Background
Cecil Blount De Mille was born on August 12, 1881, at Ashfield, Massachussets, United States. He was the second son of playwright Henry Churchill De Mille and Matilda Beatrice deMille. He was an uncle of choreographer Agnes De Mille.
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Cecil Blount DeMille
Edit ProfileEducation
Cecil was educated at the Pennsylvania Military Academy and at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
Career
In 1913 De Mille cofounded, with Samuel Goldwyn and Jesse L. Lasky, the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, in which he served as director-general. That year he produced and directed his first film, The Squaw Man, an "outdoor" drama. Two years later he produced Carmen (1915), which starred the opera singer Geraldine Farrar and introduced real sets. As a result of this film his name began to be respected outside Hollywood circles. From then until 1924 he concentrated on lavish, provocative, and daring features, such as Male and Female, Don't Change Your Husband, and Why Change Your Wife. In 1923 De Mille produced his first religious spectacle, The Ten Commandments. In this film he adopted the D. W. Griffith formula of bigness, proving that biblical stories contain both drama and box-office value. Several moralizing films followed, among them Feet of Clay (1924), Triumph (1925), The Road to Yesterday (1926), and The Volga Boatman (1927). De Mille's most famous film, The King of Kings, appeared in 1927. The lavish films The Sign of the Cross (1932), Cleopatra (1934), and The Crusades (1935) helped to prove that he was more than equal to talkies. In 1936 De Mille turned to the annals of American history for his subjects. Typical examples are The Plainsman (1936), The Buccaneer (1938; repeated in a color version, 1958), and Union Pacific (1939). His subsequent films were marked by their lavish display of color, as his early ones were known for their sumptuous sets, provocative bathtub scenes, and emphasis on sex. Samson and Delilah (1949) seemed to herald a return to the biblical extravaganza. As was perhaps fitting, De Mille's final production was a remake of his 1923 film The Ten Commandments. Filmed in technicolor and cinemascope and featuring an all-star cast supported by thousands of extras, this three-and-a-half-hour picture was released in 1958. A number of basic techniques, notably the close-up, have been credited to him, although there is some conflict as to whether he actually originated these innovations or merely encouraged their adoption by his use of them.
Achievements
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Melodrama aside, the lavish sets, magnificent costumes, all-star casts, and thundering spectacle of the films of the "man with the megaphone" have left an indelible mark on the motion-picture industry. To the end he eschewed the executive's role to remain behind the camera as director, producer, or both, of some 70 films in his 46 years in the industry.
Personality
Cecil was a bold competitor in Hollywood's chancy climate, a durable practitioner in the art of Barnumesque settings and glittering display, with a sixth sense for deriving enormous profits from subjects that were supposed to spell financial ruin.
Quotes from others about the person
"With the advent of sound, De Mille's use of spectacle took even greater leaps forward" (H. B. Warner)
Connections
DeMille married to Constance Adams on 16 August in 1902 and had one child, Cecilia.
References
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Born
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Died
January 21, 1959 (aged 77) -
Resting place
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California, United States -
Nationality
American -
Ethnicity
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Religion
Protestant -
Political Party
Republican