Cecil B. DeMille
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA
An actor and general manager with his mother's theatrical troupe since the mid-1900s, Cecil B. DeMille formed a filmmaking partnership in 1913 with vaudeville artist Jesse L. Lasky and businessman Samuel Goldfish (soon to be known as Samuel Goldwyn). Their first venture was The Squaw Man (1914), which DeMille co-directed, co-wrote and co-produced with Oscar Apfel. This successful and elaborate six-reeler launched DeMille on a lifelong career in films. His first solo effort was the Western The Virginian (1914), which he also co-scripted. He edited and wrote (or co-wrote) almost all his successful films, with the notable exception of the popular melodrama The Cheat (1915). Writer Jeanie Macpherson began working for DeMille in 1914 with The Captive (1915), and wrote most of his later silent films: hits that included witty romantic farces (Don't Change Your Husband); epic morality tales that combined modern dramas with visions of history (Joan the Woman [1916]) or the Bible (The Ten Commandments [1923]); and perhaps DeMille's greatest artistic success, the handsome and moving life of Christ, The King of Kings (1927). Macpherson also wrote the director's first three talkies, ending their collaboration in 1930 with the bizarre comedy Madam Satan (1930). DeMille continued to score hits in the '30s with epics (Sign of the Cross [1932], Cleopatra [1934]) and Westerns (The Plainsman [1937], Union Pacific [1939]). His output became more sporadic during the '40s, but he still pleased the public with his rugged action films Northwest Mounted Police (1940) and Reap the Wild Wind (1942). DeMille's last three films -- Samson and Delilah (1950), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), and The Ten Commandments (1956), a remake of his 1923 movie of the same name -- were the most successful releases of their respective years. DeMille's final directorial effort, The Ten Commandments was also the decade's box-office champ. He died in 1959 at the age of 77; his memoir, The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille, was published posthumously later that year.
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille |
|
— | 2016 |
No Score Yet | Manslaughter |
|
— | 2000 |
No Score Yet | The Buccaneer |
|
— | 1958 |
86% | The Ten Commandments |
|
— | 1956 |
50% | The Greatest Show on Earth |
|
— | 1952 |
91% | Son of Paleface |
|
— | 1952 |
98% | Sunset Boulevard |
|
— | 1950 |
63% | Samson and Delilah |
|
— | 1949 |
86% | Unconquered |
|
— | 1947 |
No Score Yet | Variety Girl |
|
— | 1947 |
No Score Yet | The Story of Dr. Wassell |
|
— | 1944 |
No Score Yet | Star Spangled Rhythm |
|
— | 1942 |
80% | Reap the Wild Wind |
|
— | 1942 |
No Score Yet | North West Mounted Police |
|
— | 1940 |
83% | Union Pacific |
|
— | 1939 |
No Score Yet | The Buccaneer |
|
— | 1938 |
No Score Yet | The Last Train from Madrid |
|
— | 1937 |
100% | The Plainsman |
|
— | 1936 |
100% | The Crusades |
|
— | 1935 |
82% | Cleopatra |
|
— | 1934 |
No Score Yet | Four Frightened People |
|
— | 1934 |
No Score Yet | This Day and Age |
|
— | 1933 |
55% | The Sign of the Cross |
|
— | 1932 |
No Score Yet | The Squaw Man (The White Man) |
|
— | 1931 |
40% | Madam Satan |
|
— | 1930 |
No Score Yet | Free and Easy (Easy Go) |
|
— | 1930 |
No Score Yet | The Godless Girl |
|
— | 1929 |
No Score Yet | Chicago |
|
— | 1927 |
71% | The King of Kings |
|
— | 1927 |
No Score Yet | The Yankee Clipper |
|
— | 1927 |
No Score Yet | The Volga Boatman |
|
— | 1926 |
No Score Yet | The Coming of Amos |
|
— | 1925 |
No Score Yet | Golden Bed |
|
— | 1925 |
No Score Yet | The Road to Yesterday |
|
— | 1925 |
No Score Yet | Triumph |
|
— | 1924 |
100% | Hollywood |
|
— | 1923 |
83% | The Ten Commandments |
|
— | 1923 |
No Score Yet | Saturday Night |
|
— | 1922 |
No Score Yet | The Affairs of Anatol |
|
— | 1921 |
No Score Yet | Fool's Paradise |
|
— | 1921 |
No Score Yet | Something to Think About |
|
— | 1920 |
No Score Yet | Why Change Your Wife? |
|
— | 1920 |
No Score Yet | Don't Change Your Husband |
|
— | 1919 |
No Score Yet | Male and Female |
|
— | 1919 |
No Score Yet | The Whispering Chorus |
|
— | 1918 |
No Score Yet | Old Wives for New |
|
— | 1918 |
No Score Yet | The Woman God Forgot |
|
— | 1917 |
No Score Yet | The Little American |
|
— | 1917 |
No Score Yet | A Romance of the Redwoods |
|
— | 1917 |
No Score Yet | Joan the Woman |
|
— | 1916 |
No Score Yet | Maria Rosa |
|
— | 1916 |
86% | The Dream Girl |
|
— | 1916 |
89% | The Cheat |
|
— | 1915 |
80% | Carmen |
|
— | 1915 |
No Score Yet | The Girl of the Golden West |
|
— | 1915 |
No Score Yet | The Golden Chance |
|
— | 1915 |
83% | Brewster's Millions |
|
— | 1914 |
No Score Yet | The Squaw Man |
|
— | 1914 |
No Score Yet | Kindling |
|
— |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet |
America in Color
2017-2019
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Quotes from Cecil B. DeMille's Characters
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