Cecil B. DeMille

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August 12, 1881

January 21, 1959

Cecil Blount DeMille

Constance Adams (m 1902–1959)

Mistresses:

Jeanie Macpherson

Julia Faye

Gladys Rosson

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Producer

The Buccaneer (1958) (supervising executive producer)

The Ten Commandments (1956) (producer,director)

The War of the Worlds (1953) (executive producer) (uncredited)

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) (producer,director,actor)

When Worlds Collide (1951) (executive producer) (uncredited)

Samson and Delilah (1949) (producer, director, actor)

Unconquered (1947) (producer, director, actor)

The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) (producer, director, actor)

Reap the Wild Wind (1942) (producer, director ,actor)

North West Mounted Police (1940) (producer, director, actor)

Union Pacific (1939) (producer, director)

The Buccaneer (1938) (producer, director)

The Plainsman (1936) (producer, director)

The Crusades (1935) (producer, director)

Cleopatra (1934) (producer, director)

Four Frightened People (1934) (producer, director)

This Day and Age (1933) (producer, director) (uncredited)

The Sign of the Cross (1932) (producer, director)

The Squaw Man (1931) (producer, director, actor)

Madam Satan (1930) (producer, director, actor)

Dynamite (1929) (producer, director)

The Godless Girl (1929) (producer, director)

Walking Back (1928) (producer, director) (uncredited)

Hold 'Em Yale (1928) (producer)

Let 'Er Go Gallegher (1928) (executive producer)

The Angel of Broadway (1927) (producer)

The Fighting Eagle (1927) (executive producer)

The King of Kings (1927) (producer, director)

The Yankee Clipper (1927) (producer)

White Gold (1927) (producer)

The Cruise of the Jasper B (1926) (producer)

Her Man o' War (1926) (producer)

The Volga Boatman (1926) (producer, director)

Whispering Smith (1926) (producer)

The Road to Yesterday (1925) (producer, director)

The Coming of Amos (1925) (producer)

The Dressmaker from Paris (1925) (supervising producer)

The Golden Bed (1925) (producer, director)

Feet of Clay (1924) (producer, director)

Triumph (1924) (producer, director)

The Ten Commandments (1923) (producer, director)

Adam's Rib (1923) (producer, director)

Manslaughter (1922) (producer, director)

Saturday Night (1922) (producer, director)

Fool's Paradise (1921) (producer, director)

The Affairs of Anatol (1921) (producer, director)

Forbidden Fruit (1921) (producer, director, writer)

Something to Think About (1920) (producer, director)

Why Change Your Wife? (1920) (producer, director)

Male and Female (1919) (producer, director)

For Better, for Worse (1919) (producer, director)

The Squaw Man (1918) (producer, director)

Till I Come Back to You (1918) (producer, director)

We Can't Have Everything (1918) (producer,director)

Old Wives for New (1918) (producer, director)

The Whispering Chorus (1918) (producer, director)

The Devil-Stone (1917) (producer, director)

The Woman God Forgot (1917) (producer, director)

The Little American (1917) (producer, director, writer)

A Romance of the Redwoods (1917) (producer, director, writer)

Lost and Won (1917) (producer, director)

Joan the Woman (1916) (producer, director)

The Dream Girl (1916) (producer, director)

Maria Rosa (1916) (producer,director)

The Heart of Nora Flynn (191 6) (producer, director)

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1916) (producer, director, writer)

Temptation (1915) (producer, director)

The Golden Chance (1915) (producer, director, writer)

The Cheat (1915) (producer, director)

Chimmie Fadden Out West (1915) (producer, director, writer)

Carmen (1915) (producer, director)

Kindling (1915) (producer, director, writer)

Chimmie Fadden (1915) (producer, director, writer)

The Arab (1915) (producer, director, writer)

The Wild Goose Chase (1915) (producer, director) (uncredited)

The Captive (1915) (producer, director, writer)

The Unafraid (1915) (producer, directer, writer) (uncredited)

The Warrens of Virginia (1915) (producer,director) (uncredited)

The Girl of the Golden West (1915) (producer, director, writer)

The Ghost Breaker (1914) (producer, director, writer)

Rose of the Rancho (1914) (producer, director, writer)

The Man from Home (1914) (producer,director,writer)

What's His Name (1914) (producer, director, writer)

The Call of the North (1914) (producer, director) (uncredited)

The Squaw Man (1914) (producer, director, writer) (uncredited)

Director

California's Golden Beginning (1948)

Don't Change Your Husband (1919)

Nan of Music Mountain (1917) (uncredited)

After Five (1915)

The Man on the Box (1914) (co-director)
The Only Son (1914)

Writer

The Night Club (1925)

The Love Mask (1916)

After Five (1915)

The Circus Man (1914) (uncredited)

Lord Chumley (1914) (play)

Actor

Son of Paleface (1952) (uncredited)

Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life (1952)

The Last Train from Madrid (1937) (uncredited)

Appearances

The Buccaneer (1958) (uncredited)

"Cinepanorama" (1 episode, 1957)

The Heart of Show Business (1957)

"This Is Your Life" (1 episode, 1957)

The Buster Keaton Story (1957)

"Toast of the Town" (1 episode, 1957)

The 26th Annual Academy Awards (1954) (TV)

The 25th Annual Academy Awards (1953) (TV)

"Whats My Line?" (1 episode, 1952)

"The Ken Murray Show" (1 episode, 1952)

Screen Snapshots: The Great Director (1951)

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

History Brought to Life (1950) (uncredited)

Variety Girl (1947)

Jens Månsson i Amerika (1947) (uncredited)

KTLA Premiere (1947) (TV)

Screen Snapshots Series 25, No. 1: 25th Anniversary (1945)

Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)

Glamour Boy (1941) (uncredited)

Hollywood Extra Girl (1935)

The Hollywood You Never See (1934)

Hollywood on Parade No. B-5 (1933)

Hollywood on Parade No. A-9 (1933) (uncredited)

Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 6 (1931)

Estrellados (1930) (uncredited)

Free and Easy (1930) (uncredited)

Hollywood (1923)

A Trip to Paramountown (1922)

The Academy Awards

1956 Nominated Best Picture for: The Ten Commandments

1952 Won Best Picture for: The Greatest Show on Earth

1952 Nominated Best Director for: The Greatest Show on Earth

1950 Honorary Award Distinguished motion picture pioneer for 37 years of brilliant showmanship.

Cannes Film Festival

1939 Won Golden Palm for: Union Pacific (1939)

Directors Guild Of America

1953 Nominated DGA Award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for: The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

Golden Globe Awards

1953 Won Golden Globe Best Director for: The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

1952 Won Cecil B. DeMille Award

Laurel Awards

1958 Won Golden Laurel Top Producer/Director

Walk of Fame (Hollywood)

Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture At 1719 Vine Street

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The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.

God means us to be free. With divine daring, He gave us the power of choice.

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Cecil Blount DeMille was the son of Henry Churchill de Mille, an Episcopalian lay preacher and Matilda Beatrice Samuel de Mille, a school mistress.

He studied at New York’s Academy of Dramatic Arts and started his creative life in the theatre and in 1913 he joined forces with vaudeville musician Jesse Lasky and glove salesman Samuel Goldfish (soon to become Goldwyn) to form the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. The team moved to Arizona to start production but, hating the weather, switched to Hollywood to make their first picture, ‘The Squaw Man’ (1914)

Laskey eventually became Paramount and DeMille became its creative force, writing and directing many of it's early pictures while supervising their other productions.

Cecil also helped his mother manage the DeMille Play Company, and he directed or stage managed a number of shows. He also wrote or co-wrote plays, including a one act vaudeville drama called "The Royal Mounted."

From 1936 to 1945 DeMille directed and hosted a popular radio show, ‘Lux Radio Theater’, which presented one-hour adaptations of famous films such as ‘Morocco’ and ‘The Thin Man’ on the wireless, often with the original Hollywood or Broadway stars reprising their roles. In June 1956 DeMille was forced to quit the show when he and the American Federation of Radio Artists had a political dispute.

In 1919 he established Mercury Aviation, the first commercial airline service to carry passengers on a regular schedule.

He sat on the board of the Bank of Italy (later Bank of America) and helped establish the bank's relationship with the motion picture industry.

In 1925, with independent financing, he set up his own studio, Cecil B. DeMille Pictures, Inc. The new company was located at the former Thomas H. Ince studio in Culver City. The studio's overall program did not perform well enough to sustain the company. It was absorbed by the Pathe Exchange, Inc.

He was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party.

Two schools are named after him, Cecil B. DeMille Middle school, in Long Beach, California, and Cecil B. DeMille elementary school in Midway City, California.

While directing ‘The Ten Commandments’ on location in Egypt he climbed a 107-foot (33-metre) ladder to supervise the Exodus scene and suffered a near-fatal heart attack. Against his doctor's orders, he was back working within a week.

He passed away of heart failure and is interred at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called Hollywood Forever), Hollywood, California, USA.

Salary

The Warrens of Virginia (1915) $500/week

The Captive (1915) $500/week

Sunset Blvd. (1950) $10,000

Must-see Movies:

King of Kings (1927)

Samson and Delilah (1949)

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

The Ten Commandments (1956)

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