Oscars 1950 - Honorary Award. Character actor H. B. Warner was fifty, but looked Thirty was cast as Christ, and gives a gently . Beatrice was intelligent, educated, forthright, and strong-willed. He joined the Producers Distributing Corporation. Self - The Real FBI Story (2017) . [120] After his contract ended at MGM, he left, but no production studios would hire him. 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. 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). A documentary titled. He began his career as a stage actor in 1900. [14], DeMille's parents met as members of a music and literary society in New York. [61], The Squaw Man was a success, which led to the eventual founding of Paramount Pictures and Hollywood becoming the "film capital of the world". Friday 12 Aug 1881. Billy Jim Hawkins . [160] The Exodus scene was filmed on-site in Egypt with the use of four Technicolor-VistaVision camera filming 12,000 people. In the silent era, he was renowned for Male and Female (1919), Manslaughter (1922), The Volga Boatman (1926), and The Godless Girl (1928). [279][280] DeMille received more than a dozen awards from Christian and Jewish religious and cultural groups, including B'nai B'rith. [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". [43] DeMille was credited with creating the premise of Belasco's The Return of Peter Grimm. DeMille, Cecil B. Age at Death: 77. [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. [303] In 1957, DeMille gave the commencement address for the graduation ceremony of Brigham Young University wherein he received an honorary Doctorate of Letter degree. [301][302], Cecil B. DeMille received many awards and honors, especially later in his career. In that respect, he was better than any of us. Large gallery of Cecil B. DeMille pics. [60] In addition to directing, DeMille was the supervisor and consultant for the first year of films made by the Lasky Feature Play Company. 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). Stills. . date of death. Further illustrated by his home life, DeMille required formality and politeness at home. Cecil Blount DeMille ( August 12, 1881 - January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker. The second star is located at 1725 Vine Street. [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. [129] DeMille also liked Franklin D. Roosevelt, however, finding him charismatic, tenacious, and intelligent and agreeing with Roosevelt's abhorrence of Prohibition. Cecil Blount DeMille (/ssl dml/; August 12, 1881 January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. [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. Derided then . His father, Henry Churchill de Mille (1853-1893), was a North Carolina-born dramatist and lay reader in the Episcopal Church, who had earlier . He went before the Paramount board of directors, which was mostly Jewish-American. The Squaw Man (1914), co-directed by Oscar Apfel, was a sensation and it established the Lasky Company. 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. [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. [147], DeMille's next film, Samson and Delilah in 1949, became Paramount's highest-grossing film up to that time. His poor physical condition upon his return home affected the production of his 1922 film Manslaughter. When the AFRA expanded to television, DeMille was banned from television appearances. [304] Additionally, in 1958, he received an honorary Doctorate of Law degree from Temple University. DeMille asked David Niven to star in the film, but it was never made. [316] DeMille's Union Pacific received a Palme d'Or in retrospect at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. He produced or directed about 80 movies - including The Ten Commandments (1956), a movie in the 'epic' genre for which he is probably best known today. [41] DeMille and his brother at times worked with the legendary impresario David Belasco, who had been a friend and collaborator of their father. finding aid. The director Cecil B. died at the age of 77. Although less critically revered than D.W. Griffith, DeMille actually played a more important role in . [231] Cecil B. DeMille has influenced the work of several well-known directors. I'm ready for my close-up." Its interracial love story made it commercially successful and it first publicized Hollywood as the home of the U.S. film industry. [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. He stated that The Ten Commandments was the final culmination of DeMille's style. Broadway Actor. [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. [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. [258], DeMille was one of the first directors to become a celebrity in his own right. Pioneering film director. [23][note 2] DeMille's parents operated a private school in town and attended Christ Episcopal Church. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Alfred Hitchcock cited DeMille's 1921 film Forbidden Fruit as an influence of his work and one of his top ten favorite films. [321]:2123. Birthplace: Ashfield, MA Location of death: Hollywood, CA Cause of death: Heart Failure Remains: Bu. AKA Cecil Blount DeMille. [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. September 17, 1914. [139] DeMille was anti-communist and abandoned a project in 1940 to film Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls due to its communist themes despite the fact he had already paid $100,000 for the rights to the novel. The Warrens of Virginia (1915) $500 /week. Groesbeck's art was circulated on set to give actors and crew members a better understanding of DeMille's vision. [86] A large collection of DeMille's materials including scripts, storyboards, and films resides at Brigham Young University in L. Tom Perry Special Collections. [73] Furthermore, DeMille influenced about half of Spielberg's films, including War of the Worlds. This is the earliest of DeMille's films available in a quality, color-tinted video format. He initially sought out William deMille. Film Director. DeMille's first film, The Squaw Man (1914), was also the first full-length feature film shot in Hollywood. He called this place, "Paradise", declaring it a wildlife sanctuary; no shooting of animals was allowed besides snakes. education: American Academy Of Dramatic Arts, Pennsylvania Military College. MGM distributed the film in 1941 and donated profits to World War II relief charities. [50], DeMille was poor and struggled to find work. He attempted to create a guild of a half a dozen directors with the same creative desires called the Director's Guild. 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. She had a Southern drawl which she never lost. [52] The collaboration of DeMille and Lasky produced a successful musical called California which opened in New York in January 1912. The film began production in 1949, Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey were paid $250,000 for use of the title and facilities. He began his career with reserved yet brilliant melodramas; from there, his style developed into marital comedies with outrageously melodramatic plots. DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and grew up in New York City. [121], In 1932, DeMille returned to Paramount at the request of Lasky, bringing with him his own production unit. His films were distinguished by their epic . [268] DeMille appeared as himself in numerous films, including the MGM comedy Free and Easy. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. The selection is made by the HFPA's board of . His silent era films often included the "battle of the sexes" theme due to the era of women's suffrage and the enlarging role of women in society. Cecil Blount DeMille was a legendary. [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. [259] He cultivated the image of the omnipotent director,[260] complete with megaphone, riding crop, and jodhpurs. Date of Death: January 21, 1959. [118] His first three sound films were produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. [65] Already $15,000 in debt to Royle for the screenplay of The Squaw Man, Lasky's relatives bought the $5,000 stock to save the Lasky Company from bankruptcy. [244] Another minor characteristic of DeMille's films include train crashes which can be found in several of his films. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts honored DeMille with an Alumni Achievement Award in 1958. [194] DeMille was particularly adept at directing and managing large crowds in his films. Cecil B. DeMille, of course, is the legendary filmmaker, director of The Ten Commandments, The King of Kings, Cleopatra, Samson & Delilah, The Greatest Show on Earth, and many more excellent and timeless films. [206] Bernstein recalled that DeMille would scream, yell, or flatter, whatever it took to achieve the perfection he required in his films. [263] Joseph Henabery recalled that DeMille looked like "a king on a throne surrounded by his court" while directing films on a camera platform. Perhaps Cecil B. DeMille is more responsible for this than are today's preachers.' 13. [243] In relation to his own interests and sexual preferences, sadomasochism was a minor theme present in some of his films. DeMille toured with the circus while helping write the script. [80] The first few years of the Lasky Company were spent in making films nonstop, literally writing the language of film. 1956 theater brochure [39] In the summer of 1905 DeMille joined the stock cast at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado. [204] As DeMille's career progressed, he increasingly relied on artist Dan Sayre Groesbeck's concept, costume, and storyboard art. Actor, The F.B.I. He donated. They screened four of his films at Christ Church, where DeMille and his family attended church when they lived there. [315] He was further nominated in the Best Picture category for The Ten Commandments at the 1957 Academy Awards. Name Constance DeMille Cause of death pneumonia: Born April 27, 1874 . This was, according to DeMille, the lowest point of his career. It was produced with a large budget and contained many special effects including an electronically operated giant squid. The first, for radio contributions, is located at 6240 Hollywood Blvd. [154] In 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott asked DeMille for help in designing the cadet uniforms at the newly established United States Air Force Academy. Date of death: 21 Jan 1959. Constance was born the daughter of Judge Frederic Adams, New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals, and Ella Adams, Frederics first wife. In the 1950s, Paramount sold its entire pre-1948 film library, including those of DeMille, to, The set was discovered by Peter Brosnan after hearing a rumor in 1982 that DeMille had ordered the enormous set to be buried after filming rather than taken away. . The surgery caused him to suffer from sexual dysfunction for the rest of his life, according to some family members. [144], In 1942, DeMille released Paramount's most successful film, Reap the Wild Wind. [273], As a filmmaker, DeMille was the aesthetic inspiration of many directors and films due to his early influence during the crucial development of the film industry. 10 June 2021. Robin Williams, 2005. [306] DeMille received a Golden Globe Award for Best Director[314] and was additionally nominated for the Best Director category at the 1953 Academy Awards for the same film. Famous Players-Lasky donated the films. [109] Eight of his films were "epics" with five of those classified as "Biblical". Once there, he chose not to shoot in Edendale, where many studios were, but in Hollywood. DeMille lent Roosevelt a car for his campaign for the 1932 United States presidential election and voted for him. Cause of Death. [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. Along with biblical and historical narratives, he also directed films oriented toward "neo-naturalism", which tried to portray the laws of man fighting the forces of nature. However, Birchard acknowledged that Sarris's point was more likely that DeMille's style was behind the development of film as an art form. Cecil B. DeMille photo shoot. This concerned the executives at Paramount; however, the film turned out to be the studio's highest-grossing film. [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. [115] In 1916, DeMille purchased a mansion in Hollywood. [297] The title of the 2000 John Waters film Cecil B. Demented alludes to DeMille. [107] Aside from The King of Kings, none of DeMille's films away from Paramount were successful. A censorship board called the Hays Code was established. [119] These three films, Dynamite, Madame Satan, and his 1931 remake of The Squaw Man were both critically and financially unsuccessful. DeMille studied famous paintings that captured the life of Christ and brought them to the screen. [72] DeMille's next project was to aid Oscar Apfel and directing Brewster's Millions, which was wildly successful. However, his earlier films The Captive, Kindling, Carmen, and The Whispering Chorus are more serious films. 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 Cecil B. DeMille was a master of spectacle. [187] It is difficult to typify DeMille's films into one specific genre. [187] DeMille's films Male and Female, Why Change Your Wife?, and The Affairs of Anatol can be retrospectively described as high camp and are categorized as "early DeMille films" due to their particular style of production and costume and set design. [49] DeMille had a daughter, Cecilia, on November 5, 1908, who would be his only biological child. During the French New Wave, critics began to categorize certain filmmakers as auteurs such as Howard Hawks, John Ford, and Raoul Walsh. [225][226] DeMille was credited by actor Edward G. Robinson with saving his career following his eclipse in the Hollywood blacklist. Consequently, the film was never made. [283] In response to the claims, DeMille donated some of the profits from The King of Kings to charity. These films represent those which DeMille produced or assisted in directing, credited or uncredited. [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. [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. 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. d. 21 st January 1959, Hollywood, California, USA. [123] The Sign of the Cross was the first film to integrate all cinematic techniques. Cecil Blount DeMille was a founder of the Hollywood motion-picture industry, one of the most commercially successful producer-directors of his time, and one of the most influential filmmakers in history. View the latest Cecil B. DeMille photos. [305] From the film industry, DeMille received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the Academy Awards in 1953,[306] and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America Award the same year. They struggled to adapt the play from the stage to the set. [238] Although he is known for his later "spectacular" films, his early films are held in high regard by critics and film historians. Cecil Blount deMille, 12 th August 1881, Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA. [81] The most successful films during the beginning of the Lasky Company were Brewster's Millions (co-directed by DeMille), Rose of the Rancho, and The Ghost Breaker. He debuted as an actor on February 21, 1900, in the play Hearts Are Trumps at New York's Garden Theater. The other three children were surprised by this, as DeMille did not treat the children differently in life. [181] Henry was heavily influenced by the work of Charles Kingsley whose ideas trickled down to DeMille. [62] They offered Farnum a choice to have a quarter stock in the company (similar to William deMille) or $250 per week as salary. Memoir of DeMille titled 'The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille' was published in 1959. retrieved. [51] In 1911, DeMille became acquainted with vaudeville producer Jesse Lasky when Lasky was searching for a writer for his new musical. [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. DeMille wanted to film in Canada; however, due to budget constraints, the film was instead shot in Oregon and Hollywood. [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. [159] The Ten Commandments, released in 1956, was DeMille's final film. [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. Cecil B. DeMille passed away January 21, 1959, from a heart condition. A deficiency in chromium may cause high blood sugar; however, deficiency is very rare. He stands as one among the famous individuals for he was a creative filmmaker. Birth place. Cemetery Name: Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Birthplace: Laramie, Albany County, Wyoming, United States. [82] Additionally, because of DeMille's cordiality after the Peter Grimm incident, DeMille was able to rekindle his partnership with Belasco. [38], In 1902, he played a small part in Hamlet. William deMille would later convert from theater to Hollywood and would spend the rest of his career as a film director. [180] His playwright father introduced him to the theater at a young age. DeMille frequently made cameos as himself in other Paramount films. 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. The school closed, and Beatrice filed for bankruptcy. Moreover, DeMille's epics inspired directors such as Howard Hawks, Nicholas Ray, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and George Stevens to try producing epics. 1. DeMille discovered the possibilities of the "bathroom" or "boudoir" in film without being "vulgar" or "cheap". The 1956 film was a partial remake of an earlier silent . He bought the rights to the novel in 1925, but abandoned the project in pre-production. In his first instance, in 1917, he remade The Squaw Man (1918), only waiting four years from the 1914 original. [61], The Lasky Play Company sought out William DeMille to join the company, but he rejected the offer because he did not believe there was any promise in a film career. [189] In the 2012 Sight & Sound poll, both DeMille's Samson and Delilah and 1923 version of The Ten Commandments received votes, but did not make the top 100 films. [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. [184] While working in theatre, DeMille used real fruit trees in his play California as influenced by Belasco. 72 pictures of Cecil B. DeMille. [171], Cecil B. DeMille suffered a series of heart attacks from June 1958 to January 1959,[168] and died on January 21, 1959, following an attack. Story 2018 . "A dreadful showoff. Cecil B. DeMille. Noisy and bright, it was not well-liked by critics, but was a favorite among audiences. [165] This film would be his last. His first three films were Westerns, and he filmed many Westerns throughout his career. The gathering drew 93,000, with short speeches by, While the film was a huge success, DeMille regretted that he could not share the success with his wife who had developed, The estate cycled through several different homeowners for the next 30 years until it was bought by American actress. [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. 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. [292], In summer 2019, The Friends of the Pompton Lakes Library hosted a Cecil B DeMille film festival to celebrate DeMille's achievements and connection to Pompton Lakes. [18] DeMille and William collaborated on The Genius, The Royal Mounted, and After Five. Red carpet photos. [242] Another common theme in DeMille's films is the reversal of fortune and the portrayal of the rich and the poor, including the war of the classes and man versus society conflicts such as in The Golden Chance and The Cheat. Moreover, DeMille was audited by the Internal Revenue Service due to issues with his production company. Cecil B. DeMille didn't make the kind of movies that wind up in French film festivals. The Enigmatic Pop Culture Professional. [41] His first play was The Pretender-A Play in a Prologue and 4 Acts set in seventeenth century Russia. [209][note 13], DeMille was known for autocratic behavior on the set, singling out and berating extras who were not paying attention. [5] DeMille was named after his grandmothers Cecelia Wolff and Margarete Blount. Covers. English Wikipedia. [59] Lasky and DeMille were said to have sketched out the organization of the company on the back of a restaurant menu. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. As DeMille continued to rely on Groesbeck, the nervous energy of his early films transformed into more steady compositions of his later films. Discover the real story, facts, and details of Cecil B. DeMille. The project was later completed by DeMille's former assistant director. [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". 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. 1. [157] Adolph Zukor convinced the board to change their minds on the grounds of morality. While he is known as DeMille (his nom d'oeuvre), his family name was Dutch and is usually spelled "de Mil". DeMille's mother sent him to Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener University) in Chester, Pennsylvania, at age 15. He then appealed to the California Supreme Court and lost again.
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