
Cecil B. DeMille
Biography
Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker, known as a founder of the Hollywood motion-picture industry, one of the most commercially successful producer-directors of his time, and one of the most influential filmmakers in history. Between 1914 and 1956, he made seventy feature films; all but seven were profitable. Cecil B. DeMille is synonymous with religious epics: The King of Kings, Samson and Delilah, and The Ten Commandments (1956). He blended spectacle, sex, and spellbinding narrative to convey a message of faith.
It was DeMille who created the image of the omnipotent director, megaphone in hand, wearing boots and a visored cap. DeMille gave Hollywood numerous stars: Wallace Reid, Gloria Swanson, William (“Hopalong Cassidy”) Boyd, Claudette Colbert, Robert Preston, Jean Arthur, and Charlton Heston.
DeMille created the posts of studio story editor, art director, and concept artist. He was one of the first to use theatrical lighting on a movie set. In the late 1920s, when Hollywood converted to sound films, DeMille defied the sound experts, liberating the camera from a confining booth, and implementing the microphone boom.
DeMille’s authority extended beyond the confines of his studio. He was a power in aviation, banking, politics, and real estate. In the 1930s, his fame as a filmmaker was surpassed by his fame as a radio star.
He was a founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an institution from which he eventually won two awards. In 1953 his film The Greatest Show on Earth won the Award for Best Picture of 1952; and he was presented with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
DeMille’s influence on world culture is incalculable, but there are estimates and milestones. His biography of Jesus Christ, The King of Kings, was a silent film, but because of a unique distribution arrangement, it was eventually seen by 800 million viewers. Samson and Delilah (1949) and The Ten Commandments (1956) are still listed with the top ten all-time box-office champions. They continue to generate revenue and provoke thought.
Acting (42 movies)

Sunset Boulevard
1950

Estrellados
1930

Yul Brynner, the Magnificent
2020

Hollywood
1923

Reap the Wild Wind
1942

Life in Hollywood No. 1
1927

Star Spangled Rhythm
1942

Variety Girl
1947

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983

The Buster Keaton Story
1957

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

Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942

Son of Paleface
1952

Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984

A Trip to Paramountown
1922

The Circus: Premiere
1928

Hail Satan?
2019

Hollywood on Parade No. B-5
1933

Samson and Delilah
1949

Free and Easy
1930

North West Mounted Police
1940

The Greatest Show on Earth
1952

The Story of Dr. Wassell
1944

Madam Satan
1930

Hollywood Extra Girl
1935

The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille
2016

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975

Jens Mons in America
1947

Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic
2019

Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
2007

Unconquered
1947

The Movies March On
1939

The Ten Commandments
1956

Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle II
2020

Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle
2020

The Fallbrook Story
1952

Indiana Jones: The Search for the Lost Golden Age
2021

Hooray for Hollywood
1976

The Making of The Ten Commandments
2003

Showbiz Ballyhoo
1982

Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe
2012

The Squaw Man
1914
Directing (77 movies)

The Ten Commandments
1956

The Ten Commandments
1923

Joan the Woman
1916

Nan of Music Mountain
1917

The Greatest Show on Earth
1952

Samson and Delilah
1949

Four Frightened People
1934

Union Pacific
1939

Reap the Wild Wind
1942

The Plainsman
1936

Cleopatra
1934

The Volga Boatman
1926

The Wild Goose Chase
1915

The King of Kings
1927

The Sign of the Cross
1932

Don't Change Your Husband
1919

North West Mounted Police
1940

Unconquered
1947

The Cheat
1915

Forbidden Fruit
1921

Madam Satan
1930

Why Change Your Wife?
1920

Male and Female
1919

The Affairs of Anatol
1921

The Story of Dr. Wassell
1944

The Godless Girl
1928

The Golden Bed
1925

The Crusades
1935

The Virginian
1914

This Day and Age
1933

Carmen
1915

The Squaw Man
1918

The Buccaneer
1938

The Whispering Chorus
1918

A Romance of the Redwoods
1917

Manslaughter
1922

Old Wives for New
1918

The Woman God Forgot
1917

The Golden Chance
1915

The Squaw Man
1931

The Road to Yesterday
1925

Dynamite
1929

For Better, for Worse
1919

Something to Think About
1920

The Ghost Breaker
1914

The Little American
1917

Saturday Night
1922

The Squaw Man
1914

The Heart of Nora Flynn
1916

The Warrens of Virginia
1915

The Unafraid
1915

Adam's Rib
1923

We Can't Have Everything
1918

Feet of Clay
1924

Brewster's Millions
1914

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
1916
Kindling
1915

The Captive
1915

The Rose of the Rancho
1914

The Girl of the Golden West
1915

The Man From Home
1914

Temptation
1915

Maria Rosa
1916

The Call of the North
1914

Triumph
1924

What's His Name
1914

Chimmie Fadden Out West
1915

Chimmie Fadden
1915

The Arab
1915

Fool's Paradise
1921

The Devil Stone
1917

The Dream Girl
1916

Till I Come Back to You
1918

The Only Son
1914

After Five
1915
The Man on the Box
1914

The Master Mind
1914