Cecil B. DeMille

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Cecil B. DeMille c. 1920

Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker and actor. From 1914 to 1958, he directed 70 films, including both silent and sound productions. DeMille is recognized as a founding figure of American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in history. His films were notable for their epic scale and cinematic showmanship, encompassing genres like social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants. He was also an active Freemason and a member of Prince of Orange Lodge #16 in New York City. [1][2][3][4][5]

Life and career[edit | edit source]

DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and grew up in New York City. He began his career as a stage actor in 1900 before moving into writing and directing stage productions, some in collaboration with vaudeville producer Jesse Lasky. His first film, The Squaw Man (1914), was the first full-length feature film shot in Hollywood. Its success, featuring an interracial love story, helped establish Hollywood as the center of the U.S. film industry. The ongoing success of his films led to the founding of Paramount Pictures with Lasky and Adolph Zukor. His first biblical epic, The Ten Commandments (1923), was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, holding the Paramount revenue record for 25 years. [6][7][8][9][10]

DeMille directed The King of Kings (1927), a biography of Jesus that was praised for its sensitivity and reached over 500 million viewers. The Sign of the Cross (1932) is considered the first sound film to fully integrate all aspects of cinematic technique. His film Cleopatra (1934) was his first to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. After more than three decades in the film industry, DeMille achieved a career peak with Samson and Delilah (1949), a biblical epic that became the highest-grossing film of 1950. Alongside his biblical and historical narratives, he also directed films that explored "neo-naturalism," depicting the struggle between human laws and the forces of nature.

He received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Director for The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), a circus drama that won both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. His final and most famous film, The Ten Commandments (1956), also received a Best Picture Academy Award nomination and is currently the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation. In addition to his Best Picture Awards, DeMille received an Academy Honorary Award, the Palme d'Or (posthumously) for Union Pacific (1939), a DGA Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He was the first to receive the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, named in his honor. DeMille's work experienced a resurgence of appreciation in the 2010s, influencing many films and directors.

Sources[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ "TODAY In Masonic History". Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  2. ↑ "Famous Masons I: Dreamers And Doers: Cecil B. DeMille". Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  3. ↑ DeMille, Cecil B. (1959). Autobiography Of Cecil B. DeMille. New York: Prentice Hall. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  4. ↑ Easton, Carol (1996). No Intermissions: The Life Of Agnes de Mille. New York City: Da Capo Press. pp. 6–8. ISBN 978-0-306-80975-0.
  5. ↑ Powell, William S., ed. (1986). Dictionary Of North Carolina Biography. Vol. 2. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. p. 51. ISBN 080781329X. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  6. ↑ Acocella, Joan (5 November 2015). "Agnes DeMille's Artistic Justice". The New Yorker. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  7. ↑ LaPlaca, Bryan (19 September 2011). "Back In The Day - Sept. 18, 1991: De Mille's Pompton Lakes Roots Recalled". NorthJersey.com. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  8. ↑ Borrillo, Theodore A. (2012). Denver's Historic Elitch Theatre: A Nostalgic Journey (A History Of Its Times). Theodore Borrillo. pp. 64–65. ISBN 978-0-9744331-4-1. OCLC 823177622. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  9. ↑ "News Of Other Cities, Atlantic City" (PDF). New York Dramatic Mirror. FultOnHistory.com. 14 May 1913. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  10. ↑ Lowe, Walter (22 October 1956). "DeMille At 75 Still Creating". Kentucky New Era. Retrieved 16 August 2024.

Other websites[edit | edit source]

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