Famous Players-Lasky donated the films. Among his best-known films are The Ten Commandments (1956), Cleopatra (1934), and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Cause of Death: Heart failure. In addition to winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field, Sidney also received a BAFTA award for The Defiant Ones, a Golden Globe for Lilies of the Field, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award, among other awards and nominations. retrieved. [112] He was also a real estate speculator,[113] an underwriter of political campaigns, and vice president of Bank of America. "[266] Producer David O. Selznick wrote: "There has appeared only one Cecil B. DeMille. [255] Andrew Sarris, a leading proponent of the auteur theory, ranked DeMille highly as an auteur in the "Far Side of Paradise", just below the "Pantheon". [172] DeMille's funeral was held on January 23 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. [227], Cecil B. DeMille's film production career evolved from critically significant silent films to financially significant sound films. [249] Similarly, scholar David Blanke, argued that DeMille had lost the respect of his colleagues and film critics by his late film career. Perhaps Cecil B. DeMille is more responsible for this than are today's preachers.' 13. Despite his loss, DeMille continued to lobby for the TaftHartley Act, which passed. Movie posters. A censorship board called the Hays Code was established. [125], Cecil B. DeMille was outspoken about his strong Episcopalian integrity but his private life included mistresses and adultery. [180] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. [179][note 12], DeMille believed his first influences to be his parents, Henry and Beatrice DeMille. Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12, 1881 and died in 2000 De Mille Drive, Hollywood, California due to Heart failure due to a series of heart attacks on January 21, 1959. . [28] This was the first of few film collaborations with his brother William. However, he did take a few months to set up a movie theater for the French front. [146][note 10] DeMille's subsequent film Unconquered (1947) had the longest running time (146 minutes), longest filming schedule (102 days) and largest budget of $5million. The film was considered a "masterpiece" and surpassed the quality of other sound films of the time. 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. [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. [252], Despite his box-office success, awards, and artistic achievements, DeMille has been dismissed and ignored by critics both during his life and posthumously. Friday 12 Aug 1881. [215][216][217] He also cast established stars such as Gary Cooper, Robert Preston, Paulette Goddard and Fredric March in multiple pictures. [173] After his death, notable news outlets such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Guardian honored DeMille as "pioneer of movies", "the greatest creator and showman of our industry", and "the founder of Hollywood". [234], DeMille was interested in art and his favorite artist was Gustave Dor; DeMille based some of his most well-known scenes on the work of Dor. [303] In 1957, DeMille gave the commencement address for the graduation ceremony of Brigham Young University wherein he received an honorary Doctorate of Letter degree. [84] Goldwyn was later fired from Famous Players-Lasky due to frequent clashes with Lasky, DeMille, and finally Zukor. [243] In relation to his own interests and sexual preferences, sadomasochism was a minor theme present in some of his films. [79][note 3], Cecil B. DeMille's second film credited exclusively to him was The Virginian. Pioneering film director. Character actor H. B. Warner was fifty, but looked Thirty was cast as Christ, and gives a gently . 16 references. View the latest Cecil B. DeMille photos. The film was produced on a large budget of $600,000, the most expensive production at Paramount. He directed and produced four films on his own, working with Producers Distributing Corporation because he found front office supervision too restricting. Film Director. finding aid. William deMille reluctantly became a story editor. Despite the urging of his associate producer, DeMille wanted to return to the set right away. [33] They had met in a theater in Washington D.C. while they were both acting in Hearts Are Trumps. [170] DeMille's autobiography was mostly completed by the time DeMille died and was published in November 1959. Cleopatra (1934) was his first film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. [164] Although DeMille completed the film, his health was diminished by several more heart attacks. A Biblical epic with sex, it was a characteristically DeMille film. Adams allowed DeMille to have several long term mistresses during their marriage as an outlet, while maintaining an outward appearance of a faithful marriage. Constance Adams DeMille (April 27, 1873 July 17, 1960) actress and wife of filmmaker Cecil Blount DeMille. According to director of photography Janusz Kaminski, Steven Spielberg's earliest home movies still exist, and were consulted for the scene in "The Fabelmans" in which young Sammy Fabelman recreates a train crash scene from Cecil B. DeMille's 1952 film "The Greatest Show on Earth." "We've watched them before, but they are a little too primitive [] Epic. [134] William Keighley was his replacement. [48] DeMille wrote another play originally called Sergeant Devil May Care which was renamed The Royal Mounted. [22] Agnes would die on February 11, 1894, at the age of three from spinal meningitis. DeMille was omitted from the list, thought to be too unsophisticated and antiquated to be considered an auteur. Next, he would work with writers to develop the story that he was envisioning. Work period (start) 1899; Work period (end) 1959; Country of citizenship: Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA. The longest-living Oscar winner is a recipient of the Golden Globes' prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award, which he was awarded in 1977, and he received the Producers Guild of America's Lifetime . [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. In 1923, DeMille released a modern melodrama The Ten Commandments which was a significant change from his previous stint of irreligious films. [18] DeMille and William collaborated on The Genius, The Royal Mounted, and After Five. Between 1914 and 1956, he made seventy feature films; all but seven were profitable. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. [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. They also learned that other filmmakers were successfully shooting in Los Angeles, even in winter. [69] DeMille rented a barn to function as their film studio. It was the longest (3 hours, 39 minutes) and most expensive ($13million) film in Paramount history. Date of death: 21 Jan 1959. 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. DeMille". Born in 1881, DeMille made his directorial debut with "The Squaw Man" (1914), a story he remade in 1918 and 1931 . [32] From 1904 to 1905, DeMille attempted to make a living as a stock theatre actor with his wife Constance. I'm ready for my close-up." [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". Hayne, Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille, 433-34. Consequently, the film was never made. . DeMille traveled abroad to find employment until he was offered a deal at Paramount. He stated that The Ten Commandments was the final culmination of DeMille's style. [289] The Dunes Center in Guadalupe, California contains an exhibition of artifacts uncovered in the desert near Guadalupe from DeMille's set of his 1923 version of The Ten Commandments, known as the "Lost City of Cecil B. Memoir of DeMille titled 'The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille' was published in 1959. [297] The title of the 2000 John Waters film Cecil B. Demented alludes to DeMille. [228] DeMille was often criticized for making his spectacles too colorful and for being too occupied with entertaining the audience rather than accessing the artistic and auteur possibilities that film could provide. [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. However, throughout his career, he filmed comedies, periodic and contemporary romances, dramas, fantasies, propaganda, Biblical spectacles, musical comedies, suspense, and war films. "[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. [109] Western and frontier American were also themes that DeMille returned to throughout his career. [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. Legendary producer-director Cecil B. DeMille, (1) affectionately known as C.B., was a seminal cofounder of Hollywood and a progenitor of Paramount studio who became a mega-star of . Covers. [161] Post-production lasted a year and the film premiered in Salt Lake City. [151] DeMille would reminisce into a voice recorder, the recording would be transcribed, and the information would be organized in the biography based on the topic. It opened on December 13, 1985, and features some of DeMille's personal artifacts. [92] DeMille and Adams adopted Katherine Lester in 1920 whom Adams had found in the orphanage over which she was the director. This was, according to DeMille, the lowest point of his career. He had completely adapted to the production of sound film despite the film's poor dialogue. The star was being honored with the Cecil B. DeMille award, which was presented to her by Reese Witherspoon, her co-star in the upcoming Disney film A Wrinkle in Time. [187] It is difficult to typify DeMille's films into one specific genre. He wanted to prevent other companies from shooting on . [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. Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 - January 21, 1959) was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. They were even required to expand to RKO sound studios for filming. [76][77] The film grossed over ten times its budget after its New York premiere in February 1914. Additionally, DeMille's epics such as The Crusades influenced Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky. Terrible. [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. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies. Cecil B. DeMille's final film, another version of The Ten Commandments , is his most widely seen work, thanks to Easter-time television programming, but it is not one of his most respected. Frequent actors and actresses on the show included Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Loretta Young, Don Ameche, and Fred MacMurray. DeMille himself directed twenty films by 1915. [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. His wife did not like Paradise, so DeMille often brought his mistresses there with him including actress Julia Faye. [29] He fled the school to join the SpanishAmerican War, but failed to meet the age requirement. [274] DeMille has influenced the careers of many modern directors. [245], Known as the father of the Hollywood motion picture industry, Cecil B. DeMille made 70 films including several box-office hits. [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: Film director from the United States (1881 - 1959), Actor, Writer, Film producer, Film director, Film editor, Screenwriter, Playwright, Stage actor . [104], In the early 1920s, scandal surrounded Paramount; religious groups and the media opposed portrayals of immorality in films. He received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director for his circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), which won both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Drama. DeMille instructed the guilty man to leave town and would never reveal his name. [82] Additionally, because of DeMille's cordiality after the Peter Grimm incident, DeMille was able to rekindle his partnership with Belasco. [207], DeMille made stars of unknown actors: Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels, Rod La Rocque, William Boyd, Claudette Colbert, and Charlton Heston. education: American Academy Of Dramatic Arts, Pennsylvania Military College. Belasco was known for adding realistic elements in his plays such as real flowers, food, and aromas that could transport his audiences into the scenes. [28] On Henry DeMille's deathbed, he told his wife that he did not want his sons to become playwrights. Along the same lines, critics of DeMille often qualify him by his later spectacles and fail to consider several decades of ingenuity and energy that defined him during his generation. [31] In 1901, DeMille starred in productions of A Repentance, To Have and to Hold, and Are You a Mason? Cecil B. DeMille, in full Cecil Blount DeMille, (born August 12, 1881, Ashfield, Massachusetts, U.S.died January 21, 1959, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California), American motion-picture producer-director whose use of spectacle attracted vast audiences and made him a dominant figure in Hollywood for almost five decades. [283] In response to the claims, DeMille donated some of the profits from The King of Kings to charity. Barbara Stanwyck. Date of Death: January 21, 1959. The sets and effects were so realistic that 30 extras needed to be hospitalized due to a scene with fireballs and flaming arrows. Large gallery of Cecil B. DeMille pics. [note 4], While filming The Captive in 1915, an extra, Bob Fleming, died on set when another extra failed to heed to DeMille's orders to unload all guns for rehearsal. [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. Although he is one of the most commercially successful film directors of all time, Cecil B. DeMille has for a long time been considered at best a director of . [319] The Ten Commandments is broadcast every Saturday at Passover in the United States on the ABC Television Network. Still, it was a huge success at the box office. DeMille was variously declared 'the master of the religious epic', 14. the 'arch apostle of spectacle', 15. and the 'King of the epic Biblical spectacular', 16. as also *mother - Ashkenazi Jewish. vigilantes and fulminating fanatics suffering flock shock and who wanted to shut down 1920s Hollywood because of the cause clbre scandals . He suffered from a post-surgery infection from which he nearly did not recover, citing streptomycin as his saving grace. Chromium. [281] However, not everyone received DeMille's religious films favorably. 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. [185] Similar to Belasco, DeMille's theatre was revolved around entertainment, rather than artistry. Though the film was not high-grossing, it was well-received and DeMille was asked to shorten its running time to allow for more showings per day. [49] In the 1910s, DeMille began directing and producing other writer's plays. Cecil B. DeMille Net Worth: Cecil B. DeMille was an American film director and producer who had a net worth equal to $50 million at the time of his death after adjusting for . Cecil B DeMille Bio Details. Profile of the Hollywood directing legend who became known for his "spectaculars." Learn how DeMille helped establish Hollywood as the movie-making capital o. [231], According to Scott Eyman, DeMille's films were at the same time masculine and feminine due to his thematic adventurousness and his eye for the extravagant. List of the best Cecil B. DeMille movies: The Ten Commandments(1956), The Godless Girl(1929), The Golden Bed(1925), Union Pacific(1939), Unconquered(1947), Male and Female(1919), The Plainsman(1936), The Whispering Chorus(1918), The Ten Commandments(1923), Samson and Delilah(1949), The Story of Dr. Wassell(1944), Reap the Wild Wind(1942 . Constance was born the daughter of Judge Frederic Adams, New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, and Ella Adams, Frederics first wife. With his editor, Anne Bauchens, DeMille used editing techniques to allow the visual images to bring the plot to climax rather than dialogue. imported from Wikimedia project. Self - Actor, The F.B.I. [315] He was further nominated in the Best Picture category for The Ten Commandments at the 1957 Academy Awards. Now he wants to make the life of Moses. [49] DeMille had a daughter, Cecilia, on November 5, 1908, who would be his only biological child. The United States Supreme Court declined to review his case. William had been a successful playwright, but DeMille was suffering from the failure of his plays The Royal Mounted and The Genius. "[267] Salvador Dal wrote that DeMille, Walt Disney and the Marx Brothers were "the three great American Surrealists". Death: December 20, 1982 (68) Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States. [51] In 1911, DeMille became acquainted with vaudeville producer Jesse Lasky when Lasky was searching for a writer for his new musical. Occupations. [156] Fifty-two of his features are silent films. 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. [240] Moreover, before his religious-themed films, many of his silent era films revolved around "husband-and-wife-divorce-and-remarry satires", considerably more adult-themed. 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. DeMille did not like the first draft of the biography, saying that he thought the person portrayed in the biography was an "SOB"; he said it made him sound too egotistical. He was disliked by many inside and outside of the film industry for his cold and controlling reputation. Cause of death. [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. His art was even shown at Paramount meetings when pitching new films. [272] DeMille's reputation had a renaissance in the 2010s. [72] DeMille's next project was to aid Oscar Apfel and directing Brewster's Millions, which was wildly successful. DeMille's film The Affairs of Anatol came under fire. DeMille served as executive producer, overseeing producer Henry Wilcoxon. [204] As DeMille's career progressed, he increasingly relied on artist Dan Sayre Groesbeck's concept, costume, and storyboard art. Mature refused to wrestle Jackie the Lion, even though DeMille had just tussled with the lion, proving that he was tame. 1. Broadway Actor. [23][note 2] DeMille's parents operated a private school in town and attended Christ Episcopal Church. Explore Cecil B. DeMille's biography, personal life, family and cause of death. September 17, 1914. DeMille toured with the circus while helping write the script. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. [138] Critics were impressed with the visuals but found the scripts dull, calling it DeMille's "poorest Western". Age. [132] [note 7], In 1939, DeMille's Union Pacific was successful through DeMille's collaboration with the Union Pacific Railroad. Cecil Blount DeMille. Adams was 29 years old at the time of their marriage, eight years older than DeMille. [50], DeMille was poor and struggled to find work. [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. (1950) $10,000. Just two years before his death, and shortly after the release of his last film, The Ten Commandments, he delivered a commencement address at Brigham Young University. [137] Following his surgery and the success of Union Pacific, in 1940, DeMille first used three-strip Technicolor in North West Mounted Police. [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. [195] DeMille was adept at directing "thousands of extras",[113] and many of his pictures include spectacular set pieces: the toppling of the pagan temple in Samson and Delilah;[196] train wrecks in The Road to Yesterday,[197] Union Pacific[198] and The Greatest Show on Earth;[199] the destruction of an airship in Madam Satan;[200] and the parting of the Red Sea in both versions of The Ten Commandments. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. DeMille would stick to his large-budget spectaculars for the rest of his career. Red carpet photos. Here we have a man who made a film praising the Jewish people, that tells of Samson, one of the legends of our Scripture. 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. Actress and director Angelina Jolie is reportedly moving her six children with Brad Pitt into the historic estate once owned by legendary director Cecil B. DeMille who was famous for his over-the-t Lasky and DeMille maintained the widow Fleming on the payroll; however, according to leading actor House Peters Sr. DeMille refused to stop production for the funeral of Fleming. [15] The two were married on July 1, 1876, despite Beatrice's parents' objections because of the young couple's differing religions; Beatrice converted to Episcopalianism. DeMille had considered making the film himself. After the death of William deMille, DeMille revealed to Richard DeMille that William was his father and he had been born to William and a mistress. [84] In 1916, exhausted from three years of nonstop filmmaking, DeMille purchased land in the Angeles National Forest for a ranch which would become his getaway. This prohibited denying anyone the right to work if they refuse to pay a political assessment, however, the law did not apply retroactively. Furthermore, DeMille argued with Zukor over his extravagant and over-budget production costs. Credits. "[35] DeMille had more violent sexual preferences and fetishes than his wife. He was eventually introduced to Oscar Apfel, a stage director who had been a director with the Edison Company. Occupations. 77. [154] In 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott asked DeMille for help in designing the cadet uniforms at the newly established United States Air Force Academy. [155], We have just lived through a war where our people were systematically executed. But they have inspired cutting edge directors including Stephen Spielberg and Martin Scorcese. He began his career as a stage actor in 1900. However, Beatrice introduced Lasky to DeMille instead. The Tikah still made a few trade canoes into the early 20th Century. DeMille was credited in small print as "based on an idea by Cecil DeMille". [72] DeMille adapted Belasco's dramatic lighting techniques to film technology, mimicking moonlight with U.S. cinema's first attempts at "motivated lighting" in The Warrens of Virginia. In the months prior to his death, DeMille was researching a film biography of Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement.