Biography
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 a…
Directed
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The Ten Commandments (1956) — Director
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The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) — Director
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Samson and Delilah (1949) — Director
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Cleopatra (1934) — Director
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The Ten Commandments (1923) — Director
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Union Pacific (1939) — Director
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The Cheat (1915) — Director
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The King of Kings (1927) — Director
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Unconquered (1947) — Director
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Reap the Wild Wind (1942) — Director
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The Sign of the Cross (1932) — Director
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North West Mounted Police (1940) — Director
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The Plainsman (1936) — Director
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Madam Satan (1930) — Director
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Joan the Woman (1916) — Director
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Male and Female (1919) — Director
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Carmen (1915) — Director
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The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) — Director
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The Squaw Man (1914) — Director
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The Little American (1917) — Director
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Four Frightened People (1934) — Director
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Why Change Your Wife? (1920) — Director
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The Crusades (1935) — Director
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Don't Change Your Husband (1919) — Director
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The Godless Girl (1928) — Director
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Dynamite (1929) — Director
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The Whispering Chorus (1918) — Director
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A Romance of the Redwoods (1917) — Director
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Manslaughter (1922) — Director
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Forbidden Fruit (1921) — Director
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The Affairs of Anatol (1921) — Director
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The Virginian (1914) — Director
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The Buccaneer (1938) — Director
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The Squaw Man (1931) — Director
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For Better, for Worse (1919) — Director
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Old Wives for New (1918) — Director
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The Woman God Forgot (1917) — Director
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The Golden Chance (1915) — Director
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The Captive (1915) — Director
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Something to Think About (1920) — Director
Also appeared in
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Sunset Boulevard (1950) — Cecil B. DeMille
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The Ten Commandments (1956) — Narrator (uncredited)
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The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) — Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
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Samson and Delilah (1949) — Narrator (uncredited)
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Hail Satan? (2019) — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
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Unconquered (1947) — Self - Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
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Reap the Wild Wind (1942) — Prologue Speaker (voice) (uncredited)
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The Buccaneer (1958) — Presenter of Prologue
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North West Mounted Police (1940) — Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
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Son of Paleface (1952) — Photographer (uncredited)
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Indiana Jones: The Search for the Lost Golden Age (2021) — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
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What's My Line? (1950) — Self
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Madam Satan (1930) — Radio Newscaster (voice) (uncredited)
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The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) — Voice of Narrator (uncredited)
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The Squaw Man (1914) — Faro Dealer
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The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) — Self
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The U.S. and the Holocaust (2022) — Self (archive footage)
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Free and Easy (1930) — Director Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited)
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This Is Your Life (1952) — Self
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Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) — Cecil B. DeMille
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Variety Girl (1947) — Cecil B. DeMille
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The Buster Keaton Story (1957) — Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited)
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Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975) — Self (archive footage)
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Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic (2019) — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
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Yul Brynner, the Magnificent (2020) — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
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The Circus: Premiere (1928) — Self
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The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille (2016) — Self
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Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema (2007) — Self (archive footage)
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Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe (2012) — Self (archive footage)
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A Trip to Paramountown (1922) — Self
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Hollywood (1923) — Cecil B. DeMille
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Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983) — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
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Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle II (2020) — Self
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The Casting Couch (1995)
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Cinépanorama (1956) — Self
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Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984) — Self (archive footage)
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Hollywood Extra Girl (1935) — Cecil B. DeMille
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Jens Mons in America (1947) — Self (uncredited)
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The Movies March On (1939) — Self (archive footage)
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Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle (2020) — Self (archive footage)