[290][note 16] Donated by the Cecil B. DeMille Foundation in 2004, the moving image collection of Cecil B. DeMille is held at the Academy Film Archive and includes home movies, outtakes, and never-before-seen test footage. DeMille did not believe a large movie set was the place to discuss minor character or line issues. [258], DeMille was one of the first directors to become a celebrity in his own right. Explore Cecil B. DeMille's biography, personal life, family and cause of death. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. [6] He was the second of three children of Henry Churchill de Mille (September 4, 1853 February 10, 1893) and his wife Matilda Beatrice deMille (ne Samuel; January 30, 1853 October 8, 1923), known as Beatrice. Cause of Death: Heart Attack. Perhaps Cecil B. DeMille is more responsible for this than are today's preachers.' 13. The continued success of his productions led to the founding of Paramount Pictures with Lasky and Adolph Zukor. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. [274] DeMille has influenced the careers of many modern directors. [169] DeMille attended the Santa Barbara premiere of The Buccaneer in December 1958. [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. [10] At the military college, even though his grades were average, he reportedly excelled in personal conduct. The October 2002 issue of Vanity Fair Magazine saluted Paramount's ninetieth Anniversary by writing: "Somewhere Cecil B. DeMille is smiling.". In his first instance, in 1917, he remade The Squaw Man (1918), only waiting four years from the 1914 original. [118] His first three sound films were produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. [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. [218][219] DeMille cast some of his performers repeatedly, including: Henry Wilcoxon,[220] Julia Faye, Joseph Schildkraut,[221] Ian Keith,[222] Charles Bickford,[223] Theodore Roberts, Akim Tamiroff[224] and William Boyd. "[267] Salvador Dal wrote that DeMille, Walt Disney and the Marx Brothers were "the three great American Surrealists". [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. Henry, a . According to Simon Louvish, these films reflected DeMille's inner thoughts and opinions about marriage and human sexuality. Despite a cast led by Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner, the 1958 film, The Buccaneer was a disappointment. Friday 12 Aug 1881. 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. DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and grew up in New York City. [18] DeMille and William collaborated on The Genius, The Royal Mounted, and After Five. . [115] In 1916, DeMille purchased a mansion 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. DeMille also was planning a film about the space race as well as another biblical epic about the Book of Revelation. Eddie Murphy is going to the Golden Globes. Despite the urging of his associate producer, DeMille wanted to return to the set right away. DeMille's highest-grossing films include: The Sign of the Cross (1932), Unconquered (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), and The Ten Commandments (1956). 22. Cecil Blount DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, while his parents were vacationing there, and grew up in Washington, North Carolina. DeMille filming the "big Indian raid" of Call of the North. Cecil B. DeMille. [228] Throughout his career, he did not alter his films to better adhere to contemporary or popular styles. Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12, 1881 in Ashfield, Massachusetts, U.S., United States, is Film Director, Producer. [73] Furthermore, DeMille influenced about half of Spielberg's films, including War of the Worlds. [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. As DeMille continued to rely on Groesbeck, the nervous energy of his early films transformed into more steady compositions of his later films. [5] DeMille was named after his grandmothers Cecelia Wolff and Margarete Blount. He claimed he abandoned the project in order to complete a different project, but in reality, it was to preserve his reputation and avoid appearing reactionary. Cecil Blount DeMille was a legendary. She later became the second female play broker on Broadway. At least one DeMille film can represent each film genre. [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. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies. Cecil B. DeMille began his career as an actor on the stage in the theatrical company of Charles Frohman in 1900. He related a story that he maintained his self-control when Gloria Swanson sat on his lap, refusing to touch her. He appeared in eleven of the fifteen plays presented that season, although all were minor roles. [130] While DeMille was host, the show had forty million weekly listeners, gaining DeMille an annual salary of $100,000. [153] Besides filmmaking and finishing his autobiography, DeMille was involved in other projects. [33] They had met in a theater in Washington D.C. while they were both acting in Hearts Are Trumps. DeMille's Ten Commandments premiered in 1956. DeMille directed The King of Kings (1927), a biography of Jesus, which gained approval for its sensitivity and reached more than 800million viewers. [91] Although DeMille considered enlisting in World War I, he stayed in the United States and made films. [249] Similarly, scholar David Blanke, argued that DeMille had lost the respect of his colleagues and film critics by his late film career. Adams was 29 years old at the time of their marriage, eight years older than DeMille. This occurred with Victor Mature in Samson and Delilah. The Captive (1915) $500 /week. 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. 27 October 2022. [229] He began the production of epics earlier in his career until they began to solidify his career in the 1920s. [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. DeMille was painstakingly attentive to details on set and was as critical of himself as he was of his crew. However, he would never again vote for a Democratic candidate in a presidential election. The surgery caused him to suffer from sexual dysfunction for the rest of his life, according to some family members. While he is known as DeMille (his nom d'oeuvre), his family name was Dutch and is usually spelled "de Mil". Lasky and DeMille convinced film pioneer Siegmund Lubin of the Lubin Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia to have his experienced technicians reperforate the film [74] This was also the first American feature film; however, only by release date, as D. W. Griffith's Judith of Bethulia was filmed earlier than The Squaw Man, but released later. [22] Agnes would die on February 11, 1894, at the age of three from spinal meningitis. If you have diabetes and take insulin or other oral medications aimed to reduce blood sugar, taking chromium may increase the risk of . [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. 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 . Media in category "Cecil B. DeMille" The following 53 files are in this category, out of 53 total. [194] DeMille was particularly adept at directing and managing large crowds in his films. He donated. DeMille lent Roosevelt a car for his campaign for the 1932 United States presidential election and voted for him. Eventually, the Guard was enlarged to a battalion and recruited soldiers from other film studios. Cecil was 77 years old at the time of death. They struggled to adapt the play from the stage to the set. [183] DeMille's father worked with David Belasco theatrical producer, impresario, and playwright. [239], DeMille's films contained many similar themes throughout his career. [10], Cecil B. DeMille's mother, Beatrice, a literary agent and scriptwriter, was the daughter of German Jews. Pioneering film director. [28] On Henry DeMille's deathbed, he told his wife that he did not want his sons to become playwrights. Robin Williams won the Cecil B. DeMille Awards in 2005. He was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974. [15], DeMille was a brave and confident child. [32] From 1904 to 1905, DeMille attempted to make a living as a stock theatre actor with his wife Constance. [50], DeMille was poor and struggled to find work. This Day and Age and Four Frightened People were box office disappointments, though Four Frightened People received good reviews. He debuted as an actor on February 21, 1900, in the play Hearts Are Trumps at New York's Garden Theater. This allowed for the rapid production of his films in the early years of the Lasky Company. [109] Six of DeMille's filmsThe Arab, The Wild Goose Chase, The Dream Girl, The Devil-Stone, We Can't Have Everything, and The Squaw Man (1918)were destroyed due to nitrate decomposition, and are considered lost. An example is the Bible which has been remade into many different movies including The Ten Commandments by Cecil B. DeMille and The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson.