Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 - January 21, 1959) was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. [187] DeMille's films Male and Female, Why Change Your Wife?, and The Affairs of Anatol can be retrospectively described as high camp and are categorized as "early DeMille films" due to their particular style of production and costume and set design. Cecil Blount DeMille was a legendary. To diseased proportions. In addition to winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field, Sidney also received a BAFTA award for The Defiant Ones, a Golden Globe for Lilies of the Field, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award, among other awards and nominations. Sarris added that despite the influence of styles of contemporary directors throughout his career, DeMille's style remained unchanged. 1. [281] However, not everyone received DeMille's religious films favorably. DeMille studied famous paintings that captured the life of Christ and brought them to the screen. cause of death. The play was successful, and DeMille was distraught that his childhood idol had plagiarized his work. [64] The Lasky Company bought the rights to the play The Squaw Man by Edwin Milton Royle and cast Dustin Farnum in the lead role. His last and best known film, The Ten Commandments (1956), also a Best Picture Academy Award nominee, is currently the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation. [203], DeMille often edited in a manner that favored psychological space rather than physical space through his cuts. Cecil B. DeMille began his career as an actor on the stage in the theatrical company of Charles Frohman in 1900. Explore Cecil B. DeMille's biography, personal life, family and cause of death. [207] Costume designer Dorothy Jeakins, who worked with DeMille on The Ten Commandments (1956), said that he was skilled in humiliating people. Henry, a . In the audience was Charles Frohman who would cast DeMille in his play Hearts are Trumps, DeMille's Broadway debut. [130] He resigned from the Lux Radio Show because he refused to pay a dollar to the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA) because he did not believe that any organization had the right to "levy a compulsory assessment upon any member. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts honored DeMille with an Alumni Achievement Award in 1958. During the French New Wave, critics began to categorize certain filmmakers as auteurs such as Howard Hawks, John Ford, and Raoul Walsh. Cause of death: Heart failure: Nationality: American: Occupation: Producer, director, editor, screenwriter, actor: Years active: 1913-1959: Spouse(s) Constance Adams . However, he would never again vote for a Democratic candidate in a presidential election. [21] DeMille's sister Agnes was born on April 23, 1891; his mother nearly did not survive the birth. Its interracial love story made it commercially successful and it first publicized Hollywood as the home of the U.S. film industry. [228] Throughout his career, he did not alter his films to better adhere to contemporary or popular styles. [67], On December 12, 1913, DeMille, his cast, and crew boarded a Southern Pacific train bound for Flagstaff via New Orleans. [48] DeMille wrote another play originally called Sergeant Devil May Care which was renamed The Royal Mounted. [10] He worked as a playwright, administrator, and faculty member during the early years of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, established in New York City in 1884. An annual award, the Golden Globe's Cecil B. DeMille Award recognizes lifetime achievement in the film industry. [72] DeMille adapted Belasco's dramatic lighting techniques to film technology, mimicking moonlight with U.S. cinema's first attempts at "motivated lighting" in The Warrens of Virginia. [10] At the military college, even though his grades were average, he reportedly excelled in personal conduct. Soon after, in 1959, he had another heart attack, which led to his death. Credits. Beatrice DeMille's family was not in attendance, and Simon Louvish suggests that this was to conceal DeMille's partial Jewish heritage. [121], In 1932, DeMille returned to Paramount at the request of Lasky, bringing with him his own production unit. He graduated in 1900, and for graduation, his performance was the play The Arcady Trail. He was so eager to produce the film, that he hadn't yet read the novel. The film began production in 1949, Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey were paid $250,000 for use of the title and facilities. Zukor became president with Lasky as the vice president. However, the idea failed due to lack of funding and commitment. [290][note 16] Donated by the Cecil B. DeMille Foundation in 2004, the moving image collection of Cecil B. DeMille is held at the Academy Film Archive and includes home movies, outtakes, and never-before-seen test footage. [36] One of DeMille's affairs was with his screenwriter Jeanie MacPherson. Find out about Cecil B DeMille's family tree, family history, ancestry, ancestors, genealogy, relationships and affairs! He bought the rights to the novel in 1925, but abandoned the project in pre-production. [231], According to Scott Eyman, DeMille's films were at the same time masculine and feminine due to his thematic adventurousness and his eye for the extravagant. Beatrice became a play broker and author's agent, influencing DeMille's early life and career. [189] In the 2012 Sight & Sound poll, both DeMille's Samson and Delilah and 1923 version of The Ten Commandments received votes, but did not make the top 100 films. [244] Another minor characteristic of DeMille's films include train crashes which can be found in several of his films. [76][77] The film grossed over ten times its budget after its New York premiere in February 1914. His first biblical epic, The Ten Commandments (1923), was both a critical and commercial success; it held the Paramount revenue record for twenty-five years. [248], According to Sam Goldwyn, critics did not like DeMille's films, but the audiences did and "they have the final word". DeMille made a 1905 reprise in Hamlet as Osric. He began his career with reserved yet brilliant melodramas; from there, his style developed into marital comedies with outrageously melodramatic plots. [116], When "talking pictures" were invented in 1928, Cecil B. DeMille made a successful transition, offering his own innovations to the painful process; he devised a microphone boom and a soundproof camera blimp. [160] A unique practice at the time, DeMille offered ten percent of his profit to the crew. Cecil B. DeMille. The school closed, and Beatrice filed for bankruptcy. [113][295] The former film building at Chapman University in Orange, California, is named in honor of DeMille. [130] While DeMille was host, the show had forty million weekly listeners, gaining DeMille an annual salary of $100,000. [175][176] His personal will drew a line between Cecilia and his three adopted children, with Cecilia receiving a majority of DeMille's inheritance and estate. "[267] Salvador Dal wrote that DeMille, Walt Disney and the Marx Brothers were "the three great American Surrealists". He was her mentor, while she was for many years his mistress (a liaison which was tolerated by De Mille's long-suffering wife Constance Adams ). The Union Pacific gave DeMille access to historical data, early period trains, and expert crews, adding to the authenticity of the film. MGM distributed the film in 1941 and donated profits to World War II relief charities. date of death. De Mille daughter dies. [306] DeMille received a Golden Globe Award for Best Director[314] and was additionally nominated for the Best Director category at the 1953 Academy Awards for the same film. Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12, 1881 and died on January 21, 1959. Eventually, he became manager of the agency and later, a junior partner with his mother. [187] E.H. Sothern's early influence on DeMille's work can be seen in DeMille's perfectionism. In March 1938, he underwent a major emergency prostatectomy. Still, the members unanimously approved it. DeMille had adopted him to avoid revealing the affairs to William's wife. DeMille instructed the guilty man to leave town and would never reveal his name. DeMille filming the "big Indian raid" of Call of the North. Few words can describe the monumental Cecil B. DeMille. At least one DeMille film can represent each film genre. [154] In 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott asked DeMille for help in designing the cadet uniforms at the newly established United States Air Force Academy. The wedding party was small. He was the first recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, which was named in his honor. [304] Additionally, in 1958, he received an honorary Doctorate of Law degree from Temple University. Chromium is a mineral that is found in a number of foods, such as meat, vegetables, grains, fruits and nuts. Cleopatra (1934) was his first film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. [145] After working on Reap the Wild Wind, in 1944, he was the master of ceremonies at the massive rally organized by David O. Selznick in the Los Angeles Coliseum in support of the DeweyBricker ticket as well as Governor Earl Warren of California. Cecil DeMille's famous niece was named for her. His most notable works include The Ten Commandments -1923, The Sign of the Cross-1932 and Cleopatra-1934.Cleopatra earned him credits as it was the first film that was listed among the nominees for an Academy Award.. Cecil Blount DeMille. These films represent those which DeMille produced or assisted in directing, credited or uncredited. The October 2002 issue of Vanity Fair Magazine saluted Paramount's ninetieth Anniversary by writing: "Somewhere Cecil B. DeMille is smiling.". Mrs. DeMille's office and library opened to the music room. [207], DeMille made stars of unknown actors: Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels, Rod La Rocque, William Boyd, Claudette Colbert, and Charlton Heston. However, throughout his career, he filmed comedies, periodic and contemporary romances, dramas, fantasies, propaganda, Biblical spectacles, musical comedies, suspense, and war films. [114] He was additionally vice president of the Commercial National Trust and Savings Bank in Los Angeles where he approved loans for other filmmakers. The gathering drew 93,000, with short speeches by, While the film was a huge success, DeMille regretted that he could not share the success with his wife who had developed, The estate cycled through several different homeowners for the next 30 years until it was bought by American actress. The second star is located at 1725 Vine Street. Cecil B. DeMille was an American film director, producer, and actor. The Sign of the Cross (1932) is said to be the first sound film to integrate all aspects of cinematic technique. Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12, 1881 and died in 2000 De Mille Drive, Hollywood, California due to Heart failure due to a series of heart attacks on January 21, 1959. . Terrible. Still, it was a huge success at the box office. In the silent era, he was renowned for Male and Female (1919), Manslaughter (1922), The Volga Boatman (1926), and The Godless Girl (1928). Despite the urging of his associate producer, DeMille wanted to return to the set right away. Consequently, his mother hired him for her agency The DeMille Play Company and taught him how to be an agent and a playwright. DeMille also produced and directed plays. [47] In 1907, due to a scandal with one of Beatrice's students, Evelyn Nesbit, the Henry deMille School lost students. DeMille asked David Niven to star in the film, but it was never made. [41] The Return of Peter Grimm sparked controversy; however, because Belasco had taken DeMille's unnamed screenplay, changed the characters and named it The Return of Peter Grimm, producing and presenting it as his own work. [320], Filmography obtained from Fifty Hollywood Directors. Apfel. Age at Death: 77. He adapted several of Belasco's screenplays into film. [10], Cecil B. DeMille's mother, Beatrice, a literary agent and scriptwriter, was the daughter of German Jews. I'm ready for my close-up." [104], In the early 1920s, scandal surrounded Paramount; religious groups and the media opposed portrayals of immorality in films. View the most popular Cecil B. DeMille pix. Married Life. DeMille used clips from his own films in Land of Liberty. [59] Lasky and DeMille were said to have sketched out the organization of the company on the back of a restaurant menu. [126] DeMille was a conservative Republican activist, becoming more conservative as he aged. DeMille's film The Affairs of Anatol came under fire. He had completely adapted to the production of sound film despite the film's poor dialogue. [138] Critics were impressed with the visuals but found the scripts dull, calling it DeMille's "poorest Western". [84] While on a European vacation in 1921, DeMille contracted rheumatic fever in Paris. [71] Apfel filmed most of The Squaw Man due to DeMille's inexperience; however, DeMille learned quickly and was particularly adept at impromptu screenwriting as necessary. She had a Southern drawl which she never lost. Eddie Murphy is going to the Golden Globes. [157] Adolph Zukor convinced the board to change their minds on the grounds of morality. [61], The Squaw Man was a success, which led to the eventual founding of Paramount Pictures and Hollywood becoming the "film capital of the world". Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA. imported from Wikimedia project. Let's take a look back at 20 of his greatest movies, ranked worst to best. Any problems on the set were often fixed by writers in the office rather than on the set. The mistress could not keep the boy due to her tuberculosis. [156] Fifty-two of his features are silent films. Date of death: 21 Jan 1959. He was eventually introduced to Oscar Apfel, a stage director who had been a director with the Edison Company. [264], DeMille was liked by some of his fellow directors and disliked by others, though his actual films were usually dismissed by his peers as vapid spectacle. Memoir of DeMille titled 'The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille' was published in 1959. [231][note 14] The Ten Commandments inspired DreamWorks Animation's later film about Moses, The Prince of Egypt. A documentary titled. Work period (start) . Broadway Actor. - Death and the Maiden (1973) . [140][note 8] While concurrently filmmaking, he served in World War II at the age of sixty as his neighborhood air-raid warden. [205], Composer Elmer Bernstein described DeMille as "sparing no effort" when filmmaking. DeMille did not like the first draft of the biography, saying that he thought the person portrayed in the biography was an "SOB"; he said it made him sound too egotistical. They took time off weekly from film production to practice military drills. [42] DeMille would later adapt Belasco's The Girl of the Golden West, Rose of the Rancho, and The Warrens of Virginia into films. It was the longest (3 hours, 39 minutes) and most expensive ($13million) film in Paramount history. But they have inspired cutting edge directors including Stephen Spielberg and Martin Scorcese. Biography - A Short WikiDirector of the epic 1956 film The Ten Commandments, which featured Charlton Heston as Moses. [231] DeMille's distinctive style can be seen through camera and lighting effects as early as The Squaw Man with the use of daydream images; moonlight and sunset on a mountain; and side-lighting through a tent flap. Oscars 1950 - Honorary Award. [39] In the summer of 1905 DeMille joined the stock cast at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado. 10 June 2021. Derided then . [84] Throughout his career, DeMille would frequently remake his own films. [26] The aim of the school was to teach young women to properly understand and fulfill the women's duty to herself, her home, and her country. [65] Already $15,000 in debt to Royle for the screenplay of The Squaw Man, Lasky's relatives bought the $5,000 stock to save the Lasky Company from bankruptcy. [309][310][note 17] For his contribution to the motion picture and radio industry, DeMille has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Cecil B. DeMille was a master of spectacle. A Biblical epic with sex, it was a characteristically DeMille film. The actual parting of the sea was created by releasing 360,000 gallons of water into a huge water tank split by a U-shaped trough, overlaying it with film of a giant waterfall that was built on the Paramount backlot, and playing the clip backwards. DeMille wanted to film in Canada; however, due to budget constraints, the film was instead shot in Oregon and Hollywood. [149][150] DeMille signed a contract with Prentice Hall publishers in August 1953 to publish an autobiography. [117] He also popularized the camera crane. Date of death: 21 January 1959 Hollywood: Cause of death: heart failure; Place of burial: Hollywood Forever Cemetery; Pseudonym: C.B. Billy Jim Hawkins . [163], On November 7, 1954, while in Egypt filming the Exodus sequence for The Ten Commandments, DeMille (who was seventy-three) climbed a 107-foot (33m) ladder to the top of the massive Per Rameses set and suffered a serious heart attack. [20] John Philip Sousa was a friend of the family, and DeMille recalled throwing mud balls in the air so neighbor Annie Oakley could practice her shooting. [190], DeMille's filmmaking process always began with extensive research. Furthermore, DeMille argued with Zukor over his extravagant and over-budget production costs. After Henry DeMille's death at age 40, Cecil's mother, Beatrice, ran a well-known boarding school for girls in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. [153] Besides filmmaking and finishing his autobiography, DeMille was involved in other projects. [109] Eight of his films were "epics" with five of those classified as "Biblical". He stated that The Ten Commandments was the final culmination of DeMille's style. He debuted as an actor on February 21, 1900, in the play Hearts Are Trumps at New York's Garden Theater. . [232] In the early age of cinema, DeMille differentiated the Lasky Company from other production companies due to the use of dramatic, low-key lighting they called "Lasky lighting" and marketed as "Rembrandt lighting" to appeal to the public. DeMille was variously declared 'the master of the religious epic', 14. the 'arch apostle of spectacle', 15. and the 'King of the epic Biblical spectacular', 16. as also From the archive, 22 January 1959: Pioneering film maker Cecil B. deMille dies Even the severest critics of his films had to concede that he was a great showman Cecil B. deMille (1881-1959). [193], DeMille rarely gave direction to actors; he preferred to "office-direct" where he would work with actors in his office, going over characters and reading through scripts. Cecil B. DeMille Net Worth: Cecil B. DeMille was an American film director and producer who had a net worth equal to $50 million at the time of his death after adjusting for . Martin Scorsese recalled that DeMille had the skill to maintain control of not only the lead actors in a frame but the many extras in the frame as well. [181] Henry was heavily influenced by the work of Charles Kingsley whose ideas trickled down to DeMille. [51] In 1911, DeMille became acquainted with vaudeville producer Jesse Lasky when Lasky was searching for a writer for his new musical. DeMille was credited in small print as "based on an idea by Cecil DeMille". According to director of photography Janusz Kaminski, Steven Spielberg's earliest home movies still exist, and were consulted for the scene in "The Fabelmans" in which young Sammy Fabelman recreates a train crash scene from Cecil B. DeMille's 1952 film "The Greatest Show on Earth." "We've watched them before, but they are a little too primitive [] However, this version is actually a 1918 re-release. Furthermore, DeMille's film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Story. [278] As one of the establishing members of Paramount Pictures and co-founder of Hollywood, DeMille had a role in the development of the film industry. Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12th, in 1881. However, Sam Goldwyn realized that if they called it "Rembrandt" lighting, the audience would pay double the price. Sons-and daughters-in-law were required to call him "Mr. DeMille", and Richard deMille never recalled hugging his father, claiming he received handshakes instead. The original story Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is about two teenagers, Romeo and Juliet, who fall in love and their families' feud ends with death of Romeo and Juliet. [303] In 1957, DeMille gave the commencement address for the graduation ceremony of Brigham Young University wherein he received an honorary Doctorate of Letter degree. [259] He cultivated the image of the omnipotent director,[260] complete with megaphone, riding crop, and jodhpurs. While he is known as DeMille (his nom d'oeuvre), his family name was Dutch and is usually spelled "de Mil". Between 1914 and 1956, he made seventy feature films; all but seven were profitable. He directed and produced four films on his own, working with Producers Distributing Corporation because he found front office supervision too restricting. [73] There were problems; however, with the perforation of the film stock and it was discovered the DeMille had brought a cheap British film perforator which had punched in sixty-five holes per foot instead of the industry-standard of sixty-four. Heart Ailment. [243] In relation to his own interests and sexual preferences, sadomasochism was a minor theme present in some of his films. [128] He supported Herbert Hoover and in 1928 made his largest campaign donation to Hoover. Mature refused to wrestle Jackie the Lion, even though DeMille had just tussled with the lion, proving that he was tame. Cecil Blount DeMille (/ s s l d m l /; August 12, 1881 - January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor.Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films.He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. [123] The Sign of the Cross was the first film to integrate all cinematic techniques. [275] Scorsese said he had viewed The Ten Commandments forty or fifty times. [271] DeMille was immortalized in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard when Gloria Swanson spoke the line: "All right, Mr. DeMille.
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