CECIL B. DEMILLE
Name: Cecil Blount DeMille
Born: 12 August 1881 Ashfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died: 21 January 1959 Hollywood, California, U.S.
Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 22, 1959) was a successful
Academy Award-winning American filmmaker in the first half of the 20th century,
known for the flamboyance and showsmanship of his movies.
DeMille was born while his parents, Henry Churchill DeMille (1853–1893), an
Episcopal lay minister and playwright from North Carolina, and Matilda Beatrice
Samuel (1853–1923), who was born to a Sephardic Jewish family in England but
converted to her husband's faith, were vacationing in Ashfield, Massachusetts.
DeMille grew up in Pompton (now Wayne), New Jersey and attended Pennsylvania
Military College in Chester, Pennsylvania beginning at the age of 15. He had an
older brother, William, and a younger sister who died in childhood, Agnes, after
whom Cecil's famous niece was named.
DeMille directed dozens of silent films, including Paramount Pictures' first
production, The Squaw Man (1914), which was co-directed by Oscar Apfel, before
coming into huge popularity during the late 1910s and early 1920s, when he
reached the apex of his popularity with such films as Don't Change Your Husband
(1919), The Ten Commandments (1923), and The King of Kings (1927). A few of his
silent films featured scenes in two-strip Technicolor.
Though most commonly referred to by the press as DeMille with a capital "D",
DeMille used "deMille" with a small "d" for his personal dealings. DeMille's
business address for most of his career was 2010 DeMille (capital "D") Drive,
Hollywood, California (which is actually in the adjacent Los Angeles
neighborhood of Los Feliz). He used the small "d" for private correspondence and
the capital for his business and film dealings. In either case, the persona of
the larger than life showman was reinforced by such affectations and his status
as an icon thrived.
Cecil B. DeMille had a keen eye for talent and was known for being an
instrumental catalyst for the rising status of many a struggling or unknown
actor. Actor Richard Dix's best-remembered early role was in the silent version
of DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Richard Cromwell owed his 1930s movie fame in
part to being personally selected by DeMille for the role as the leader of the
youth gang in DeMille's poignant, now cult-favorite, This Day and Age (1933).
DeMille displayed a loyalty to certain supporting performers, casting them over
and over in his pictures. They included Henry Wilcoxen, Julia Faye, Joseph
Schildkraut, Ian Keith, Charles Bickford, Theodore Roberts, Akim Tamiroff, and
William Boyd. He also cast leading actors such as Claudette Colbert, Gloria
Swanson, Gary Cooper, Jetta Goudal, Robert Preston, Paulette Goddard, and
Charlton Heston in multiple pictures. He was not known as a particularly good
director of actors, often hiring actors whom he relied on to develop their own
characters and act accordingly.
DeMille also had a reputation for being a tyrant on the set, and he despised
actors who were not willing to take physical risks; such was the case with
Victor Mature in Samson and Delilah, when Mature refused to wrestle the lion,
though the lion was tame and had had its teeth pulled. (DeMille remarked that
Mature was "100% yellow"). Paulette Goddard's refusal to risk personal injury in
a scene involving fire in Unconquered cost her DeMille's favor and probably a
role in The Greatest Show on Earth. DeMille was, however, adept at directing "thousands
of extras," and many of his pictures included spectacular set pieces, such as
the parting of the Red Sea in both versions of The Ten Commandments; the
toppling of the pagan temple in Samson and Delilah; train wrecks in The Road to
Yesterday Union Pacific and The Greatest Show on Earth; and the destruction of a
zeppelin in Madame Satan. DeMille knew what the movie-going public wanted, and
he provided it.
DeMille was one of the first directors in Hollywood to become a celebrity in his
own right. From 1936 to 1944, DeMille hosted and even acted as pitchman for
Cecil B. DeMille's Lux Radio Theater, which was one of the most popular dramatic
radio shows at the time. Gloria Swanson immortalized DeMille with the oft-repeated
line, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" in Billy Wilder's
Sunset Boulevard, wherein DeMille played himself. DeMille also appeared as
himself in Paramount's 1947 all-star musical comedy Variety Girl and he narrated
many of his later films, as well as appearing on screen in the introduction to
The Ten Commandments.
DeMille first used three-strip Technicolor in Northwest Mounted Police (1940).
Following the favorable response to the vivid color photography, shot mostly on
location in the Canadian Rockies, DeMille decided to always use Technicolor in
his films. He also began to narrate portions of his films.
While he continued to be prolific throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he is probably
best known for his 1956 film The Ten Commandments (which is very different from
his 1923 film by the same title). Also representative of his penchant for the
spectacular was the 1952 production of The Greatest Show on Earth which gave
DeMille an Oscar for best picture and a nomination for best director.
In 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott sought out DeMille for
help in designing the cadet uniforms at the newly established United States Air
Force Academy. DeMille's designs—most notably his design of the distinctive
cadet parade uniform—won praise from Air Force and Academy leadership, were
ultimately adopted, and are still worn by cadets today.
Near the end of his life, DeMille began pre-production work on a film biography
of Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts,
and had asked David Niven to star in the film; the film was never made. He asked
his son-in-law, actor Anthony Quinn, to direct a remake of his 1938 film The
Buccaneer; although DeMille served as executive producer, he was very unhappy
with Quinn's work and tried unsuccessufully to remedy the situation. Despite a
good cast led by Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner, and some impressive battle
scenes, the film was a disappointment.
Name: Cecil Blount DeMille
Born: 12 August 1881 Ashfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died: 21 January 1959 Hollywood, California, U.S.
Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 22, 1959) was a successful
Academy Award-winning American filmmaker in the first half of the 20th century,
known for the flamboyance and showsmanship of his movies.
DeMille was born while his parents, Henry Churchill DeMille (1853–1893), an
Episcopal lay minister and playwright from North Carolina, and Matilda Beatrice
Samuel (1853–1923), who was born to a Sephardic Jewish family in England but
converted to her husband's faith, were vacationing in Ashfield, Massachusetts.
DeMille grew up in Pompton (now Wayne), New Jersey and attended Pennsylvania
Military College in Chester, Pennsylvania beginning at the age of 15. He had an
older brother, William, and a younger sister who died in childhood, Agnes, after
whom Cecil's famous niece was named.
DeMille directed dozens of silent films, including Paramount Pictures' first
production, The Squaw Man (1914), which was co-directed by Oscar Apfel, before
coming into huge popularity during the late 1910s and early 1920s, when he
reached the apex of his popularity with such films as Don't Change Your Husband
(1919), The Ten Commandments (1923), and The King of Kings (1927). A few of his
silent films featured scenes in two-strip Technicolor.
Though most commonly referred to by the press as DeMille with a capital "D",
DeMille used "deMille" with a small "d" for his personal dealings. DeMille's
business address for most of his career was 2010 DeMille (capital "D") Drive,
Hollywood, California (which is actually in the adjacent Los Angeles
neighborhood of Los Feliz). He used the small "d" for private correspondence and
the capital for his business and film dealings. In either case, the persona of
the larger than life showman was reinforced by such affectations and his status
as an icon thrived.
Cecil B. DeMille had a keen eye for talent and was known for being an
instrumental catalyst for the rising status of many a struggling or unknown
actor. Actor Richard Dix's best-remembered early role was in the silent version
of DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Richard Cromwell owed his 1930s movie fame in
part to being personally selected by DeMille for the role as the leader of the
youth gang in DeMille's poignant, now cult-favorite, This Day and Age (1933).
DeMille displayed a loyalty to certain supporting performers, casting them over
and over in his pictures. They included Henry Wilcoxen, Julia Faye, Joseph
Schildkraut, Ian Keith, Charles Bickford, Theodore Roberts, Akim Tamiroff, and
William Boyd. He also cast leading actors such as Claudette Colbert, Gloria
Swanson, Gary Cooper, Jetta Goudal, Robert Preston, Paulette Goddard, and
Charlton Heston in multiple pictures. He was not known as a particularly good
director of actors, often hiring actors whom he relied on to develop their own
characters and act accordingly.
DeMille also had a reputation for being a tyrant on the set, and he despised
actors who were not willing to take physical risks; such was the case with
Victor Mature in Samson and Delilah, when Mature refused to wrestle the lion,
though the lion was tame and had had its teeth pulled. (DeMille remarked that
Mature was "100% yellow"). Paulette Goddard's refusal to risk personal injury in
a scene involving fire in Unconquered cost her DeMille's favor and probably a
role in The Greatest Show on Earth. DeMille was, however, adept at directing "thousands
of extras," and many of his pictures included spectacular set pieces, such as
the parting of the Red Sea in both versions of The Ten Commandments; the
toppling of the pagan temple in Samson and Delilah; train wrecks in The Road to
Yesterday Union Pacific and The Greatest Show on Earth; and the destruction of a
zeppelin in Madame Satan. DeMille knew what the movie-going public wanted, and
he provided it.
DeMille was one of the first directors in Hollywood to become a celebrity in his
own right. From 1936 to 1944, DeMille hosted and even acted as pitchman for
Cecil B. DeMille's Lux Radio Theater, which was one of the most popular dramatic
radio shows at the time. Gloria Swanson immortalized DeMille with the oft-repeated
line, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" in Billy Wilder's
Sunset Boulevard, wherein DeMille played himself. DeMille also appeared as
himself in Paramount's 1947 all-star musical comedy Variety Girl and he narrated
many of his later films, as well as appearing on screen in the introduction to
The Ten Commandments.
DeMille first used three-strip Technicolor in Northwest Mounted Police (1940).
Following the favorable response to the vivid color photography, shot mostly on
location in the Canadian Rockies, DeMille decided to always use Technicolor in
his films. He also began to narrate portions of his films.
While he continued to be prolific throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he is probably
best known for his 1956 film The Ten Commandments (which is very different from
his 1923 film by the same title). Also representative of his penchant for the
spectacular was the 1952 production of The Greatest Show on Earth which gave
DeMille an Oscar for best picture and a nomination for best director.
In 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott sought out DeMille for
help in designing the cadet uniforms at the newly established United States Air
Force Academy. DeMille's designs—most notably his design of the distinctive
cadet parade uniform—won praise from Air Force and Academy leadership, were
ultimately adopted, and are still worn by cadets today.
Near the end of his life, DeMille began pre-production work on a film biography
of Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts,
and had asked David Niven to star in the film; the film was never made. He asked
his son-in-law, actor Anthony Quinn, to direct a remake of his 1938 film The
Buccaneer; although DeMille served as executive producer, he was very unhappy
with Quinn's work and tried unsuccessufully to remedy the situation. Despite a
good cast led by Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner, and some impressive battle
scenes, the film was a disappointment.