The Roaring Twenties were the boom years and DeMille took full advantage, opening the Mercury Aviation Company, one of America's first commercial airlines. The film began production in 1949, Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey were paid $250,000 for use of the title and facilities. [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. His first three films were Westerns, and he filmed many Westerns throughout his career. The members rejected his proposal, even though his last two films, Samson and Delilah and The Greatest Show on Earth, had been record-breaking hits. A Biblical epic with sex, it was a characteristically DeMille film. [128] He supported Herbert Hoover and in 1928 made his largest campaign donation to Hoover. [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. [125], Cecil B. DeMille was outspoken about his strong Episcopalian integrity but his private life included mistresses and adultery. Cecil B. DeMille. 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. A censorship board called the Hays Code was established. DeMille would stick to his large-budget spectaculars for the rest of his career. [42] DeMille would later adapt Belasco's The Girl of the Golden West, Rose of the Rancho, and The Warrens of Virginia into films. Red carpet photos. [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. Oscars 1950 - Honorary Award. [123] The Sign of the Cross was the first film to integrate all cinematic techniques. Cause of Death: Heart failure. [80] The first few years of the Lasky Company were spent in making films nonstop, literally writing the language of film. [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. A documentary titled. [7] His brother, William C. DeMille, was born on July 25, 1878. 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. Cecil B. DeMille's income source is mostly from being a successful Producer. Derided then . "[132] Consequently, he had to resign from the radio show. [235] DeMille was also known for his use of special effects without the use of digital technology. But they have inspired cutting edge directors including Stephen Spielberg and Martin Scorcese. Credits. His silent films included social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants. 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). Discover the real story, facts, and details of Cecil B. DeMille. [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. Mature refused to wrestle Jackie the Lion, even though DeMille had just tussled with the lion, proving that he was tame. The surgery caused him to suffer from sexual dysfunction for the rest of his life, according to some family members. [212] Paulette Goddard's refusal to risk personal injury in a scene involving fire in Unconquered cost her DeMille's favor and a role in The Greatest Show on Earth. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies. Date of death: 21 Jan 1959. [68] He continued to Los Angeles. The film was produced on a large budget of $600,000, the most expensive production at Paramount. Terrible. DeMille purchased the home in 1916 for $27,893 (Yes, five digits) and lived there with his family until his death in 1959. [130] While DeMille was host, the show had forty million weekly listeners, gaining DeMille an annual salary of $100,000. The first, for radio contributions, is located at 6240 Hollywood Blvd. Character actor H. B. Warner was fifty, but looked Thirty was cast as Christ, and gives a gently . [271] DeMille was immortalized in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard when Gloria Swanson spoke the line: "All right, Mr. DeMille. 10 June 2021. They took time off weekly from film production to practice military drills. 1 reference. 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. Film Director. DeMille served as executive producer, overseeing producer Henry Wilcoxon. [60] In addition to directing, DeMille was the supervisor and consultant for the first year of films made by the Lasky Feature Play Company. [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. [32] From 1904 to 1905, DeMille attempted to make a living as a stock theatre actor with his wife Constance. DeMille was painstakingly attentive to details on set and was as critical of himself as he was of his crew. Few words can describe the monumental Cecil B. DeMille. Place of Death: Los Angeles, California, U.S. Ethnnicity: *father - English, small amounts of Scottish and Dutch, distant Belgian Flemish, remote Welsh. Barbara Stanwyck. Birthday: August 12, 1881. [244] Another minor characteristic of DeMille's films include train crashes which can be found in several of his films. [241] Religion was a theme that DeMille returned to throughout his career. The other three children were surprised by this, as DeMille did not treat the children differently in life. [5] DeMille was named after his grandmothers Cecelia Wolff and Margarete Blount. In his address, he compares the exodus of the Israelites under Moses's direction to that of the Mormon . 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. Although this final reel looked so different from the previous eleven reels that it appeared to be from another movie, according to Simon Louvish, the film is one of DeMille's strangest and most "DeMillean" film. [227], Cecil B. DeMille's film production career evolved from critically significant silent films to financially significant sound films. Cecil B. DeMille Birthday and Date of Death. [301][302], Cecil B. DeMille received many awards and honors, especially later in his career. [22] Agnes would die on February 11, 1894, at the age of three from spinal meningitis. Death: December 20, 1982 (68) Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States. However, others interpreted DeMille's work as visually impressive, thrilling, and nostalgic. [228] In order to attract a high-class audience, DeMille based many of his early films on stage melodramas, novels, and short stories. Magazine pics. cause of death. [106] His first film in the new production company, DeMille Pictures Corporation, was The Road to Yesterday in 1925. The legendary producer-director Cecil B. DeMille was a master of the American biblical epic who shaped the public's perceptions of Judeo-Christianity in his role as Hollywood's Sunday school teacher. [157] Adolph Zukor convinced the board to change their minds on the grounds of morality. [166] [note 11], Due to his frequent heart attacks, DeMille asked his son-in-law, actor Anthony Quinn, to direct a remake of his 1938 film The Buccaneer. [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. It was commercially very successful. Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12th, in 1881. Date of death: 21 January 1959 Hollywood: Cause of death: heart failure; Place of burial: Hollywood Forever Cemetery; Pseudonym: C.B. [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. [147], DeMille's next film, Samson and Delilah in 1949, became Paramount's highest-grossing film up to that time. Large gallery of Cecil B. DeMille pics. It was produced with a large budget and contained many special effects including an electronically operated giant squid. [29] He fled the school to join the SpanishAmerican War, but failed to meet the age requirement. With his editor, Anne Bauchens, DeMille used editing techniques to allow the visual images to bring the plot to climax rather than dialogue. [88] On July 19, 1916, the Jesse Lasky Feature Play Company merged with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company, becoming Famous Players-Lasky. [140][note 8] While concurrently filmmaking, he served in World War II at the age of sixty as his neighborhood air-raid warden. Heart Ailment. The picture of her husband was taken in 1916, the year they bought the house, when he was 35 and an increasingly active and . This occurred with Victor Mature in Samson and Delilah. [207] Costume designer Dorothy Jeakins, who worked with DeMille on The Ten Commandments (1956), said that he was skilled in humiliating people. Among his best-known films are The Ten Commandments (1956), Cleopatra (1934), and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Date of Death: January 21, 1959. [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. Cecil B. DeMille Born: 1881-08-12, Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA Education: NY Academy of Dramatic Arts Ethnicity: Caucasian Death Date:-0001-11-30 . He debuted as an actor on February 21, 1900, in the play Hearts Are Trumps at New York's Garden Theater. Furthermore, DeMille's film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Story. The United States Supreme Court declined to review his case. [165] This film would be his last. His first several films were westerns and he produced a chain of westerns during the sound era. Cause of Death: Heart failure due to a series of heart attacks. The Squaw Man (1914), co-directed by Oscar Apfel, was a sensation and it established the Lasky Company. [73] There were problems; however, with the perforation of the film stock and it was discovered the DeMille had brought a cheap British film perforator which had punched in sixty-five holes per foot instead of the industry-standard of sixty-four. [132] DeMille would never again work on radio. 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. [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. [130] Broadcast on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from 1935 to 1954,[131] the Lux Radio show was one of the most popular weekly shows in the history of radio. Profile of the Hollywood directing legend who became known for his "spectaculars." Learn how DeMille helped establish Hollywood as the movie-making capital o. Here, he parts the Red Sea. [76][77] The film grossed over ten times its budget after its New York premiere in February 1914. However, one word is especially appropriate. His films were distinguished by their epic . *mother - Ashkenazi Jewish. He stands as one among the famous individuals for he was a creative filmmaker. Martin Scorsese recalled that DeMille had the skill to maintain control of not only the lead actors in a frame but the many extras in the frame as well. The Ten Commandments gave the director a chance to play God, to film miracles. Here is all you want to know, and more! [37] Despite his reputation for extramarital affairs, DeMille did not like to have affairs with his stars, as he believed it would cause him to lose control as a director. Next, he would work with writers to develop the story that he was envisioning. On the day of DeMille's death, President McKay sent a telegram to the DeMille family stating that DeMille "merits the welcome, 'well done that good and faithful servant; enter thou into the rest prepared for the just.' . [164] Although DeMille completed the film, his health was diminished by several more heart attacks. His family's, DeMille's niece and William deMille's daughter. [261][262] He was known for his unique, working wardrobe which included riding boots, riding pants, and soft, open necked shirts. Peters claimed that he encouraged the cast to attend the funeral with him anyway since DeMille would not be able to shoot the film without him. He joined the Producers Distributing Corporation. Learning of the Eagles' work and keen to promote his film with their cause the director encouraged the group to donate carved stone tablets . [133] He began presenting speeches across the United States for the next few years. [119] These three films, Dynamite, Madame Satan, and his 1931 remake of The Squaw Man were both critically and financially unsuccessful. Recent images. "He was a thoroughly bad director," Huston said. [27] Before Henry deMille's death, Beatrice had "enthusiastically supported" her husband's theatrical aspirations. Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12, 1881 and died on January 21, 1959. The project was later completed by DeMille's former assistant director. [321]:2123. [138] Critics were impressed with the visuals but found the scripts dull, calling it DeMille's "poorest Western".