Cecil B. DeMille
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. Between 1914 and 1956, he made seventy feature films; all but seven were profitable. Cecil B. DeMille is synonymous with religious epics: The King of Kings, Samson and Delilah, and The Ten Commandments (1956). He blended spectacle, sex, and spellbinding narrative to convey a message of faith. It was DeMille who created the image of the omnipotent director, megaphone in hand, wearing boots and a visored cap. DeMille gave Hollywood numerous stars: Wallace Reid, Gloria Swanson, William (“Hopalong Cassidy”) Boyd, Claudette Colbert, Robert Preston, Jean Arthur, and Charlton Heston. DeMille created the posts of studio story editor, art director, and concept artist. He was one of the first to use theatrical lighting on a movie set. In the late 1920s, when Hollywood converted to sound films, DeMille defied the sound experts, liberating the camera from a confining booth, and implementing the microphone boom. DeMille’s authority extended beyond the confines of his studio. He was a power in aviation, banking, politics, and real estate. In the 1930s, his fame as a filmmaker was surpassed by his fame as a radio star. He was a founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an institution from which he eventually won two awards. In 1953 his film The Greatest Show on Earth won the Award for Best Picture of 1952; and he was presented with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. DeMille’s influence on world culture is incalculable, but there are estimates and milestones. His biography of Jesus Christ, The King of Kings, was a silent film, but because of a unique distribution arrangement, it was eventually seen by 800 million viewers. Samson and Delilah (1949) and The Ten Commandments (1956) are still listed with the top ten all-time box-office champions. They continue to generate revenue and provoke thought.
Sunset Boulevard
(Cecil B. DeMille)
Estrellados
(Self (Guest Appearance))
Yul Brynner, the Magnificent
(Self - Filmmaker (archive footage))
Hollywood
(Cecil B. DeMille)
Reap the Wild Wind
(Prologue Speaker (voice) (uncredited))
Life in Hollywood No. 1
(Self)
Star Spangled Rhythm
(Cecil B. DeMille)
Variety Girl
(Cecil B. DeMille)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
(Self (archive footage) (uncredited))
The Buster Keaton Story
(Cecil B. DeMille)
Screen Snapshots (Series 25, No. 1): 25th Anniversary
(Self)
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
(Self)
Son of Paleface
(Photographer (uncredited))
Going Hollywood: The '30s
(Self (archive footage))
A Trip to Paramountown
(Self)
The Circus: Premiere
(Self)
Hail Satan?
(Self - Filmmaker (archive footage))
Hollywood on Parade No. B-5
(Self (archive footage) (uncredited))
Samson and Delilah
(Narrator (uncredited))
Free and Easy
(Director Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited))
North West Mounted Police
(Narrator (voice) (uncredited))
The Greatest Show on Earth
(Narrator (voice) (uncredited))
The Story of Dr. Wassell
(Voice of Narrator (uncredited))
Madam Satan
(Radio Newscaster (voice) (uncredited))
Hollywood Extra Girl
(Cecil B. DeMille)
The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille
(Self)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
(Self (archive footage))
Jens Mons in America
(Self (uncredited))
Sword-and-Sandal
(Self (archive footage))
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
(Self (archive footage))
And the Oscar Goes To...
(Self (archive footage))
Unconquered
(Self - Narrator (voice) (uncredited))
The Movies March On
(Self (archive footage))
The Hollywood You Never See
(Self)
The Ten Commandments
(Narrator (uncredited))
Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle II
(Self)
Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle
(Self (archive footage))
The Fallbrook Story
(Self, Introduction)
Indiana Jones: The Search for the Lost Golden Age
(Self - Filmmaker (archive footage))
The Ed Sullivan Show
(Self)
This Is Your Life
(Self)
Spécial cinéma
(Self (archive footage))
Cinépanorama
(Self)
What's My Line?
(Self - Mystery Guest)
Lord Chumley
(Theatre Play)
The Wedding Song
(Producer)
The Buccaneer
(Producer)
The Buccaneer
(Executive Producer)
The Love Mask
(Writer)
The Ten Commandments
(Director)
The Ten Commandments
(Producer)
The Ten Commandments
(Producer)
The Ten Commandments
(Director)
Joan the Woman
(Director)
Nan of Music Mountain
(Director)
The Greatest Show on Earth
(Director)
Samson and Delilah
(Director)
Four Frightened People
(Director)
Union Pacific
(Director)
Reap the Wild Wind
(Director)
The Plainsman
(Director)
Cleopatra
(Producer)
Cleopatra
(Director)
The Volga Boatman
(Director)
The Volga Boatman
(Producer)
The Wild Goose Chase
(Director)
The King of Kings
(Director)
The Sign of the Cross
(Director)
Don't Change Your Husband
(Director)
North West Mounted Police
(Director)
Unconquered
(Director)
The Cheat
(Editor)
The Cheat
(Director)
Forbidden Fruit
(Director)
Madam Satan
(Director)
Male and Female
(Director)
Why Change Your Wife?
(Director)
The Affairs of Anatol
(Director)
The Story of Dr. Wassell
(Director)
The Godless Girl
(Director)
The Golden Bed
(Director)
The Crusades
(Director)
The Virginian
(Director)
This Day and Age
(Director)
Carmen
(Director)
The Squaw Man
(Director)
The Buccaneer
(Director)
The Whispering Chorus
(Director)
The Squaw Man
(Producer)
A Romance of the Redwoods
(Director)
Manslaughter
(Director)
Old Wives for New
(Director)
The Woman God Forgot
(Director)
The Golden Chance
(Director)
The Squaw Man
(Director)
The Road to Yesterday
(Director)
Dynamite
(Director)
For Better, for Worse
(Director)
Something to Think About
(Director)
The Ghost Breaker
(Director)
The Ghost Breaker
(Writer)
The Ghost Breaker
(Producer)
The Little American
(Director)
Madam Satan
(Producer)
White Gold
(Producer)
The King of Kings
(Producer)
Vanity
(Producer)
The Fighting Eagle
(Producer)
The Angel of Broadway
(Producer)
Let 'Er Go Gallegher
(Executive Producer)
The Godless Girl
(Producer)
Saturday Night
(Director)
The Squaw Man
(Director)
The Heart of Nora Flynn
(Director)
Samson and Delilah
(Producer)
The Warrens of Virginia
(Director)
The Warrens of Virginia
(Producer)
Male and Female
(Producer)
The Unafraid
(Director)
The Unafraid
(Story)
Land of Liberty
(Editor)
Triumph
(Producer)
Adam's Rib
(Director)
Adam's Rib
(Producer)
We Can't Have Everything
(Director)
We Can't Have Everything
(Editor)
Temptation
(Editor)
The Cruise of the Jasper B
(Producer)
Reap the Wild Wind
(Producer)
Feet of Clay
(Director)
Four Frightened People
(Producer)
The Sign of the Cross
(Producer)
Why Change Your Wife?
(Producer)
The Cheat
(Producer)
The Golden Chance
(Story)
The Golden Chance
(Producer)
The Golden Chance
(Editor)
Carmen
(Producer)
Carmen
(Editor)
Forbidden Fruit
(Story)
Forbidden Fruit
(Producer)
Something to Think About
(Producer)
Whispering Smith
(Producer)
The Plainsman
(Producer)
Brewster's Millions
(Director)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
(Director)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
(Story)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
(Producer)
Kindling
(Director)
Kindling
(Writer)
Kindling
(Producer)
A Romance of the Redwoods
(Writer)
North West Mounted Police
(Producer)
This Day and Age
(Producer)
Union Pacific
(Producer)
A Romance of the Redwoods
(Producer)
A Romance of the Redwoods
(Editor)
The Virginian
(Editor)
The Squaw Man
(Writer)
Old Wives for New
(Producer)
Old Wives for New
(Editor)
The Captive
(Director)
The Captive
(Writer)
The Little American
(Writer)
The Little American
(Producer)
The Little American
(Editor)
Joan the Woman
(Producer)
Joan the Woman
(Editor)
The Captive
(Producer)
The Captive
(Editor)
Silence
(Producer)
The Rose of the Rancho
(Editor)
The Rose of the Rancho
(Director)
The Woman God Forgot
(Producer)
The Woman God Forgot
(Editor)
The Girl of the Golden West
(Director)
The Girl of the Golden West
(Producer)
Lost and Won
(Producer)
Red Dice
(Presenter)
The Man From Home
(Director)
The Man From Home
(Writer)
The Man From Home
(Producer)
The Man From Home
(Editor)
The Story of Dr. Wassell
(Producer)
The Buccaneer
(Producer)
The Girl of the Golden West
(Writer)
The Rose of the Rancho
(Writer)
The Greatest Show on Earth
(Producer)
The Dressmaker from Paris
(Supervising Producer)
Temptation
(Director)
Maria Rosa
(Director)
The Call of the North
(Director)
Triumph
(Director)
Unconquered
(Producer)
What's His Name
(Director)
What's His Name
(Producer)
What's His Name
(Writer)
What's His Name
(Editor)
Chimmie Fadden
(Director)
Chimmie Fadden
(Writer)
Chimmie Fadden
(Producer)
Chimmie Fadden
(Editor)
Chimmie Fadden Out West
(Director)
Chimmie Fadden Out West
(Writer)
Chimmie Fadden Out West
(Producer)
Chimmie Fadden Out West
(Editor)
The Arab
(Producer)
The Arab
(Director)
The Arab
(Writer)
Ready Money
(Writer)
Fool's Paradise
(Director)
The War of the Worlds
(Executive Producer)
The Devil Stone
(Director)
The Dream Girl
(Director)
Till I Come Back to You
(Director)
The Only Son
(Director)
After Five
(Director)
The Circus Man
(Writer)