Cecil B. DeMille
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- August 12, 1881, Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA
- Died
- January 21, 1959
- Movies
- 139
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.
Best-Known Movies
Filmography
Directing, Writing & Producing
| 1958 | The Buccaneer | Producer |
| 1956 | The Ten Commandments | Producer, Director |
| 1952 | The Greatest Show on Earth | Director, Producer |
| 1949 | Samson and Delilah | Director, Producer |
| 1947 | Unconquered | Director, Producer |
| 1944 | The Story of Dr. Wassell | Director, Producer |
| 1942 | Reap the Wild Wind | Director, Producer |
| 1940 | North West Mounted Police | Director, Producer |
| 1939 | Union Pacific | Director, Producer |
| 1938 | The Buccaneer | Director, Producer |
| 1936 | The Plainsman | Director, Producer |
| 1935 | The Crusades | Director |
| 1934 | Cleopatra | Director, Producer |
| 1934 | Four Frightened People | Director, Producer |
| 1933 | This Day and Age | Director, Producer |
| 1932 | The Sign of the Cross | Director, Producer |
| 1931 | The Squaw Man | Director |
| 1930 | Madam Satan | Director, Producer |
| 1929 | Dynamite | Director |
| 1928 | The Godless Girl | Director, Producer |
| 1927 | The Angel of Broadway | Producer |
| 1927 | The Fighting Eagle | Producer |
| 1927 | Vanity | Producer |
| 1927 | The King of Kings | Director, Producer |
| 1927 | White Gold | Producer |
| 1926 | The Cruise of the Jasper B | Producer |
| 1926 | The Volga Boatman | Director, Producer |
| 1926 | Silence | Producer |
| 1926 | Whispering Smith | Producer |
| 1925 | The Wedding Song | Producer |
| 1925 | The Road to Yesterday | Director |
| 1925 | The Golden Bed | Director |
| 1924 | Feet of Clay | Director, Producer |
| 1924 | Triumph | Producer, Director |
| 1923 | The Ten Commandments | Director, Producer |
| 1923 | Adam's Rib | Director, Producer |
| 1922 | Manslaughter | Director |
| 1922 | Saturday Night | Director, Producer |
| 1921 | Fool's Paradise | Director |
| 1921 | The Affairs of Anatol | Director |
| 1921 | Forbidden Fruit | Director, Producer |
| 1921 | The Affairs of Anatol - Promo Reel | Director |
| 1920 | Something to Think About | Director, Producer |
| 1920 | Why Change Your Wife? | Director, Producer |
| 1919 | Male and Female | Director, Producer |
| 1919 | For Better, for Worse | Director |
| 1919 | Don't Change Your Husband | Director |
| 1918 | The Squaw Man | Director |
| 1918 | Till I Come Back to You | Director |
| 1918 | We Can't Have Everything | Director |
| 1918 | Old Wives for New | Director, Producer |
| 1918 | The Whispering Chorus | Director |
| 1917 | The Devil Stone | Director |
| 1917 | Nan of Music Mountain | Director |
| 1917 | The Woman God Forgot | Director, Producer |
| 1917 | The Little American | Director, Producer, Writer |
| 1917 | A Romance of the Redwoods | Director, Writer, Producer |
| 1917 | Lost and Won | Producer |
| 1916 | Joan the Woman | Director, Producer |
| 1916 | The Dream Girl | Director |
| 1916 | Maria Rosa | Director |
| 1916 | The Heart of Nora Flynn | Director |
| 1916 | The Love Mask | Writer |
| 1916 | The Trail of the Lonesome Pine | Director, Producer |
| 1915 | The Golden Chance | Director, Producer |
| 1915 | Temptation | Director |
| 1915 | The Cheat | Director, Producer |
| 1915 | Chimmie Fadden Out West | Director, Producer, Writer |
| 1915 | Carmen | Director, Producer |
| 1915 | Kindling | Writer, Producer, Director |
| 1915 | Chimmie Fadden | Writer, Producer, Director |
| 1915 | The Arab | Producer, Director, Writer |
| 1915 | The Wild Goose Chase | Director |
| 1915 | The Captive | Director, Writer, Producer |
| 1915 | The Unafraid | Director |
| 1915 | The Warrens of Virginia | Director, Producer |
| 1915 | After Five | Director |
| 1915 | The Girl of the Golden West | Producer, Director, Writer |
| 1914 | The Ghost Breaker | Producer, Writer, Director |
| 1914 | The Circus Man | Writer |
| 1914 | The Rose of the Rancho | Director, Writer |
| 1914 | The Man From Home | Director, Writer, Producer |
| 1914 | Ready Money | Writer |
| 1914 | What's His Name | Writer, Director, Producer |
| 1914 | The Virginian | Director |
| 1914 | The Call of the North | Director |
| 1914 | The Man on the Box | Director |
| 1914 | The Only Son | Director |
| 1914 | The Master Mind | Director |
| 1914 | Brewster's Millions | Director, Producer |
| 1914 | The Squaw Man | Producer, Director, Writer |
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