[138] Despite the criticism, it was Paramount's highest-grossing film of the year. DeMille left a physical legacy in 1923 when, on completing The Ten Commandments, he buried the Egyptian sets in the sand dunes of Guadalupe. [147], DeMille's next film, Samson and Delilah in 1949, became Paramount's highest-grossing film up to that time. Read More Having emerged as a potent force during the birth of Hollywood, director Cecil B. DeMille was a crucial figure in the early development of the classic Hollywood narrative filmmaking style. "[132] Consequently, he had to resign from the radio show. U.S. State: Massachusetts. In addition to his Best Picture Awards, he received an Academy Honorary Award for his film contributions, the Palme d'Or (posthumously) for Union Pacific (1939), a DGA Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Right here at FameChain. [187] DeMille produced the majority of his films before the 1930s, and by the time sound films were invented, film critics saw DeMille as antiquated, with his best filmmaking years behind him. [33] They had met in a theater in Washington D.C. while they were both acting in Hearts Are Trumps. DeMille's return was approved by Zukor under the condition that DeMille not exceed his production budget of $650,000 for The Sign of the Cross. The members rejected his proposal, even though his last two films, Samson and Delilah and The Greatest Show on Earth, had been record-breaking hits. Apfel. [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. [337], Charles Frohman, Constance Adams, and David Belasco, Scandalous dramas, Biblical epics, and departure from Paramount, There are several variants of DeMille's surname. [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. The Ten Commandments gave the director a chance to play God, to film miracles. [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. Cecil Blount Demille, known as Cecil B. DeMille, was a pioneering film director - in both silent and sound movies.Starting in 1913, he became a dominant force in the Hollywood film industry for 40 years. He would speak to the entire set, sometimes enormous with countless numbers of crew members and extras, via a microphone to maintain control of the set. [249] Similarly, scholar David Blanke, argued that DeMille had lost the respect of his colleagues and film critics by his late film career. DeMille would stick to his large-budget spectaculars for the rest of his career. [316] DeMille's Union Pacific received a Palme d'Or in retrospect at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. is the 10th plague, in which the Angel of Death is imagined as a thick . Character actor H. B. Warner was fifty, but looked Thirty was cast as Christ, and gives a gently . [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. [304] Additionally, in 1958, he received an honorary Doctorate of Law degree from Temple University. DeMille liked to sail and dive; he had several boats throughout his lifetime. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12, 1881 and died on January 21, 1959. Cecil Blount DeMille. His other well known films include The Sign of the Cross (1932), Cleopatra (1934), Samson and Delilah [] Work period (start) 1899; Work period (end) 1959; Country of citizenship: [31] In 1901, DeMille starred in productions of A Repentance, To Have and to Hold, and Are You a Mason? DeMille discovered the possibilities of the "bathroom" or "boudoir" in film without being "vulgar" or "cheap". In this way, the characters' thoughts and desires are the visual focus rather than the circumstances regarding the physical scene. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. [233] DeMille's 1956 version of The Ten Commandments, according to director Martin Scorsese, is renowned for its level of production and the care and detail that went into creating the film. [60] As director-general, DeMille's job was to make the films. On January 8, 1893, at age 40, Henry de Mille died suddenly from typhoid fever, leaving Beatrice with three children. Beatrice DeMille's family was not in attendance, and Simon Louvish suggests that this was to conceal DeMille's partial Jewish heritage. Additionally, during the war, DeMille volunteered for the Justice Department's Intelligence Office, investigating friends, neighbors, and others he came in contact with in connection with the Famous Players-Lasky. He attempted to create a guild of a half a dozen directors with the same creative desires called the Director's Guild. He related a story that he maintained his self-control when Gloria Swanson sat on his lap, refusing to touch her. [235] DeMille was also known for his use of special effects without the use of digital technology. He then appealed to the California Supreme Court and lost again. While visually appealing, this made the films appear more old-fashioned. Birthplace: Ashfield, MA Location of death: Hollywood, CA Cause of death: Heart Failure Remains: Bu. DeMille purchased the home in 1916 for $27,893 (Yes, five digits) and lived there with his family until his death in 1959. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies. Of his seventy films, five revolved around stories of the Bible and the New Testament; however many others, while not direct retellings of Biblical stories, had themes of faith and religious fanaticism in films such as The Crusades and The Road to Yesterday. He debuted as an actor on February 21, 1900, in the play Hearts Are Trumps at New York's Garden Theater. [128] He supported Herbert Hoover and in 1928 made his largest campaign donation to Hoover. DeMille's Ten Commandments premiered in 1956. Mrs. DeMille's office and library opened to the music room. [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. [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. [137] Following his surgery and the success of Union Pacific, in 1940, DeMille first used three-strip Technicolor in North West Mounted Police. [132] [note 7], In 1939, DeMille's Union Pacific was successful through DeMille's collaboration with the Union Pacific Railroad. The first 24 of his silent films were made in the first three years of his career (1913-1916). [293] Two schools have been named after him: Cecil B. DeMille Middle School, in Long Beach, California, which was closed and demolished in 2010 to make way for a new high school;[294] and Cecil B. DeMille Elementary School in Midway City, California. Billy Jim Hawkins . However, this version is actually a 1918 re-release. He later moved to writing and directing stage productions, some with Jesse Lasky, who was then a vaudeville producer. [215][216][217] He also cast established stars such as Gary Cooper, Robert Preston, Paulette Goddard and Fredric March in multiple pictures. Furthermore, DeMille's film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Story. He initially sought out William deMille. [32] At the age of twenty-one, Cecil B. DeMille married Constance Adams on August 16, 1902, at Adams's father's home in East Orange, New Jersey. [194] DeMille was particularly adept at directing and managing large crowds in his films. [139] DeMille was anti-communist and abandoned a project in 1940 to film Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls due to its communist themes despite the fact he had already paid $100,000 for the rights to the novel. 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). (1950) $10,000. [166] [note 11], Due to his frequent heart attacks, DeMille asked his son-in-law, actor Anthony Quinn, to direct a remake of his 1938 film The Buccaneer. [305] From the film industry, DeMille received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the Academy Awards in 1953,[306] and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America Award the same year. The play was successful, and DeMille was distraught that his childhood idol had plagiarized his work. The sets and effects were so realistic that 30 extras needed to be hospitalized due to a scene with fireballs and flaming arrows. 27 October 2022. [101], After five years and thirty hit films, DeMille became the American film industry's most successful director. Cecil B. DeMille began his career as an actor on the stage in the theatrical company of Charles Frohman in 1900. Hollywood, California: Paramount Pictures.2011, Last edited on 25 February 2023, at 18:28, Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Drama, eighth-highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation, "Back in the Day - Sept. 18, 1991: De Mille's Pompton Lakes roots recalled", "Anthony Quinn: Colourful Hollywood star who built a career playing ethnic heroes and villains", "Guide to the Richard DeMille Collection", "Cecil DeMille, 77, Pioneer of Movies, Dead in Hollywood", "How a Hollywood Director Almost Launched L.A.'s First Commercial Airline", "Register of the Cecil B. DeMille Archives, 1863-1983", "Financing Hollywood through the Great Depression", "Angelina Jolie Buys Historic Cecil B. DeMille Estate for $24.5 Million", "Sixty years later, The Ten Commandments remains one of the most popular biblical films ever made", "Angelina Jolie Buys Cecil B. DeMille's Estate at Record-Shattering Price", "Christie's East to Auction DeMille Possessions", "New Testament to Genius: Turner's "Cecil B. DeMille", "Cecil B. DeMille's "Samson and Delilah" Brings the World's Greatest Love Story to the Screen", "Hollywood Legend Claudette Colbert Dies", "Charlton Heston: as you won't remember him", "The Deep Focus Typecasting of Joseph Schildkraut as Judas Figure in Four DeMille Films", "A Brief History of Movie Special Effects", "All-Time Box-Office Hits By Decade and Year", "Ridley Scott: from Alien to Exodus, a Cecil B. DeMille for the digital age", "Samson as a Moses-Figure in Cecil B. DeMille's "Samson and Delilah" (1949)", "BFI Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll 2002 How the directors and critics voted", "Hollywood Flashback: Cecil B. DeMille Accepted the Golden Globe Named for Him in 1952", "Reel dictators: why despots love directors", "Disp L.A. Case #45: Cecil B. DeMille's Riding Crop", "DeMille's Re-Released 'Commandments'Better Than Ever", "Cecil B. DeMille the greatest filmmaking showman rediscovered! His tentative plan was to shoot a film in Arizona, but he felt that Arizona did not typify the Western look they were searching for. [73] Furthermore, DeMille influenced about half of Spielberg's films, including War of the Worlds. (TV Special) Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award Recipient 1963-1964 Password (TV Series) Self - Celebrity Contestant / Self - James Stewart vs . Pictorials. September 17, 1914. The picture of her husband was taken in 1916, the year they bought the house, when he was 35 and an increasingly active and . Consequently, his mother hired him for her agency The DeMille Play Company and taught him how to be an agent and a playwright. He was so eager to produce the film, that he hadn't yet read the novel. [187] E.H. Sothern's early influence on DeMille's work can be seen in DeMille's perfectionism. Cecil B DeMille announced that his next production would be his biggest and most ambitious to date. Hayne, Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille, 433-34. He also toured with the Standard Opera Company, but there are few records to indicate DeMille's singing ability. Date of Death: January 21, 1959. His films were distinguished by their epic . Maude Fealy would appear as the featured actress in several productions that summer and would develop a lasting friendship with DeMille. 1 reference. Now he wants to make the life of Moses. Jeakins admitted that she received quality training from him, but that it was necessary to become a perfectionist on a DeMille set to avoid being fired. [34], They were sexually incompatible; according to DeMille, Adams was too "pure" to "feel such violent and evil passions. He was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974. 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 ). [191] DeMille was the first director to connect art to filmmaking; he created the title of "art director" on the film set. The Ten Commandments (Documentary: Making Miracles) (Six-Disc Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Cecil B. DeMille / Paramount. The Captive (1915) $500 /week. [119] These three films, Dynamite, Madame Satan, and his 1931 remake of The Squaw Man were both critically and financially unsuccessful. DeMille frequently made cameos as himself in other Paramount films. [122] His first film back at Paramount, The Sign of the Cross, was also his first success since leaving Paramount besides The King of Kings. We should get down on our knees to Cecil and say "Thank you! people have heard of the Ten Commandments. Consequently, the film was never made. His father, Henry Churchill de Mille (1853-1893), was a North Carolina-born dramatist and lay reader in the Episcopal Church, who had earlier . [55][56] However, changes in the theater rendered DeMille's melodramas obsolete before they were produced, and true theatrical success eluded him. A Biblical epic with sex, it was a characteristically DeMille film. Still, it was a huge success at the box office. Hot! Oscars 1950 - Honorary Award. DeMille's film The Affairs of Anatol came under fire. Work period (start) . The Warrens of Virginia (1915) $500 /week. DeMille's early silent comedies influenced the comedies of Ernst Lubitsch and Charlie Chaplin's A Woman of Paris. [241] Religion was a theme that DeMille returned to throughout his career. Hijo del dramaturgo Henry Churchill DeMille, en cuyas obras particip durante su infancia y primera adolescencia, curs . We have estimated Cecil B. DeMille's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. [17] As a child, DeMille created an alter-ego, Champion Driver, a Robin Hood-like character, evidence of his creativity and imagination. Cause of Death: Heart Attack. [256] Meanwhile, Sumiko Higashi sees DeMille as "not only a figure who was shaped and influenced by the forces of his era but as a filmmaker who left his own signature on the culture industry. Cecil B. DeMille American film director (1881-1959) . "A dreadful showoff. [250] Five of DeMille's film were the highest-grossing films at the year of their release, with only Spielberg topping him with six of his films as the highest-grossing films of the year. [192] DeMille had large and frequent office conferences to discuss and examine all aspects of the working film including story-boards, props, and special effects. finding aid. 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.. DeMille plays himself in the film. [185] Similar to Belasco, DeMille's theatre was revolved around entertainment, rather than artistry. The project was later completed by DeMille's former assistant director. "[156], Alfred Zukor responding to DeMille's proposal of The Ten Commandments remake, In 1952, DeMille sought approval for a lavish remake of his 1923 silent film The Ten Commandments. [126] DeMille was a conservative Republican activist, becoming more conservative as he aged. DeMille asked David Niven to star in the film, but it was never made. [44], DeMille performed on stage with actors whom he would later direct in films: Charlotte Walker, Mary Pickford, and Pedro de Cordoba. Constance was born the daughter of Judge Frederic Adams, New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, and Ella Adams, Frederics first wife. Film Director. [11] Henry deMille frequently collaborated with David Belasco in playwriting;[12] their best-known collaborations included "The Wife", "Lord Chumley", "The Charity Ball", and "Men and Women". He is particularly remembered for his 1956 film "The Ten Commandments", but made over 70 films throughout his long career. [307] In the same ceremony, DeMille received a nomination from Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for The Greatest Show on Earth. [284] Although many of DeMille's films are available on DVD and Blu-ray release, only 20 of his silent films are commercially available on DVD [285][note 15], The original Lasky-DeMille Barn in which The Squaw Man was filmed was converted into a museum named the "Hollywood Heritage Museum". [188][189] DeMille recalled that one of the most influential plays he saw was Hamlet, directed by Sothern. Further illustrated by his home life, DeMille required formality and politeness at home. [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. Despite the urging of his associate producer, DeMille wanted to return to the set right away. [247] Adjusted for inflation, DeMille's remake of The Ten Commandments is the eighth highest-grossing film in the world. [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. Furthermore, DeMille argued with Zukor over his extravagant and over-budget production costs. Friday 12 Aug 1881. [133] He began presenting speeches across the United States for the next few years. The Sign of the Cross (1932) is said to be the first sound film to integrate all aspects of cinematic technique. At least one DeMille film can represent each film genre. The surgery caused him to suffer from sexual dysfunction for the rest of his life, according to some family members. [43] DeMille was credited with creating the premise of Belasco's The Return of Peter Grimm. imported from Wikimedia project. Cecil B. DeMille's income source is mostly from being a successful Producer. With this year's Oscar nominations soon to be announced, we take a look back at his cinematic extraganzas. 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. [255] Consequently, the name "DeMille" has become synonymous with filmmaking. It was produced with a large budget and contained many special effects including an electronically operated giant squid. [251] Director Ridley Scott has been called "the Cecil B. DeMille of the digital era" due to his classical and medieval epics. William deMille would later convert from theater to Hollywood and would spend the rest of his career as a film director. Early life [ edit ] Born in Orange, New Jersey , [1] DeMille was the daughter of Judge Fredrick Adams, [2] New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, [1] and Ella Adams, his first wife. During the French New Wave, critics began to categorize certain filmmakers as auteurs such as Howard Hawks, John Ford, and Raoul Walsh. [61] Sometimes, he directed scenes for other directors at the Feature Play Company in order to release films on time.