finding aid. heart failure. (1950) $10,000. September 17, 1914. cause of death. Cecil Blount deMille, 12 th August 1881, Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA. . Legacy - Cecil B. DeMille He consistently was criticized for producing shallow films without talent or artistic care. Media in category "Cecil B. DeMille" The following 53 files are in this category, out of 53 total. 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 [] ", "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. [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. DeMille's film The Affairs of Anatol came under fire. [205], Composer Elmer Bernstein described DeMille as "sparing no effort" when filmmaking. [117] He also popularized the camera crane. With this year's Oscar nominations soon to be announced, we take a look back at his cinematic extraganzas. [9] DeMille's father was also an English teacher at Columbia College (now Columbia University). [145] After working on Reap the Wild Wind, in 1944, he was the master of ceremonies at the massive rally organized by David O. Selznick in the Los Angeles Coliseum in support of the DeweyBricker ticket as well as Governor Earl Warren of California. The sets and effects were so realistic that 30 extras needed to be hospitalized due to a scene with fireballs and flaming arrows. Heart Ailment. [231] DeMille's distinctive style can be seen through camera and lighting effects as early as The Squaw Man with the use of daydream images; moonlight and sunset on a mountain; and side-lighting through a tent flap. Recent images. Long before he made his first sound picture, DeMille had become a cinema . Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12, 1881 in Ashfield, Massachusetts, U.S., United States, is Film Director, Producer. [169] DeMille attended the Santa Barbara premiere of The Buccaneer in December 1958. [296] During the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin refers to himself in one instance as "Cecil B. DeAldrin", as a humorous nod to DeMille. [238] Although he is known for his later "spectacular" films, his early films are held in high regard by critics and film historians. [258], DeMille was one of the first directors to become a celebrity in his own right. [188][189] DeMille recalled that one of the most influential plays he saw was Hamlet, directed by Sothern. [39] In the summer of 1905 DeMille joined the stock cast at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado. [80] The first few years of the Lasky Company were spent in making films nonstop, literally writing the language of film. [271] DeMille was immortalized in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard when Gloria Swanson spoke the line: "All right, Mr. DeMille. [41] However, none of these were very successful; William deMille was most successful when he worked alone. [53] Another DeMille-Lasky production that opened in January 1912 was The Antique Girl. William deMille would later convert from theater to Hollywood and would spend the rest of his career as a film director. 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. [180] His playwright father introduced him to the theater at a young age. [308] In 1952, DeMille was awarded the first Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes. Considered one of the founders of Hollywood, film producer and director Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959) earned a place in moviemaking history with such religious epic films as The Ten Commandmentsand King of Kings.. [14], DeMille's parents met as members of a music and literary society in New York. 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 [17] As a child, DeMille created an alter-ego, Champion Driver, a Robin Hood-like character, evidence of his creativity and imagination. 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 . He was confined to bed and unable to eat. . [244] Another minor characteristic of DeMille's films include train crashes which can be found in several of his films. Katherine DeMille - Biography - IMDb 77. Cecil B. DeMille - Wikipedia Carl Laemmle anniversary 1931.JPG 1,473 1,161; 359 KB. [155], We have just lived through a war where our people were systematically executed. [60] As director-general, DeMille's job was to make the films. 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. [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. 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. Cecil B. DeMille | Biography, Movies, & Facts | Britannica View the most popular Cecil B. DeMille pix. DeMille's first film, The Squaw Man (1914), was also the first full-length feature film shot in Hollywood. 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. [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". Cecil B. DeMille Winners Through the Years at the Golden Globes - Peoplemag If you have diabetes and take insulin or other oral medications aimed to reduce blood sugar, taking chromium may increase the risk of . [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. He directed 70 feature films, beginning in the silent era . From the archive, 22 January 1959: Pioneering film maker Cecil B. deMille dies Even the severest critics of his films had to concede that he was a great showman Cecil B. deMille (1881-1959). However, he did take a few months to set up a movie theater for the French front. To diseased proportions. He donated. [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. [72] He made his first film run sixty minutes, as long as a short play. [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. [255] Consequently, the name "DeMille" has become synonymous with filmmaking. [318], Cecil B. DeMille made 70 features. Cecil Blount DeMille. [186] Generally, Belasco's influence of DeMille's career can be seen in DeMille's showmanship and narration. Adams allowed DeMille to have several long term mistresses during their marriage as an outlet, while maintaining an outward appearance of a faithful marriage. However, Birchard acknowledged that Sarris's point was more likely that DeMille's style was behind the development of film as an art form. She would die one year later. [103] It held the Paramount record for twenty-five years until DeMille broke the record again himself. [249] Similarly, scholar David Blanke, argued that DeMille had lost the respect of his colleagues and film critics by his late film career. He was disliked by many inside and outside of the film industry for his cold and controlling reputation. [107] Aside from The King of Kings, none of DeMille's films away from Paramount were successful. [168] Despite a cast led by Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner, the 1958 film The Buccaneer was a disappointment. De Mille daughter dies. [119] These three films, Dynamite, Madame Satan, and his 1931 remake of The Squaw Man were both critically and financially unsuccessful. In March 1938, he underwent a major emergency prostatectomy. DeMille plays himself in the film. [47] DeMille sometimes worked with the director E.H. Sothern, who influenced DeMille's later perfectionism in his work. Cecil B. DeMille's trademark films were Biblical and historical dramas, usually told in sweeping, big-budget scale, emblematic of overwrought Hollywood hugeness. 16 references. Ben Gabbe/Getty. [207] Costume designer Dorothy Jeakins, who worked with DeMille on The Ten Commandments (1956), said that he was skilled in humiliating people. He initially sought out William deMille. [191] Plot and dialogue were not a strong point of DeMille's films. 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 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. He was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974. [156] Fifty-two of his features are silent films. Cecil Blount DeMille. [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. John Blount DeMille (1914 - 1982) - Genealogy - geni family tree Robin Williams, 2005. [45] His 1905 performance in The Prince Chap as the Earl of Huntington was well received by audiences. The play was successful, and DeMille was distraught that his childhood idol had plagiarized his work. DeMille was accused of antisemitism after the release of The King of Kings,[282] and director John Ford despised DeMille for what he saw as "hollow" biblical epics meant to promote DeMille's reputation during the politically turbulent 1950s. Married Life. [181] Henry was heavily influenced by the work of Charles Kingsley whose ideas trickled down to DeMille. [304] Additionally, in 1958, he received an honorary Doctorate of Law degree from Temple University. She later became the second female play broker on Broadway. Birthplace: Ashfield, MA Location of death: Hollywood, CA Cause of death: Heart Failure Remains: Bu. [52] The collaboration of DeMille and Lasky produced a successful musical called California which opened in New York in January 1912. DeMille's early silent comedies influenced the comedies of Ernst Lubitsch and Charlie Chaplin's A Woman of Paris. Terrible. [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. [108] The King of Kings established DeMille as "master of the grandiose and of biblical sagas". However, Sam Goldwyn realized that if they called it "Rembrandt" lighting, the audience would pay double the price. Hayne, Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille, 433-34. [28] On Henry DeMille's deathbed, he told his wife that he did not want his sons to become playwrights. On January 8, 1893, at age 40, Henry de Mille died suddenly from typhoid fever, leaving Beatrice with three children. As DeMille continued to rely on Groesbeck, the nervous energy of his early films transformed into more steady compositions of his later films. However, one word is especially appropriate. Name Constance DeMille Cause of death pneumonia: Born April 27, 1874 . [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. 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 silent films included social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants. He was her mentor, while she was for many years his mistress (a liaison which was tolerated by De Mille's long-suffering wife Constance Adams ). It was the longest (3 hours, 39 minutes) and most expensive ($13million) film in Paramount history. Cecil B. DeMille - Wikidata However, DeMille's second remake at MGM in 1931 would be a failure. Cecil B DeMille Bio Details. [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. Cecil B. DeMille - Ethnicity of Celebs | EthniCelebs.com Hijo del dramaturgo Henry Churchill DeMille, en cuyas obras particip durante su infancia y primera adolescencia, curs . [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. DeMille directed The King of Kings (1927), a biography of Jesus, which gained approval for its sensitivity and reached more than 800million viewers. [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. [269] He often appeared in his coming-attraction trailers and narrated many of his later films,[270] even stepping on screen to introduce The Ten Commandments. [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. Immediate Family: Biological son of Gus Gonzales and Ada Piper. [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. Cecil B. DeMille Birthday, Real Name, Age, Weight, Height, Family Find out about Cecil B DeMille's family tree, family history, ancestry, ancestors, genealogy, relationships and affairs! [21] DeMille's sister Agnes was born on April 23, 1891; his mother nearly did not survive the birth. 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. Alternative names DeMille, Cecil Blount Short description Film director: Date of birth August 12, 1881 Place of birth DeMille". Mrs. DeMille's office and library opened to the music room. He also toured with the Standard Opera Company, but there are few records to indicate DeMille's singing ability. Biographer Scott Eyman suggested that this may have been a result of Adams's recent miscarriage. 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. Cecil B. DeMille's 'Ten Commandments' on Blu-ray - The New York Times Barbara Stanwyck. [42] DeMille would later adapt Belasco's The Girl of the Golden West, Rose of the Rancho, and The Warrens of Virginia into films. Cecil B. DeMille - Wikimedia Commons 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 . [116], When "talking pictures" were invented in 1928, Cecil B. DeMille made a successful transition, offering his own innovations to the painful process; he devised a microphone boom and a soundproof camera blimp. Sarris added that despite the influence of styles of contemporary directors throughout his career, DeMille's style remained unchanged. He began his career as a stage actor in 1900. DeMille filming the "big Indian raid" of Call of the North. He called this place, "Paradise", declaring it a wildlife sanctuary; no shooting of animals was allowed besides snakes. [207], DeMille made stars of unknown actors: Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels, Rod La Rocque, William Boyd, Claudette Colbert, and Charlton Heston. "A Digger, A Director and A Practical Joker". 21 January 1959. Once there, he chose not to shoot in Edendale, where many studios were, but in Hollywood. Story 2018 . He suffered from a post-surgery infection from which he nearly did not recover, citing streptomycin as his saving grace. Cause of Death: Heart Attack. [41] The Return of Peter Grimm sparked controversy; however, because Belasco had taken DeMille's unnamed screenplay, changed the characters and named it The Return of Peter Grimm, producing and presenting it as his own work. DeMille's primary criticism was of closed shops, but later included criticism of communism and unions in general. DeMille told the actor that he was "one hundred percent yellow". [168] DeMille was unable to attend the Los Angeles premiere of The Buccaneer. DeMille: The Master of the American Biblical Epic . Cecil B. DeMille began his career as an actor on the stage in the theatrical company of Charles Frohman in 1900. [276] Famed director Steven Spielberg stated that DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth was one of the films that influenced him to become a filmmaker. Self - Actor, The F.B.I. During the French New Wave, critics began to categorize certain filmmakers as auteurs such as Howard Hawks, John Ford, and Raoul Walsh. [252], Despite his box-office success, awards, and artistic achievements, DeMille has been dismissed and ignored by critics both during his life and posthumously. She was born in Canada to a Scottish schoolteacher, Edward Gabriel Lester, and his Italian-Swiss wife, Cecile Bianca Bertha (Colani) Lester. [263] Joseph Henabery recalled that DeMille looked like "a king on a throne surrounded by his court" while directing films on a camera platform. The October 2002 issue of Vanity Fair Magazine saluted Paramount's ninetieth Anniversary by writing: "Somewhere Cecil B. DeMille is smiling.". He is one of the most extraordinarily able showmen of modern times. 1956 theater brochure Furthermore, DeMille's film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Story. Cecil B. DeMille The Movie Database (TMDB) [337], Charles Frohman, Constance Adams, and David Belasco, Scandalous dramas, Biblical epics, and departure from Paramount, There are several variants of DeMille's surname. [255], Publicly Episcopalian, DeMille drew on his Christian and Jewish ancestors to convey a message of tolerance. [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. The second star is located at 1725 Vine Street. [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. Biography - A Short WikiDirector of the epic 1956 film The Ten Commandments, which featured Charlton Heston as Moses. "[257] The critic Camille Paglia has called The Ten Commandments one of the ten greatest films of all time. Cecil B. DeMille - NNDB He wanted to prevent other companies from shooting on . DeMille's mother sent him to Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener University) in Chester, Pennsylvania, at age 15. This concerned the executives at Paramount; however, the film turned out to be the studio's highest-grossing film. [123] The Sign of the Cross was the first film to integrate all cinematic techniques. A censorship board called the Hays Code was established. Cecil B. DeMille. The film was considered a "masterpiece" and surpassed the quality of other sound films of the time. 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. [111], The immense popularity of DeMille's silent films enabled him to branch out into other areas. The cuts were sometimes rough, but the movies were always interesting. [129] DeMille also liked Franklin D. Roosevelt, however, finding him charismatic, tenacious, and intelligent and agreeing with Roosevelt's abhorrence of Prohibition. The Union Pacific gave DeMille access to historical data, early period trains, and expert crews, adding to the authenticity of the film. [228] In order to attract a high-class audience, DeMille based many of his early films on stage melodramas, novels, and short stories. The United States Supreme Court declined to review his case. [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. Friday 12 Aug 1881. LOS ANGELES -- Cecilia de Mille Harper, daughter of pioneer film-director Cecil B. de Mille and one of the first child movie actresses, has died after a long battle with . [297] The title of the 2000 John Waters film Cecil B. Demented alludes to DeMille. [10] At the military college, even though his grades were average, he reportedly excelled in personal conduct. Beatrice became a play broker and author's agent, influencing DeMille's early life and career. [32] From 1904 to 1905, DeMille attempted to make a living as a stock theatre actor with his wife Constance. New Bio Gives Cecil B. DeMille His Own Close-Up : NPR