"He was a thoroughly bad director," Huston said. [227], Cecil B. DeMille's film production career evolved from critically significant silent films to financially significant sound films. Recent images. [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. He appeared in eleven of the fifteen plays presented that season, although all were minor roles. Additionally, he often starred in prologues and special trailers that he created for his films, having an opportunity to personally address the audience. A documentary titled. Few words can describe the monumental Cecil B. DeMille. DeMille, Cecil B. - Senses of Cinema [263] Joseph Henabery recalled that DeMille looked like "a king on a throne surrounded by his court" while directing films on a camera platform. He was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974. Beatrice became a play broker and author's agent, influencing DeMille's early life and career. Cecil B. DeMille began his career as an actor on the stage in the theatrical company of Charles Frohman in 1900. [211] He despised actors who were unwilling to take physical risks, especially when he had first demonstrated that the required stunt would not harm them. The Buccaneer - Cecil B. DeMille Cecil B. DeMille was a master of spectacle. Pioneering film maker Cecil B. deMille dies - from Guardian archive, 22 Cecil B. DeMille Birthday and Date of Death. His daughter Cecilia took over as director as DeMille sat behind the camera with Loyal Griggs as the cinematographer. View the most popular Cecil B. DeMille pix. In the 1950s, Paramount sold its entire pre-1948 film library, including those of DeMille, to, The set was discovered by Peter Brosnan after hearing a rumor in 1982 that DeMille had ordered the enormous set to be buried after filming rather than taken away. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. DeMille frequently made cameos as himself in other Paramount films. They continued filming in 1955 in Paris and Hollywood on 30 different sound stages. Cecil B. DeMille - Wikipedia The Ten Commandments, filmed here at the Guadeloupe sand dunes, 150 miles from Hollywood. [304] Additionally, in 1958, he received an honorary Doctorate of Law degree from Temple University. [160] A unique practice at the time, DeMille offered ten percent of his profit to the crew. If you have diabetes and take insulin or other oral medications aimed to reduce blood sugar, taking chromium may increase the risk of . Produced in eight weeks without exceeding budget, the film was financially successful. DeMille discovered the possibilities of the "bathroom" or "boudoir" in film without being "vulgar" or "cheap". Then, he would help writers construct a script. [241] Religion was a theme that DeMille returned to throughout his 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. He later moved to writing and directing stage productions, some with Jesse Lasky, who was then a vaudeville producer. [337], Charles Frohman, Constance Adams, and David Belasco, Scandalous dramas, Biblical epics, and departure from Paramount, There are several variants of DeMille's surname. [92] DeMille and Adams adopted Katherine Lester in 1920 whom Adams had found in the orphanage over which she was the director. [109] Considered at the time to be the most successful Christian film of the silent era, DeMille calculated that it had been viewed over 800 million times around the world. [101], After five years and thirty hit films, DeMille became the American film industry's most successful director. However, his earlier films The Captive, Kindling, Carmen, and The Whispering Chorus are more serious films. Character actor H. B. Warner was fifty, but looked Thirty was cast as Christ, and gives a gently . He produced or directed about 80 movies - including The Ten Commandments (1956), a movie in the 'epic' genre for which he is probably best known today. Cecil B DeMille Bio Details. Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12, 1881 and died on January 21, 1959. Birth of Hollywood: Season 1, Episode 2 script | Subs like Script finding aid. Cleopatra (1934) was his first film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. 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. Place of Death: Los Angeles, California, U.S. Ethnnicity: *father - English, small amounts of Scottish and Dutch, distant Belgian Flemish, remote Welsh. Cecil B. DeMille Facts for Kids | KidzSearch.com 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 suffered from a post-surgery infection from which he nearly did not recover, citing streptomycin as his saving grace. Despite its quick turnaround, the film was fairly successful. [202] DeMille was unique in using this technique. The Tikah still made a few trade canoes into the early 20th Century. He is particularly remembered for his 1956 film "The Ten Commandments", but made over 70 films throughout his long career. 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. Chromium. [177] Cecilia lived in the house for many years until her death in 1984,[178] but the house was auctioned by his granddaughter Cecilia DeMille Presley who also lived there in the late 1980s. The picture of her husband was taken in 1916, the year they bought the house, when he was 35 and an increasingly active and . He claimed he abandoned the project in order to complete a different project, but in reality, it was to preserve his reputation and avoid appearing reactionary. After more than thirty years in film production, DeMille reached a pinnacle in his career with Samson and Delilah (1949), a biblical epic which became the highest-grossing film of 1950. The second star is located at 1725 Vine Street. [165] This film would be his last. [205], Composer Elmer Bernstein described DeMille as "sparing no effort" when filmmaking. [61], The Lasky Play Company sought out William DeMille to join the company, but he rejected the offer because he did not believe there was any promise in a film career. [32] Publicists wrote that he became an actor in order to learn how direct and produce, but DeMille admitted that he became an actor in order to pay the bills. (Cecil Blount De Mille o DeMille; Ashfield, 1881 - Hollywood, 1959) Productor y director de cine estadounidense recordado especialmente por sus superproducciones de epopeyas histricas y religiosas. Consequently, his mother hired him for her agency The DeMille Play Company and taught him how to be an agent and a playwright. [172], DeMille received two Academy Awards: an Honorary Award for "37 years of brilliant showmanship" in 1950[313] and a Best Picture award in 1953 for The Greatest Show on Earth. [82] Additionally, because of DeMille's cordiality after the Peter Grimm incident, DeMille was able to rekindle his partnership with Belasco. . His father, Henry Churchill de Mille (1853-1893), was a North Carolina-born dramatist and lay reader in the Episcopal Church, who had earlier . The Roaring Twenties were the boom years and DeMille took full advantage, opening the Mercury Aviation Company, one of America's first commercial airlines. [149][150] DeMille signed a contract with Prentice Hall publishers in August 1953 to publish an autobiography. He was a Freemason who remained a member of Prince of Orange Lodge #16 in New York . Explore Cecil B. DeMille's biography, personal life, family and cause of death. Journal of Religion & Film [61] Moreover, when he was busy directing other films, he would co-author other Lasky Company scripts as well as create screen adaptations that others directed. [76][77] The film grossed over ten times its budget after its New York premiere in February 1914. [5] DeMille was named after his grandmothers Cecelia Wolff and Margarete Blount. DeMille instructed the guilty man to leave town and would never reveal his name. He also toured with the Standard Opera Company, but there are few records to indicate DeMille's singing ability. Constance was born the daughter of Judge Frederic Adams, New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, and Ella Adams, Frederics first wife. [301][302], Cecil B. DeMille received many awards and honors, especially later in his career. [84] Goldwyn was later fired from Famous Players-Lasky due to frequent clashes with Lasky, DeMille, and finally Zukor. 10 June 2021. After reading the screenplay, Daniel A. Lord warned DeMille that Catholics would find the film too irreverent, while non-Catholics would have considered the film Catholic propaganda. His other well known films include The Sign of the Cross (1932), Cleopatra (1934), Samson and Delilah [] [53] Another DeMille-Lasky production that opened in January 1912 was The Antique Girl. Cecil Blount DeMille. . 1956 theater brochure [185] Similar to Belasco, DeMille's theatre was revolved around entertainment, rather than artistry. The selection is made by the HFPA's board of . [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. Date of Death: January 21, 1959. [206] Bernstein recalled that DeMille would scream, yell, or flatter, whatever it took to achieve the perfection he required in his films. [85][86] In addition to his Paradise, DeMille purchased a yacht in 1921 which he called The Seaward. Work period (start) 1899; Work period (end) 1959; Country of citizenship: His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. Robin Williams won the Cecil B. DeMille Awards in 2005. Mrs. DeMille's office and library opened to the music room. To diseased proportions. Still, it was a huge success at the box office. 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. Cecil B. DeMille Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements Henry was a tall, red-headed student. "[257] The critic Camille Paglia has called The Ten Commandments one of the ten greatest films of all time. Actor, The F.B.I. Stills. However, Beatrice introduced Lasky to DeMille instead. [79][note 3], Cecil B. DeMille's second film credited exclusively to him was The Virginian. The film began production in 1949, Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey were paid $250,000 for use of the title and facilities. Magazine pics. [132], DeMille sued the union for reinstatement but lost. His first several films were westerns and he produced a chain of westerns during the sound era. [202] Another important aspect of DeMille's editing technique was to put the film away for a week or two after an initial edit in order to re-edit the picture with a fresh mind. Legacy - Cecil B. DeMille (TV Special) Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award Recipient 1963-1964 Password (TV Series) Self - Celebrity Contestant / Self - James Stewart vs . [9] DeMille's father was also an English teacher at Columbia College (now Columbia University). [268] DeMille appeared as himself in numerous films, including the MGM comedy Free and Easy. He went before the Paramount board of directors, which was mostly Jewish-American. His first three films were Westerns, and he filmed many Westerns throughout his career. The wedding party was small. Cecil B. DeMille Birthday, Real Name, Age, Weight, Height, Family The school closed, and Beatrice filed for bankruptcy. What Was Sidney Poitier's Cause of Death? Details on - Distractify 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! Despite his loss, DeMille continued to lobby for the TaftHartley Act, which passed. He is one of the most extraordinarily able showmen of modern times. [107] Aside from The King of Kings, none of DeMille's films away from Paramount were successful. DeMille is one of the more commercially successful film directors in history[246] with his films before the release of The Ten Commandments estimated to have grossed $650million worldwide. This Day and Age and Four Frightened People were box office disappointments, though Four Frightened People received good reviews. However, this version is actually a 1918 re-release. [5] On September 1, 1881, the family returned with the newborn DeMille to their flat in New York. The 5 Best Cecil B. DeMille Movies, Ranked cause of death. In March 1938, he underwent a major emergency prostatectomy. Friday 12 Aug 1881. [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 legendary producer-director Cecil B. DeMille was a master of the American biblical epic who shaped the public's perceptions of Judeo-Christianity in his role as Hollywood's Sunday school teacher. However, the films of his silent era were often thematically different from the films of his sound era. [300] In 1963, the Cecil B. DeMille Foundation donated the "Paradise" ranch to the Hathaway Foundation, which cares for emotionally disturbed and abused children. [42] DeMille would later adapt Belasco's The Girl of the Golden West, Rose of the Rancho, and The Warrens of Virginia into films. During the French New Wave, critics began to categorize certain filmmakers as auteurs such as Howard Hawks, John Ford, and Raoul Walsh. [230] Actor Charlton Heston admitted DeMille was, "terribly unfashionable" and Sidney Lumet called Demille, "the cheap version of D.W. Griffith," adding that DeMille, "[didn't have]an original thought in his head," though Heston added that DeMille was much more than that. [156] Fifty-two of his features are silent films. [28] This was the first of few film collaborations with his brother William. Here is all you want to know, and more! The Sign of the Cross (1932) is said to be the first sound film to integrate all aspects of cinematic technique. heart failure. [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. [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. [130] While DeMille was host, the show had forty million weekly listeners, gaining DeMille an annual salary of $100,000. [136] During pre-production of Union Pacific, DeMille was dealing with his first serious health issue. [134] William Keighley was his replacement. Broadway Actor. However, he did take a few months to set up a movie theater for the French front. Any problems on the set were often fixed by writers in the office rather than on the set. [125], Cecil B. DeMille was outspoken about his strong Episcopalian integrity but his private life included mistresses and adultery. 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. [112] He was also a real estate speculator,[113] an underwriter of political campaigns, and vice president of Bank of America. Eddie Murphy is going to the Golden Globes. For More Information . He began his career as a stage actor in 1900. Cecil Blount deMille, 12 th August 1881, Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA. [130] Broadcast on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from 1935 to 1954,[131] the Lux Radio show was one of the most popular weekly shows in the history of radio. DeMille used clips from his own films in Land of Liberty. DeMille filming the "big Indian raid" of Call of the North. [225][226] DeMille was credited by actor Edward G. Robinson with saving his career following his eclipse in the Hollywood blacklist. Cecil Blount DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, while his parents were vacationing there, and grew up in Washington, North Carolina. [170] DeMille's autobiography was mostly completed by the time DeMille died and was published in November 1959. is the 10th plague, in which the Angel of Death is imagined as a thick . His wife did not like Paradise, so DeMille often brought his mistresses there with him including actress Julia Faye. Lasky and DeMille convinced film pioneer Siegmund Lubin of the Lubin Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia to have his experienced technicians reperforate the film [74] This was also the first American feature film; however, only by release date, as D. W. Griffith's Judith of Bethulia was filmed earlier than The Squaw Man, but released later. Once there, he chose not to shoot in Edendale, where many studios were, but in Hollywood. Cecil B. DeMille photo shoot. The film was produced on a large budget of $600,000, the most expensive production at Paramount. Cecil B. DeMille Biography, Life, Interesting Facts [118] His first three sound films were produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12th, in 1881. Katherine DeMille - Biography - IMDb They also learned that other filmmakers were successfully shooting in Los Angeles, even in winter. [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. DeMille's mother sent him to Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener University) in Chester, Pennsylvania, at age 15. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts honored DeMille with an Alumni Achievement Award in 1958. The King of Kings (1927) The first real film about Jesus Christ, this one also set up the template by which all others would be measured until 1988. Film Director. . [309][310][note 17] For his contribution to the motion picture and radio industry, DeMille has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [292], In summer 2019, The Friends of the Pompton Lakes Library hosted a Cecil B DeMille film festival to celebrate DeMille's achievements and connection to Pompton Lakes. [228] Throughout his career, he did not alter his films to better adhere to contemporary or popular styles. [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. [84] While on a European vacation in 1921, DeMille contracted rheumatic fever in Paris. But he put on pictures that made a fortune. DeMille did not believe a large movie set was the place to discuss minor character or line issues. [184] While working in theatre, DeMille used real fruit trees in his play California as influenced by Belasco. In that respect, he was better than any of us. The Enigmatic Pop Culture Professional. DeMille". Although this final reel looked so different from the previous eleven reels that it appeared to be from another movie, according to Simon Louvish, the film is one of DeMille's strangest and most "DeMillean" film. To provide for her family, she opened the Henry C. DeMille School for Girls in her home in February 1893. [115] In 1916, DeMille purchased a mansion in Hollywood. Between 1914 and 1956, he made seventy feature films; all but seven were profitable. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Apfel. Date of death: 21 January 1959 Hollywood: Cause of death: heart failure; Place of burial: Hollywood Forever Cemetery; Pseudonym: C.B. Hot! William deMille would later convert from theater to Hollywood and would spend the rest of his career as a film director. Name Constance DeMille Cause of death pneumonia: Born April 27, 1874 . [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". Derided then . On the day of DeMille's death, President McKay sent a telegram to the DeMille family stating that DeMille "merits the welcome, 'well done that good and faithful servant; enter thou into the rest prepared for the just.' . However, one word is especially appropriate. DeMille plays himself in the film. Eddie Murphy to Receive Cecil B. DeMille Award at 2023 Golden Globes He adapted several of Belasco's screenplays into film. This concerned the executives at Paramount; however, the film turned out to be the studio's highest-grossing film. A censorship board called the Hays Code was established. [37] Despite his reputation for extramarital affairs, DeMille did not like to have affairs with his stars, as he believed it would cause him to lose control as a director. imported from Wikimedia project. In this way, the characters' thoughts and desires are the visual focus rather than the circumstances regarding the physical scene. [187] It is difficult to typify DeMille's films into one specific genre. Date of Death: January 21, 1959. [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. Cecil B. DeMille's Death - Cause and Date - The Celebrity Deaths Occupations. [70] Filming began on December 29, 1913, and lasted three weeks. Red carpet photos. With this year's Oscar nominations soon to be announced, we take a look back at his cinematic extraganzas. Epic. Cecil B. DeMille, of course, is the legendary filmmaker, director of The Ten Commandments, The King of Kings, Cleopatra, Samson & Delilah, The Greatest Show on Earth, and many more excellent and timeless films. Beatrice DeMille's family was not in attendance, and Simon Louvish suggests that this was to conceal DeMille's partial Jewish heritage. [296] During the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin refers to himself in one instance as "Cecil B. DeAldrin", as a humorous nod to DeMille. Constance Adams DeMille (April 27, 1873 - July 17, 1960) was an American actress and wife of filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille. Occupations. DeMille was accused of antisemitism after the release of The King of Kings,[282] and director John Ford despised DeMille for what he saw as "hollow" biblical epics meant to promote DeMille's reputation during the politically turbulent 1950s. These films represent those which DeMille produced or assisted in directing, credited or uncredited. Cecil B. Demille - Turner Classic Movies [29] He fled the school to join the SpanishAmerican War, but failed to meet the age requirement. In 1923, DeMille released a modern melodrama The Ten Commandments which was a significant change from his previous stint of irreligious films. MGM distributed the film in 1941 and donated profits to World War II relief charities. [109] Western and frontier American were also themes that DeMille returned to throughout his career. Noisy and bright, it was not well-liked by critics, but was a favorite among audiences. Terrible. 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 ). [244] Another minor characteristic of DeMille's films include train crashes which can be found in several of his films. [84] Throughout his career, DeMille would frequently remake his own films. Alternative names DeMille, Cecil Blount Short description Film director: Date of birth August 12, 1881 Place of birth
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