Cecil B. DeMille
Director
128
Movies
6
TV Shows
Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker, known as 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.
Behind the Camera
Los Diez Mandamientos
Director, Productor
La guerra de los mundos
Productor Ejecutivo
Sansón y Dalila
Director, Productor
El espectáculo más grande del mundo
Director, Productor
Los inconquistables
Director, Productor
El signo de la cruz
Director, Productor
North West Mounted Police
Director, Productor
The Plainsman
Director, Productor
The Buccaneer
Director, Productor
Los bucaneros
Productor, Productor Ejecutivo
The Crusades
Director
Reap the Wild Wind
Director, Productor
Carmen
Director, Productor, Editor
After Five
Director
Vanity
Productor
Madam Satan
Director, Productor
Union Pacific
Director, Productor
Por el valle de las sombras
Director, Productor
Manslaughter
Director
Cleopatra
Productor, Director
Dynamite
Director
The Ten Commandments
Productor, Director
Chimmie Fadden
Director, Escritor, Productor, Editor
The Rose of the Rancho
Editor, Director, Escritor
The King of Kings
Director, Productor
Silence
Productor
The Road to Yesterday
Director
White Gold
Productor
The Woman God Forgot
Director, Productor, Editor
The Cheat
Editor, Director, Productor
As Actor/Actress
What's My Line?
Self
Show de Ed Sullivan
Self
Spécial cinéma
Self (archive footage)
Cinépanorama
Self
This Is Your Life
Self
Los Diez Mandamientos
Narrator (uncredited)
El ocaso de una vida
Cecil B. DeMille
The U.S. and the Holocaust
Self (archive footage)
Sansón y Dalila
Narrator (uncredited)
El espectáculo más grande del mundo
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Los inconquistables
Self - Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
North West Mounted Police
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Indiana Jones : à la recherche de l'âge d'or perdu
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Los bucaneros
Presenter of Prologue
Reap the Wild Wind
Prologue Speaker (voice) (uncredited)
Hail Satan?
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Variety Girl
Cecil B. DeMille
Madam Satan
Radio Newscaster (voice) (uncredited)
Por el valle de las sombras
Voice of Narrator (uncredited)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
Gladiateur, glaive et fantasmes
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Star Spangled Rhythm
Cecil B. DeMille
Hollywood Extra Girl
Cecil B. DeMille
El hijo del carapálida
Photographer (uncredited)
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood
Cecil B. DeMille
Estrellados
Self (Guest Appearance)
The Casting Couch
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Self