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