Home Folks
Director
A Beast at Bay
Director
A Lodging for the Night
Director
The Old Actor
Director
The Lesser Evil
Director
One Is Business, the Other Crime
Director
The Female of the Species
Director
Fate's Interception
Director
The Girl and Her Trust
Director
The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch
Director
The Root of Evil
Director
Iola's Promise
Director
A String of Pearls
Director
The Sunbeam
Director
Under Burning Skies
Director
The Sands of Dee
Director
The Mender of Nets
Director
Billy's Stratagem
Director
The Transformation of Mike
Director
For His Son
Director
The Eternal Mother
Director
The Baby and the Stork
Director
- 1911
The Voice of the Child
Director
A Terrible Discovery
Director
Saved from Himself
Director
The Failure
Director
A Woman Scorned
Director
The Miser's Heart
Director
Through Darkening Vales
Director
The Trail of Books
Director
The Battle
Director
The Long Road
Director
The Adventures of Billy
Director
The Making of a Man
Director
Her Awakening
Director
The Revenue Man and His Girl
Director
The Squaw's Love
Director
Swords and Hearts
Director
The Rose of Kentucky
Director
The Last Drop of Water
Director
A Country Cupid
Director
The Indian Brothers
Director
Bobby the Coward
Director
Fighting Blood
Director
The Primal Call
Director
Enoch Arden: Part II
Director
Enoch Arden
Director
Enoch Arden: Part I
Director
Madame Rex
Director
The Lonedale Operator
Director
A Decree of Destiny
Director
His Daughter
Director
Fisher Folks
Director
What Shall We Do with Our Old?
Director
Fate's Turning
Director
His Trust Fulfilled
Director
His Trust
Director
The Italian Barber
Director
When a Man Loves
Director
The Two Paths
Director
- 1910
Winning Back His Love
Director
The Golden Supper
Director
A Plain Song
Director
The Song of the Wildwood Flute
Director
Sunshine Sue
Director
Simple Charity
Director
The Fugitive
Director
Waiter No. 5
Director
That Chink at Golden Gulch
Director
Rose o' Salem Town
Director
The Oath and the Man
Director
In Life's Cycle
Director
The Modern Prodigal
Director
Wilful Peggy
Director
The Sorrows of the Unfaithful
Director
The Usurer
Director
The House with Closed Shutters
Director
An Arcadian Maid
Director
Unexpected Help
Director
The Call to Arms
Director
A Flash of Light
Director
What the Daisy Said
Director
Muggsy's First Sweetheart
Director
A Child's Impulse
Director
In the Border States
Director
A Victim of Jealousy
Director
A Child of the Ghetto
Director
Ramona
Director
Over Silent Paths
Director
The Two Brothers
Director
Love Among the Roses
Director
The Unchanging Sea
Director
Thou Shalt Not
Director
A Romance of the Western Hills
Director
Faithful
Director
In Old California
Director
The Thread of Destiny
Director
The Newlyweds
Director
Taming a Husband
Director
Her Terrible Ordeal
Director
The Rocky Road
Director
1900s
- 1909
The Day After
Director
To Save Her Soul
Director
A Trap for Santa Claus
Director
A Corner in Wheat
Director
The Redman's View
Director
Through the Breakers
Director
The Mountaineer's Honor
Director
The Light That Came
Director
The Restoration
Director
Nursing a Viper
Director
The Gibson Goddess
Director
What's Your Hurry?
Director
Lines of White on a Sullen Sea
Director
His Lost Love
Director
A Change of Heart
Director
Fools of Fate
Director
Pippa Passes
Director
The Awakening
Director
In Old Kentucky
Director
The Broken Locket
Director
Getting Even
Director
Comata, the Sioux
Director
1776, or The Hessian Renegades
Director
The Sealed Room
Director
The Little Darling
Director
Pranks
Director
Oh, Uncle!
Director
The Seventh Day
Director
The Indian Runner's Romance
Director
His Wife's Visitor
Director
They Would Elope
Director
Mr. Jones' Burglar
Director
The Mended Lute
Director
A Strange Meeting
Director
The Slave
Director
Sweet and Twenty
Director
Tender Hearts
Director
The Cardinal's Conspiracy
Director
The Country Doctor
Director
The Way of Man
Director
The Peachbasket Hat
Director
Her First Biscuits
Director
The Faded Lilies
Director
The Son's Return
Director
The Lonely Villa
Director
The Violin Maker of Cremona
Director
His Duty
Director
Eradicating Aunty
Director
What Drink Did
Director
The Cricket on the Hearth
Director
Two Memories
Director
Resurrection
Director
The French Duel
Director
The Suicide Club
Director
Lucky Jim
Director
Lady Helen's Escapade
Director
Confidence
Director
A Drunkard's Reformation
Director
Jones and His New Neighbors
Director
The Medicine Bottle
Director
The Voice of the Violin
Director
I Did It, Mamma
Director
The Lure of the Gown
Director
The Salvation Army Lass
Director
The Roue’s Heart
Director
A Fool's Revenge
Director
The Prussian Spy
Director
His Wife's Mother
Director
At the Altar
Director
The Golden Louis
Director
The Politician's Love Story
Director
The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals
Director
The Curtain Pole
Director
Edgar Allen Poe
Director
The Girls and Daddy
Director
The Cord of Life
Director
Those Awful Hats
Director
Mr. Jones Has a Card Party
Director
- 1908
Mr. Jones at the Ball
Director
An Awful Moment
Director
Money Mad
Director
The Song of the Shirt
Director
The Taming of the Shrew
Director
The Call of the Wild
Director
Romance of a Jewess
Director
The Planter's Wife
Director
Ingomar, the Barbarian
Director
Father Gets in the Game
Director
The Zulu's Heart
Director
The Devil
Director
A Smoked Husband
Director
Where the Breakers Roar
Director
The Girl and the Outlaw
Director
Betrayed by a Handprint
Director
Balked at the Altar
Director
For Love of Gold
Director
The Fatal Hour
Director
The Greaser's Gauntlet
Director
A Calamitous Elopement
Director
Deceived Slumming Party
Director
The Black Viper
Director
The Adventures of Dollie
Director
No release date
Biograph Shorts Special Edition: 1909-1913
Director
A Griffith Biograph Collection Featuring Mary Pickford: Volume One
Director
Wrote 121
2000s
- 2002
D.W. Griffith - Years of Discovery 1909-1913
Writer
1970s
- 1973
General Massacre
Novel
1950s
- 1951
Footlight Varieties
Writer
1930s
- 1931
The Struggle
Screenplay
1920s
- 1924
Isn't Life Wonderful
Writer
- 1923
The White Rose
Writer
- 1922
One Exciting Night
Story
- 1921
Orphans of the Storm
Screenplay
Dream Street
Writer
- 1920
Way Down East
Writer
The Love Flower
Writer
1910s
- 1919
The Mother and the Law
Screenplay, Story
The Fall of Babylon
Writer
The Girl Who Stayed at Home
Writer
- 1918
The Greatest Thing in Life
Writer
Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal
Writer
The Hun Within
Writer
The Great Love
Writer
- 1916
The Marriage of Molly-O
Writer
An Innocent Magdalene
Story
Hoodoo Ann
Writer
Daphne and the Pirate
Writer
Betty of Greystone
Story
The Wood Nymph
Story
The Missing Links
Writer
- 1915
The Lily and the Rose
Writer
The Lamb
Story
Enoch Arden
Writer
- 1914
The Avenging Conscience
Writer
Home, Sweet Home
Writer
- 1913
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
Writer
Two Men of the Desert
Screenplay
The Wanderer
Writer
The Lady and the Mouse
Writer
The Little Tease
Writer
- 1912
The Massacre
Writer
Brutality
Writer
The Musketeers of Pig Alley
Writer
The Painted Lady
Writer
A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
Writer
Friends
Writer
A Pueblo Legend
Writer
Man's Genesis
Writer
The Mender of Nets
Writer
- 1910
The Thread of Destiny
Story
The Newlyweds
Writer
Her Terrible Ordeal
Writer
The Rocky Road
Writer
1900s
- 1909
To Save Her Soul
Writer
A Corner in Wheat
Writer
The Mountaineer's Honor
Writer
The Light That Came
Writer
The Restoration
Writer
Nursing a Viper
Writer
The Gibson Goddess
Writer
What's Your Hurry?
Writer
Lines of White on a Sullen Sea
Writer
His Lost Love
Writer
Pippa Passes
Writer
The Broken Locket
Writer
Getting Even
Writer
1776, or The Hessian Renegades
Writer
The Little Darling
Writer
Oh, Uncle!
Writer
Mr. Jones' Burglar
Writer
A Strange Meeting
Writer
The Slave
Writer
Tender Hearts
Writer
The Country Doctor
Writer
The Way of Man
Writer
The Peachbasket Hat
Writer
The Faded Lilies
Writer
The Son's Return
Screenplay
Eradicating Aunty
Writer
What Drink Did
Writer
Two Memories
Writer
Confidence
Writer
A Drunkard's Reformation
Writer
Jones and His New Neighbors
Writer
The Medicine Bottle
Writer
The Voice of the Violin
Writer
The Lure of the Gown
Writer
The Salvation Army Lass
Writer
The Roue’s Heart
Writer
A Fool's Revenge
Writer
The Prussian Spy
Writer
His Wife's Mother
Writer
At the Altar
Writer
The Golden Louis
Writer
The Politician's Love Story
Writer
The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals
Writer
The Curtain Pole
Writer
Edgar Allen Poe
Writer
The Girls and Daddy
Writer
The Cord of Life
Writer
Those Awful Hats
Writer
Mr. Jones Has a Card Party
Writer
- 1908
Mr. Jones at the Ball
Writer
An Awful Moment
Writer
Money Mad
Writer
The Song of the Shirt
Writer
The Taming of the Shrew
Writer
The Call of the Wild
Writer
Romance of a Jewess
Writer
The Planter's Wife
Writer
The Zulu's Heart
Writer
Where the Breakers Roar
Writer
Betrayed by a Handprint
Writer
Balked at the Altar
Writer
The Greaser's Gauntlet
Writer
A Calamitous Elopement
Writer
Over the Hills to the Poor House
Writer
Mixed Babies
Writer
When Knights Were Bold
Writer
The Music Master
Writer
Produced 48
1930s
- 1931
The Struggle
Producer
1920s
- 1928
The Battle of the Sexes
Producer
- 1926
The Sorrows of Satan
Producer
- 1924
Isn't Life Wonderful
Producer
America
Producer
- 1923
The White Rose
Producer
- 1922
One Exciting Night
Producer
- 1921
Orphans of the Storm
Producer
Dream Street
Producer
- 1920
Way Down East
Producer
The Love Flower
Producer
1910s
- 1919
The Greatest Question
Producer
Scarlet Days
Producer
The Mother and the Law
Producer
The Fall of Babylon
Producer
True Heart Susie
Producer
The Girl Who Stayed at Home
Producer
- 1918
The Greatest Thing in Life
Producer
Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal
Producer
The Great Love
Producer
- 1917
Betsy's Burglar
Supervising Producer
A Girl of the Timber Claims
Supervising Producer
- 1916
The Children of the Feud
Producer
Fifty-Fifty
Producer
The Social Secretary
Producer
The Half-Breed
Producer
Macbeth
Producer
Susan Rocks the Boat
Producer
The Missing Links
Production Supervisor
- 1915
Double Trouble
Production Supervisor
Martyrs of the Alamo
Producer
Old Heidelberg
Supervising Producer
The Lily and the Rose
Producer
Ghosts
Producer
- 1914
The Avenging Conscience
Producer
The Life of General Villa
Supervising Producer
- 1913
The Mothering Heart
Producer
- 1912
Lena and the Geese
Producer
The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch
Producer
- 1911
Fighting Blood
Executive Producer
The Lonedale Operator
Producer
- 1910
A Gold Necklace
Producer
1900s
- 1909
The Day After
Producer
A Corner in Wheat
Producer
Acted in 22
2020s
- 2020
Charlie Chaplin, The Genius of Liberty
archive footage
1910s
- 1915
Enoch Arden
Mr. Ray
- 1912
Two Daughters of Eve
At Stage Door
- 1911
The Adventures of Billy
On Bench
1900s
- 1909
1776, or The Hessian Renegades
Movie
At the Altar
Movie
The Politician's Love Story
Man - First Couple
The Girls and Daddy
At Black & Tan Ball
- 1908
Balked at the Altar
Movie
The Fatal Hour
Policeman
A Calamitous Elopement
Policeman
Deceived Slumming Party
Reginald O.C. Wittington
The Black Viper
Rescuer
The Invisible Fluid
Mailman
When Knights Were Bold
Movie
The Sculptor's Nightmare
Movie
The Music Master
Movie
Her First Adventure
Father
Cupid’s Pranks
Extra at ball
Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
Father
Falsely Accused!
Cop in Court
Other crew 3
1910s
- 1916
Betty of Greystone
Supervisor of Production Resources
- 1915
Sound 2
1930s
- 1931
The Struggle
Original Music Composer
1910s
- 1915
Edited 2
Art department 1
Costume and makeup 1
Appearances16
2020s
- 2024
- 2023
Mary Pickford a Blessing and a Curse
Self
2010s
- 2014
Flashback: The First World War
Self (archive footage)
2000s
- 2008
Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies
Self (archive footage)
- 2007
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Self (archive footage)
- 2002
The Tramp and the Dictator
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1990s
- 1998
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
Self (archive footage)
- 1995
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Self (archive footage)
- 1993
The Making of 'The Birth of a Nation'
Self (Archive footage)
1980s
- 1988
Lillian Gish: The Actor's Life for Me
Self (archive footage)
- 1980
Hollywood
Self (archive footage), Self (archive footage, uncredited) · 1 episode
1970s
- 1975
D.W. Griffith: An American Genius
Self (archive)
1960s
- 1961
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Self (archive footage)
1930s
- 1930
1930 Prelude to "The Birth of a Nation"
Self
1920s
- 1921
Screen Snapshots (Series 1, No. 20)
Himself