Eventually, he became manager of the agency and later, a junior partner with his mother. Hayne, Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille, 433-34. Cecil B. DeMille real name: Cecil Blount DeMille Height: 5'11''(in feet & inches) 1.8034(m) 180.34(cm) , Birthdate(Birthday): August 12, 1881 , Age on January 21, 1959 (Death date): 77 Years 5 Months 9 Days Profession: Movies (Director), Also working as: Producer, Director, Editor, Screenwriter, Actor, Father: Henry Churchill de Mille, Mother: Matilda Beatrice deMille, Married: Yes, Children: Yes imported from Wikimedia project. [84] His specific use of lighting, influenced by his mentor David Belasco, was for the purpose of creating "striking images" and heightening "dramatic situations". De Mille daughter dies - UPI Archives Occupations. Heart Ailment. Cecil DeMille's famous niece was named for her. Cecil B. DeMille Birthday and Date of Death. Between 1914 and 1956, he made seventy feature films; all but seven were profitable. [132] DeMille would never again work on radio. [121], In 1932, DeMille returned to Paramount at the request of Lasky, bringing with him his own production unit. Cecil B. DeMille Death Fact Check, Birthday & Date of Death [40], His brother William was establishing himself as a playwright and sometimes invited him to collaborate. Cecil Blount Demille (1881 - 1959) - Genealogy John Blount DeMille (1914 - 1982) - Genealogy - geni family tree DeMille plays himself in the film. He was eventually introduced to Oscar Apfel, a stage director who had been a director with the Edison Company. [165] This film would be his last. [191] DeMille was the first director to connect art to filmmaking; he created the title of "art director" on the film set. 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. . "Give me any two pages of the Bible, and I'll give you a picture." -Cecil B. DeMille. Character actor H. B. Warner was fifty, but looked Thirty was cast as Christ, and gives a gently . DeMille, Cecil B. - Senses of Cinema It opened on December 13, 1985, and features some of DeMille's personal artifacts. [85][86] In addition to his Paradise, DeMille purchased a yacht in 1921 which he called The Seaward. [162] Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, it grossed over $80million, which surpassed the gross of The Greatest Show on Earth and every other film in history, except for Gone with the Wind. [253] However, Simon Louvish wrote "he was the complete master and auteur of his films"[254] and Anton Kozlovic called him the "unsung American auteur". He was the first recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, which was named in his honor. Cecil B. DeMille didn't make the kind of movies that wind up in French film festivals. Cecil B. DeMille - Ethnicity of Celebs | EthniCelebs.com [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. She later became the second female play broker on Broadway. With his editor, Anne Bauchens, DeMille used editing techniques to allow the visual images to bring the plot to climax rather than dialogue. The United States Supreme Court declined to review his case. Once there, he chose not to shoot in Edendale, where many studios were, but in Hollywood. However, his earlier films The Captive, Kindling, Carmen, and The Whispering Chorus are more serious films. Cecil B. DeMille and David O. McKay: A Surprising Friendship "A dreadful showoff. Actor, The F.B.I. Adams was 29 years old at the time of their marriage, eight years older than DeMille. 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. Cecil B. DeMille - Bio, Personal Life, Family & Cause Of Death - CelebsAges [209][note 13], DeMille was known for autocratic behavior on the set, singling out and berating extras who were not paying attention. Recommended For You. [203], DeMille often edited in a manner that favored psychological space rather than physical space through his cuts. [18] The family lived in Washington, North Carolina,[19] until Henry built a three-story Victorian-style house for his family in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey; they named this estate "Pamlico". [272] DeMille's reputation had a renaissance in the 2010s. [163], On November 7, 1954, while in Egypt filming the Exodus sequence for The Ten Commandments, DeMille (who was seventy-three) climbed a 107-foot (33m) ladder to the top of the massive Per Rameses set and suffered a serious heart attack. 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, Movies, & Facts | Britannica Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12, 1881 and died on January 21, 1959. After Henry DeMille's death at age 40, Cecil's mother, Beatrice, ran a well-known boarding school for girls in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. Consequently, DeMille's television and radio appearance ban lasted for the remainder of his life, though he was permitted to appear on radio or television to publicize a movie. [49] In the 1910s, DeMille began directing and producing other writer's plays. [118] His first three sound films were produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. [63] The Lasky Company wanted to attract high-class audiences to their films so they began producing films from literary works. DeMille's trademark scenes included bathtubs, lion attacks, and Roman orgies. 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 . Work period (start) . Billy Jim Hawkins . His films were distinguished by their epic . [115] In 1916, DeMille purchased a mansion in Hollywood. Soon after, in 1959, he had another heart attack, which led to his death. She had a Southern drawl which she never lost. [181] Henry was heavily influenced by the work of Charles Kingsley whose ideas trickled down to DeMille. Biography. Cecil B. DeMille Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family We have estimated Cecil B. DeMille's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. Constance Adams DeMille (April 27, 1873 - July 17, 1960) was an American actress and wife of filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille. DeMille adored the art of Groesbeck, even hanging it above his fireplace, but film staff found it difficult to convert his art into three-dimensional sets. Cecil B. DeMille Biography - life, family, children, story, death [318], Cecil B. DeMille made 70 features. Studio: A Cecil B. DeMille Production Paramount Pictures Premiered: February 4, 1938 Featured Cast: Fredric March, Franciska Gaal, Akim Tamiroff Producer-director: Cecil B. DeMille Screenwriter: Harold Lamb, Edwin Justus Mayer, C. Gardner Sullivan Source: Lyle Saxon's book Lafitte the Pirate Additional writers: Emily Barrye, Grover Jones, Jesse Lasky Jr., Jeanie Macpherson, Preston . A censorship board called the Hays Code was established. Eddie Murphy is going to the Golden Globes. 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.' . [23][note 2] DeMille's parents operated a private school in town and attended Christ Episcopal Church. [48] DeMille wrote another play originally called Sergeant Devil May Care which was renamed The Royal Mounted. Cecil B. DeMille Facts for Kids | KidzSearch.com Discover the real story, facts, and details of Cecil B. DeMille. [45] His 1905 performance in The Prince Chap as the Earl of Huntington was well received by audiences. DeMille himself directed twenty films by 1915. Here, he parts the Red Sea. This was the first feature-length film made in Hollywood. [236][189][237], Aside from his Biblical and historical epics which are concerned with how man relates to God, some of DeMille's films contained themes of "neo-naturalism" which portray the conflict between the laws of man and the laws of nature. The 5 Best Cecil B. DeMille Movies, Ranked [58], Desiring a change of scene, Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse Lasky, Sam Goldfish (later Samuel Goldwyn), and a group of East Coast businessmen created the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in 1913 over which DeMille became director-general. [89] DeMille was maintained as director-general and Goldwyn became chairman of the board. Early Life Biography - Cecil B. DeMille Then, he would help writers construct a script. Cecil B. DeMille's Glorious & Glamorous Estate - 2000 De Mille Drive [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. They took time off weekly from film production to practice military drills. [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. DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and grew up in New York City. Adams allowed DeMille to have several long term mistresses during their marriage as an outlet, while maintaining an outward appearance of a faithful marriage. [161] Post-production lasted a year and the film premiered in Salt Lake City. 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. Cecil Blount DeMille was a legendary. [36][note 6], Film started becoming more sophisticated and the subsequent films of the Lasky company were criticized for primitive and unrealistic set design. Henry, a . The picture of her husband was taken in 1916, the year they bought the house, when he was 35 and an increasingly active and . Sarris added that despite the influence of styles of contemporary directors throughout his career, DeMille's style remained unchanged. [103] It held the Paramount record for twenty-five years until DeMille broke the record again himself. In that respect, he was better than any of us. Cecil B DeMille Family Tree & History, Ancestry & Genealogy - FameChain [16] He gained his love of theater while watching his father and Belasco rehearse their plays. Cecil B DeMille ~ Life Story & Biography with Photos | Videos Barbara Stanwyck. The project was later completed by DeMille's former assistant director. Pioneering film director. Cecil Blount DeMille. DeMille's Ten Commandments premiered in 1956. 1. DeMille's reputation had a renaissance in the 2010s and his work has influenced numerous other films and directors. [30] DeMille attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (tuition-free due to his father's service to the Academy). [84] While on a European vacation in 1921, DeMille contracted rheumatic fever in Paris. Now he wants to make the life of Moses. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. [238] Although he is known for his later "spectacular" films, his early films are held in high regard by critics and film historians. DeMille: The Master of the American Biblical Epic . Cecil B. DeMille - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday Date of death: 21 Jan 1959. 1. [231] Cecil B. DeMille has influenced the work of several well-known directors. She was born in Canada to a Scottish schoolteacher, Edward Gabriel Lester, and his Italian-Swiss wife, Cecile Bianca Bertha (Colani) Lester. Next, he would work with writers to develop the story that he was envisioning. The Ten Commandments, filmed here at the Guadeloupe sand dunes, 150 miles from Hollywood. The first, for radio contributions, is located at 6240 Hollywood Blvd. vigilantes and fulminating fanatics suffering flock shock and who wanted to shut down 1920s Hollywood because of the cause clbre scandals . [44], DeMille performed on stage with actors whom he would later direct in films: Charlotte Walker, Mary Pickford, and Pedro de Cordoba. Cecil B. DeMille: Hollywood Directing Legend | Full Documentary "A Digger, A Director and A Practical Joker". Legacy - Cecil B. DeMille [241] Religion was a theme that DeMille returned to throughout his career. However, his final films maintained that DeMille was still respected by his audiences. When the AFRA expanded to television, DeMille was banned from television appearances. Cecil B. DeMille's income source is mostly from being a successful Producer. [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. 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. Credits. [110] After the release of DeMille's The Godless Girl, silent films in America became obsolete and DeMille was forced to shoot a shoddy final reel with the new sound production technique. [132], DeMille sued the union for reinstatement but lost. [160] A unique practice at the time, DeMille offered ten percent of his profit to the crew. [119] These three films, Dynamite, Madame Satan, and his 1931 remake of The Squaw Man were both critically and financially unsuccessful. Magazine pics. These films represent those which DeMille produced or assisted in directing, credited or uncredited. He attempted to create a guild of a half a dozen directors with the same creative desires called the Director's Guild. 'Some Like It Hot' Producer Walter Mirisch Dead at 101 Cecil Blount DeMille[note 1] was born on August 12, 1881, in a boarding house on Main Street in Ashfield, Massachusetts, where his parents had been vacationing for the summer. However, Birchard acknowledged that Sarris's point was more likely that DeMille's style was behind the development of film as an art form. Chromium. Cecil B DeMille & Unknown Married, Children, Joint Family Tree Cecil B. DeMille Winners Through the Years at the Golden Globes - Peoplemag [134] William Keighley was his replacement. [298][299], DeMille's legacy is maintained by his granddaughter Cecilia DeMille Presley who serves as the president of the Cecil B. DeMille Foundation, which strives to support higher education, child welfare, and film in Southern California. ", "10 Great Films that Influenced Alfred Hitchcock", "The Construction of a Christ-figure within the 1956 and 1923 Versions of Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments", "The International Film Magazine, Sight & Sound, All films", "Hollywood Heritage volunteers preserve the Industry's earliest incarnation", "National Register of Historic Places Program", "Cecil B. DeMille Film Festival July 2 & 16", "After 54 years, it's the end for DeMille Middle School", "Vietnamese Language Roundtable showcased effectiveness of dual-language immersion program at DeMille Elementary School", "Apollo 11-Technical Air to Ground Voice Transcription", "Cecilia DeMille Presley Joins National Film Preservation Foundation Board of Directors", "BYU special collections archives houses extensive Cecil B. DeMille memorabilia", "BYU Hears: "Understand the Law of God", DeMille Advises 1957 Graduates", "5th Annual DGA Awards Honoring Outstanding Directorial Achievement for 1952", "5th Annual DGA Awards: Honoring Outstanding Directorial Achievement for 1952", "Jeff Bridges to Receive Cecil B. DeMille Award at 2019 Golden Globes", "Academy Alum Cecil B. DeMille, The Founding Father of Hollywood Filmmaking", "Complete National Film Registry Listing", "Robert Townsend Directing 'Brewster's Millions' Reboot", "The Only Son/Cecil B. Demille [motion picture]", "DVD Extra: The first, and best 'Chicago' (1927)", "Rare 1949 Photographs Show the Making of 'Sunset Boulevard', "Screen: 'The Ten Commandments'; De Mille's Production Opens at Criterion The Cast", Cecil B. DeMille's Early Films' Costs and Grosses by David Pierce, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cecil_B._DeMille&oldid=1141568133, This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 18:28. [143] [note 9] In 1938, DeMille supervised the compilation of film Land of Liberty to represent the contribution of the American film industry to the 1939 New York World's Fair. His family's, DeMille's niece and William deMille's daughter. [186] Generally, Belasco's influence of DeMille's career can be seen in DeMille's showmanship and narration. He produced many flops. DeMille claimed that MacPherson was not a good writer, but she received credit in his films because she gave him many ideas for the screenplays. Biographer Scott Eyman suggested that this may have been a result of Adams's recent miscarriage. His father, Henry Churchill de Mille (1853-1893), was a North Carolina-born dramatist and lay reader in the Episcopal Church, who had earlier . He appeared in eleven of the fifteen plays presented that season, although all were minor roles. DeMille also produced and directed plays. The film was produced on a large budget of $600,000, the most expensive production at Paramount. [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. [168] DeMille was unable to attend the Los Angeles premiere of The Buccaneer. The Sign of the Cross (1932) is said to be the first sound film to integrate all aspects of cinematic technique. [245], Known as the father of the Hollywood motion picture industry, Cecil B. DeMille made 70 films including several box-office hits. "[265] Said fellow director William Wellman: "Directorially, I think his pictures were the most horrible things I've ever seen in my life. 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. The Buccaneer - Cecil B. DeMille 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. [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. Covers. English Wikipedia. DeMille studied famous paintings that captured the life of Christ and brought them to the screen. 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. [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. The cuts were sometimes rough, but the movies were always interesting. In the silent era, he was renowned for Male and Female (1919), Manslaughter (1922), The Volga Boatman (1926), and The Godless Girl (1928). An annual award, the Golden Globe's Cecil B. DeMille Award recognizes lifetime achievement in the film industry. Date of Death: January 21, 1959. Cleopatra (1934) was his first film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Cecil B. DeMille - NNDB [47] In 1907, due to a scandal with one of Beatrice's students, Evelyn Nesbit, the Henry deMille School lost students. For More Information . Profile of the Hollywood directing legend who became known for his "spectaculars." Learn how DeMille helped establish Hollywood as the movie-making capital o. [33] They had met in a theater in Washington D.C. while they were both acting in Hearts Are Trumps. His silent era films often included the "battle of the sexes" theme due to the era of women's suffrage and the enlarging role of women in society. [242] Another common theme in DeMille's films is the reversal of fortune and the portrayal of the rich and the poor, including the war of the classes and man versus society conflicts such as in The Golden Chance and The Cheat. [185] Similar to Belasco, DeMille's theatre was revolved around entertainment, rather than artistry. [160] The Exodus scene was filmed on-site in Egypt with the use of four Technicolor-VistaVision camera filming 12,000 people. U.S. State: Massachusetts. Story 2018 . 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. Cecil B. DeMille The Movie Database (TMDB) [193], DeMille rarely gave direction to actors; he preferred to "office-direct" where he would work with actors in his office, going over characters and reading through scripts. DeMille". Still, the members unanimously approved it. This Day and Age and Four Frightened People were box office disappointments, though Four Frightened People received good reviews. [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. DeMille's mother sent him to Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener University) in Chester, Pennsylvania, at age 15. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Cecil B. DeMille passed away January 21, 1959, from a heart condition. [88] On July 19, 1916, the Jesse Lasky Feature Play Company merged with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company, becoming Famous Players-Lasky. Carl Laemmle anniversary 1931.JPG 1,473 1,161; 359 KB. [183] DeMille's father worked with David Belasco theatrical producer, impresario, and playwright. [180] His playwright father introduced him to the theater at a young age. [60] In addition to directing, DeMille was the supervisor and consultant for the first year of films made by the Lasky Feature Play Company. Adopted son of Cecil B. DeMille and Constance DeMille. DeMille served as executive producer, overseeing producer Henry Wilcoxon. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts honored DeMille with an Alumni Achievement Award in 1958. William deMille would later convert from theater to Hollywood and would spend the rest of his career as a film director. Furthermore, DeMille argued with Zukor over his extravagant and over-budget production costs. [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. The Warrens of Virginia (1915) $500 /week. 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. [229] He began the production of epics earlier in his career until they began to solidify his career in the 1920s. [127] However, according to DeMille himself, he was not anti-union and belonged to a few unions himself. He donated. [105] Consequently, DeMille left Paramount in 1924 despite having helped establish it. "[35] DeMille had more violent sexual preferences and fetishes than his wife. (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.