[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. DeMille's Ten Commandments premiered in 1956. is the 10th plague, in which the Angel of Death is imagined as a thick . [186] Generally, Belasco's influence of DeMille's career can be seen in DeMille's showmanship and narration. [89] DeMille was maintained as director-general and Goldwyn became chairman of the board. Full name. [156] DeMille did not have an exact budget proposal for the project,[158] and it promised to be the most costly in U.S. film history. In addition to his use of volatile and abrupt film editing, his lighting and composition were innovative for the time period as filmmakers were primarily concerned with a clear, realistic image. 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. More Facts. Despite a cast led by Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner, the 1958 film, The Buccaneer was a disappointment. Despite the urging of his associate producer, DeMille wanted to return to the set right away. He produced many flops. Alternative names DeMille, Cecil Blount Short description Film director: Date of birth August 12, 1881 Place of birth The legendary comedian, 61, has been confirmed to receive one of the night's highest honors, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, given as a way to honor "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment," per the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. 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. [317], Two of DeMille's films have been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress: The Cheat (1915) and The Ten Commandments (1956). The Tikah still made a few trade canoes into the early 20th Century. The October 2002 issue of Vanity Fair Magazine saluted Paramount's ninetieth Anniversary by writing: "Somewhere Cecil B. DeMille is smiling.". The United States Supreme Court declined to review his case. [279][280] DeMille received more than a dozen awards from Christian and Jewish religious and cultural groups, including B'nai B'rith. Spanish Wikipedia. [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. [104], In the early 1920s, scandal surrounded Paramount; religious groups and the media opposed portrayals of immorality in films. 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. [69] DeMille rented a barn to function as their film studio. [168] Despite a cast led by Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner, the 1958 film The Buccaneer was a disappointment. [9] DeMille's father was also an English teacher at Columbia College (now Columbia University). [255], Publicly Episcopalian, DeMille drew on his Christian and Jewish ancestors to convey a message of tolerance. date of death. The Sign of the Cross (1932) is said to be the first sound film to integrate all aspects of cinematic technique. DeMille served as executive producer but could not improve Quinn's style of direction. [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. When the AFRA expanded to television, DeMille was banned from television appearances. Henry, a . Pictorials. He initially sought out William deMille. His poor physical condition upon his return home affected the production of his 1922 film Manslaughter. Cecil Blount DeMille. Cecil Blount DeMille (/ssl dml/; August 12, 1881 January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Despite its quick turnaround, the film was fairly successful. A Biblical epic with sex, it was a characteristically DeMille film. His last and best known film, The Ten Commandments (1956), also a Best Picture Academy Award nominee, is currently the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation. 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. [227], Cecil B. DeMille's film production career evolved from critically significant silent films to financially significant sound films. He joined the Producers Distributing Corporation. However, others interpreted DeMille's work as visually impressive, thrilling, and nostalgic. [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. Covers. DeMille's mother sent him to Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener University) in Chester, Pennsylvania, at age 15. [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. [citation needed] He was known as anti-union and worked to prevent unionizing of film production studios. DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and grew up in New York City. 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. 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. [149][150] DeMille signed a contract with Prentice Hall publishers in August 1953 to publish an autobiography. [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. Cecil B. DeMille was an American film director, producer, and actor. [129], From June 1, 1936, until January 22, 1945, Cecil B. DeMille hosted and directed Lux Radio Theater, a weekly digest of current feature films. This was the first feature-length film made in Hollywood. [144], In 1942, DeMille released Paramount's most successful film, Reap the Wild Wind. Furthermore, DeMille's film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Story. 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 We have estimated Cecil B. DeMille's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. Cecil B. DeMille Birthday and Date of Death. . heart failure. 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. DeMille's early silent comedies influenced the comedies of Ernst Lubitsch and Charlie Chaplin's A Woman of Paris. Story 2018 . The Ten Commandments (Documentary: Making Miracles) (Six-Disc Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Cecil B. DeMille / Paramount. He appeared in eleven of the fifteen plays presented that season, although all were minor roles. Date of Death: January 21, 1959. Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA. [100] Consequently, Beatrice deMille introduced the Famous Players-Lasky to Wilfred Buckland, who DeMille had known from his time at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and he became DeMille's art director. DeMille plays himself in the film. [168] DeMille was unable to attend the Los Angeles premiere of The Buccaneer. Cause of death. [271] DeMille was immortalized in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard when Gloria Swanson spoke the line: "All right, Mr. DeMille. Martin Scorsese recalled that DeMille had the skill to maintain control of not only the lead actors in a frame but the many extras in the frame as well. [160] Production of The Ten Commandments began in October 1954. [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. [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. It was the longest (3 hours, 39 minutes) and most expensive ($13million) film in Paramount history. Biography. Robert Birchard wrote that one could argue auteurship of DeMille on the basis that DeMille's thematic and visual style remained consistent throughout his career. Consequently, he focused his efforts on his films' visuals. In 1923, DeMille released a modern melodrama The Ten Commandments which was a significant change from his previous stint of irreligious films. "[266] Producer David O. Selznick wrote: "There has appeared only one Cecil B. DeMille. [180] His playwright father introduced him to the theater at a young age. [212] Paulette Goddard's refusal to risk personal injury in a scene involving fire in Unconquered cost her DeMille's favor and a role in The Greatest Show on Earth. [70] Filming began on December 29, 1913, and lasted three weeks. Ben Gabbe/Getty. Cecil B. DeMille photo shoot. 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. (TV Special) Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award Recipient 1963-1964 Password (TV Series) Self - Celebrity Contestant / Self - James Stewart vs . Beatrice DeMille's family was not in attendance, and Simon Louvish suggests that this was to conceal DeMille's partial Jewish heritage. He later moved to writing and directing stage productions, some with Jesse Lasky, who was then a vaudeville producer. His films were distinguished by their epic . [30] DeMille attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (tuition-free due to his father's service to the Academy). He directed and produced four films on his own, working with Producers Distributing Corporation because he found front office supervision too restricting. that DeMille found his greatest inspiration. [133] He began presenting speeches across the United States for the next few years. [117] He also popularized the camera crane. Hijo del dramaturgo Henry Churchill DeMille, en cuyas obras particip durante su infancia y primera adolescencia, curs . 1. 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. Date of Death: January 21, 1959. He had completely adapted to the production of sound film despite the film's poor dialogue. Produced in eight weeks without exceeding budget, the film was financially successful. MGM distributed the film in 1941 and donated profits to World War II relief charities. [238] Although he is known for his later "spectacular" films, his early films are held in high regard by critics and film historians. [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. [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. Robin Williams won the Cecil B. DeMille Awards in 2005. [251] Director Ridley Scott has been called "the Cecil B. DeMille of the digital era" due to his classical and medieval epics. [159] The Ten Commandments, released in 1956, was DeMille's final film. [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". [62] They offered Farnum a choice to have a quarter stock in the company (similar to William deMille) or $250 per week as salary. Still, the members unanimously approved it. [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. [147], DeMille's next film, Samson and Delilah in 1949, became Paramount's highest-grossing film up to that 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. [68] He continued to Los Angeles. DeMille was omitted from the list, thought to be too unsophisticated and antiquated to be considered an auteur. [49] In the 1910s, DeMille began directing and producing other writer's plays. Sons-and daughters-in-law were required to call him "Mr. DeMille", and Richard deMille never recalled hugging his father, claiming he received handshakes instead. This was, according to DeMille, the lowest point of his career. Frequent actors and actresses on the show included Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Loretta Young, Don Ameche, and Fred MacMurray. . However, he did take a few months to set up a movie theater for the French front. [85][86] In addition to his Paradise, DeMille purchased a yacht in 1921 which he called The Seaward. Few words can describe the monumental Cecil B. DeMille. The 1956 film was a partial remake of an earlier silent . [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. 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. While visually appealing, this made the films appear more old-fashioned. [46] Life was difficult for DeMille and his wife as traveling actors; however, traveling allowed him to experience part of the United States he had not yet seen. [76][77] The film grossed over ten times its budget after its New York premiere in February 1914. 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. [54] DeMille found success in the spring of 1913 producing Reckless Age by Lee Wilson, a play about a high society girl wrongly accused of manslaughter starring Frederick Burton and Sydney Shields. [172] DeMille's funeral was held on January 23 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. Finally, he would leave the script with artists and allow them to create artistic depictions and renderings of each scene. 27 October 2022. [10], Cecil B. DeMille's mother, Beatrice, a literary agent and scriptwriter, was the daughter of German Jews. December 26, 2014 at 3:45 p.m. As the keeper of her grandfather Cecil B. DeMille's legacy, Cecilia de Mille Presley is used to fielding calls from people who want to ask her questions, recruit . On January 8, 1893, at age 40, Henry de Mille died suddenly from typhoid fever, leaving Beatrice with three children. [7] His brother, William C. DeMille, was born on July 25, 1878. Birthday: August 12, 1881. [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". Its interracial love story made it commercially successful and it first publicized Hollywood as the home of the U.S. film industry. Date of birth. After the film was shown, viewers complained that the shadows and lighting prevented the audience from seeing the actors' full faces, complaining that they would only pay half price. [204] As DeMille's career progressed, he increasingly relied on artist Dan Sayre Groesbeck's concept, costume, and storyboard art. [59] Lasky and DeMille were said to have sketched out the organization of the company on the back of a restaurant menu. However much I may dislike some of his pictures, it would be very silly of me, as a producer of commercial motion pictures, to demean for an instant his unparalleled skill as a maker of mass entertainment. His first three films were Westerns, and he filmed many Westerns throughout his career. "A dreadful showoff. 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 [] [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. ", "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. The surgery caused him to suffer from sexual dysfunction for the rest of his life, according to some family members. Cecil Blount deMille, 12 th August 1881, Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA. [152] Art Arthur also interviewed people for the autobiography. DeMille frequently made cameos as himself in other Paramount films. [202] DeMille was unique in using this technique. 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 . [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. [180] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. Cecil B. DeMille's trademark films were Biblical and historical dramas, usually told in sweeping, big-budget scale, emblematic of overwrought Hollywood hugeness. The play was successful, and DeMille was distraught that his childhood idol had plagiarized his work. 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. [229] He began the production of epics earlier in his career until they began to solidify his career in the 1920s. Any problems on the set were often fixed by writers in the office rather than on the set. [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. 16 references. DeMille traveled abroad to find employment until he was offered a deal at Paramount. Gender. [39] In the summer of 1905 DeMille joined the stock cast at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado. [128] He supported Herbert Hoover and in 1928 made his largest campaign donation to Hoover. finding aid. [41] His first play was The Pretender-A Play in a Prologue and 4 Acts set in seventeenth century Russia. [264], DeMille was liked by some of his fellow directors and disliked by others, though his actual films were usually dismissed by his peers as vapid spectacle. 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. He was disliked by many inside and outside of the film industry for his cold and controlling reputation. 1902-08-16 Filmmaker Cecil B DeMille (21) weds actress . [124] DeMille followed this epic uncharacteristically with two dramas released in 1933 and 1934. DeMille's reputation had a renaissance in the 2010s and his work has influenced numerous other films and directors. [130] He resigned from the Lux Radio Show because he refused to pay a dollar to the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA) because he did not believe that any organization had the right to "levy a compulsory assessment upon any member.
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