In March 1938, he underwent a major emergency prostatectomy. View the most popular Cecil B. DeMille pix. Zukor became president with Lasky as the vice president. He is from USA. English Wikipedia. [7] His brother, William C. DeMille, was born on July 25, 1878. DeMille toured with the circus while helping write the script. [10] He worked as a playwright, administrator, and faculty member during the early years of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, established in New York City in 1884. 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. However, the films of his silent era were often thematically different from the films of his sound era. This allowed for the rapid production of his films in the early years of the Lasky Company. They struggled to adapt the play from the stage to the set. This occurred with Victor Mature in Samson and Delilah. Cecil Blount DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, while his parents were vacationing there, and grew up in Washington, North Carolina. (TV Special) Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award Recipient 1963-1964 Password (TV Series) Self - Celebrity Contestant / Self - James Stewart vs . 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. His other well known films include The Sign of the Cross (1932), Cleopatra (1934), Samson and Delilah [] [109] Western and frontier American were also themes that DeMille returned to throughout his career. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. Find out about Cecil B DeMille's family tree, family history, ancestry, ancestors, genealogy, relationships and affairs! "[266] Producer David O. Selznick wrote: "There has appeared only one Cecil B. DeMille. [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. DeMille served as executive producer but could not improve Quinn's style of direction. Pioneering film director. In the early 1950s, DeMille was recruited by Allen Dulles and Frank Wisner to serve on the board of the anti-communist National Committee for a Free Europe, the public face of the organization that oversaw the Radio Free Europe service. [128] He supported Herbert Hoover and in 1928 made his largest campaign donation to Hoover. 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. [108] The King of Kings established DeMille as "master of the grandiose and of biblical sagas". 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. Broadway Actor. [241] Religion was a theme that DeMille returned to throughout his career. Chromium. Explore Cecil B. DeMille's biography, personal life, family and cause of death. His father, Henry Churchill de Mille (1853-1893), was a North Carolina-born dramatist and lay reader in the Episcopal Church, who had earlier . [183] DeMille's father worked with David Belasco theatrical producer, impresario, and playwright. [255], Publicly Episcopalian, DeMille drew on his Christian and Jewish ancestors to convey a message of tolerance. [76][77] The film grossed over ten times its budget after its New York premiere in February 1914. This Day and Age and Four Frightened People were box office disappointments, though Four Frightened People received good reviews. 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. For More Information . [148] Again, 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth became Paramount's highest-grossing film to that point. Apfel. [141], In 1942, DeMille worked with Jeanie MacPherson and brother William deMille in order to produce a film called Queen of Queens which was intended to be about Mary, mother of Jesus. [137] Following his surgery and the success of Union Pacific, in 1940, DeMille first used three-strip Technicolor in North West Mounted Police. [124] DeMille followed this epic uncharacteristically with two dramas released in 1933 and 1934. heart failure. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies. 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 [82] Additionally, because of DeMille's cordiality after the Peter Grimm incident, DeMille was able to rekindle his partnership with Belasco. Profile of the Hollywood directing legend who became known for his "spectaculars." Learn how DeMille helped establish Hollywood as the movie-making capital o. However, his final films maintained that DeMille was still respected by his audiences. [180] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. Beatrice was intelligent, educated, forthright, and strong-willed. Martin Scorsese cited Unconquered, Samson and Delilah, and The Greatest Show on Earth as DeMille films that have imparted lasting memories on him. [208] DeMille had an authoritarian persona on set; he required absolute attention from the cast and crew. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts honored DeMille with an Alumni Achievement Award in 1958. Beatrice DeMille's family was not in attendance, and Simon Louvish suggests that this was to conceal DeMille's partial Jewish heritage. Cecil Blount DeMille ( August 12, 1881 - January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker. [249] Similarly, scholar David Blanke, argued that DeMille had lost the respect of his colleagues and film critics by his late film career. His poor physical condition upon his return home affected the production of his 1922 film Manslaughter. [16] He gained his love of theater while watching his father and Belasco rehearse their plays. [157] Adolph Zukor convinced the board to change their minds on the grounds of morality. "[257] The critic Camille Paglia has called The Ten Commandments one of the ten greatest films of all time. He was disliked by many inside and outside of the film industry for his cold and controlling reputation. [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. He was confined to bed and unable to eat. The mistress could not keep the boy due to her tuberculosis. [315] He was further nominated in the Best Picture category for The Ten Commandments at the 1957 Academy Awards. [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. . The Ten Commandments, filmed here at the Guadeloupe sand dunes, 150 miles from Hollywood. [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. He worked with visual technicians, editors, art directors, costume designers, cinematographers, and set carpenters in order to perfect the visual aspects of his films. Heart Ailment. 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 . In his first instance, in 1917, he remade The Squaw Man (1918), only waiting four years from the 1914 original. Consequently, the film was never made. [119] These three films, Dynamite, Madame Satan, and his 1931 remake of The Squaw Man were both critically and financially unsuccessful. Sarris added that despite the influence of styles of contemporary directors throughout his career, DeMille's style remained unchanged. [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. Film Director. [278] As one of the establishing members of Paramount Pictures and co-founder of Hollywood, DeMille had a role in the development of the film industry. [115] In 1916, DeMille purchased a mansion in Hollywood. DeMille's first film, The Squaw Man (1914), was also the first full-length feature film shot in Hollywood. [252], Despite his box-office success, awards, and artistic achievements, DeMille has been dismissed and ignored by critics both during his life and posthumously. Compared to other directors, few film scholars have taken the time to academically analyze his films and style. [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". DeMille purchased the home in 1916 for $27,893 (Yes, five digits) and lived there with his family until his death in 1959. Consequently, he formed the DeMille Foundation for Political Freedom in order to campaign for the right to work. DeMille plays himself in the film. Although less critically revered than D.W. Griffith, DeMille actually played a more important role in . 72 pictures of Cecil B. DeMille. AKA Cecil Blount DeMille. [64] The Lasky Company bought the rights to the play The Squaw Man by Edwin Milton Royle and cast Dustin Farnum in the lead role. [229] He began the production of epics earlier in his career until they began to solidify his career in the 1920s. DeMille made a 1905 reprise in Hamlet as Osric. DeMille frequently made cameos as himself in other Paramount films. However, he would never again vote for a Democratic candidate in a presidential election. [174] DeMille left his multi-million dollar estate in Los Feliz, Los Angeles in Laughlin Park to his daughter Cecilia because his wife had dementia and was unable to care for an estate. Media in category "Cecil B. DeMille" The following 53 files are in this category, out of 53 total. If you have diabetes and take insulin or other oral medications aimed to reduce blood sugar, taking chromium may increase the risk of . This was the first feature-length film made in Hollywood. [126] DeMille was a conservative Republican activist, becoming more conservative as he aged. [130] While DeMille was host, the show had forty million weekly listeners, gaining DeMille an annual salary of $100,000. Date of Death: January 21, 1959. [39] Another unperformed play he wrote was Son of the Winds, a mythological Native American story. Friday 12 Aug 1881. [40], His brother William was establishing himself as a playwright and sometimes invited him to collaborate. [121], In 1932, DeMille returned to Paramount at the request of Lasky, bringing with him his own production unit. [29] He fled the school to join the SpanishAmerican War, but failed to meet the age requirement. 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 consistently was criticized for producing shallow films without talent or artistic care. Hayne, Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille, 433-34. They continued filming in 1955 in Paris and Hollywood on 30 different sound stages. DeMille was credited in small print as "based on an idea by Cecil DeMille". The Warrens of Virginia (1915) $500 /week. [235] DeMille was also known for his use of special effects without the use of digital technology. [337], Charles Frohman, Constance Adams, and David Belasco, Scandalous dramas, Biblical epics, and departure from Paramount, There are several variants of DeMille's surname. . 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. [204] As DeMille's career progressed, he increasingly relied on artist Dan Sayre Groesbeck's concept, costume, and storyboard art. Now he wants to make the life of Moses. [168] 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. His films were distinguished by their epic . [304] Additionally, in 1958, he received an honorary Doctorate of Law degree from Temple University. [8] Henry de Mille, whose ancestors were of English and Dutch-Belgian descent, was a North Carolina-born dramatist, actor, and lay reader in the Episcopal Church. Cecil B DeMille Bio Details. However, throughout his career, he filmed comedies, periodic and contemporary romances, dramas, fantasies, propaganda, Biblical spectacles, musical comedies, suspense, and war films. [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. His family's, DeMille's niece and William deMille's daughter. [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. DeMille also produced and directed plays. The wedding party was small. (1950) $10,000. [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. [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). 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. Immediate Family: Biological son of Gus Gonzales and Ada Piper. [130] From 1936 to 1945, he produced, hosted, and directed all shows with the occasional exception of a guest director. [84] While on a European vacation in 1921, DeMille contracted rheumatic fever in Paris. Additionally, DeMille's epics such as The Crusades influenced Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky. [47] In 1907, due to a scandal with one of Beatrice's students, Evelyn Nesbit, the Henry deMille School lost students. [79][note 3], Cecil B. DeMille's second film credited exclusively to him was The Virginian. Mature refused to wrestle Jackie the Lion, even though DeMille had just tussled with the lion, proving that he was tame. "[35] DeMille had more violent sexual preferences and fetishes than his wife. His tentative plan was to shoot a film in Arizona, but he felt that Arizona did not typify the Western look they were searching for. [319] The Ten Commandments is broadcast every Saturday at Passover in the United States on the ABC Television Network. vigilantes and fulminating fanatics suffering flock shock and who wanted to shut down 1920s Hollywood because of the cause clbre scandals . Story - The Left's Kavanaugh Hate-Fest (2018) . Birthplace: Ashfield, MA Location of death: Hollywood, CA Cause of death: Heart Failure Remains: Bu. [49] In the 1910s, DeMille began directing and producing other writer's plays. [80] The first few years of the Lasky Company were spent in making films nonstop, literally writing the language of film. These films represent those which DeMille produced or assisted in directing, credited or uncredited. While visually appealing, this made the films appear more old-fashioned.