Cecil B. DeMille
American film director, producer and actor (1881-1959) · United States · Directors · Died at 77
Cecil B. DeMille is read about 1,261 times a day, in 62 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?He built Hollywood's scale - literally. DeMille made spectacle the industry's signature move, stacking chariots and parting seas before anyone else thought in those dimensions. The template for every blockbuster that floods a screen started in his cutting room.
A life in dates
The BuccaneerFilm, Producer1956
CinépanoramaSeries1953Academy Award for Best PictureAward
The War of the WorldsFilm, 1953Producer1952Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille AwardAward
This Is Your LifeSeries, 19521950
What's My Line?Series
Sunset BoulevardFilm, 1950Cecil B. DeMille1948
The Ed Sullivan ShowSeries1947
UnconqueredFilm, Director, Producer1942
Reap the Wild WindFilm, Director, Producer1941“Actors are born, and every human being is born an actor.”In their wordsAs quoted in "Hollywood News: De Mille on Acting" (1941)1939
Union PacificFilm, Director, Producer1937“Most people never achieve stardom until they've had at least one good, serious siege of the grand passion. It doesn't hurt a career. It helps.”In their wordsAs quoted in "Move Stardom Helped by Love, Says De Mille" (1937)1934“Every year a new lesson is learned, but the one precept that never fails to be true is that a good picture will always be well received by the public.”In their wordsAs quoted in "Famous Director: His Faith in the Future" (1934)
CleopatraFilm, 1934Director, Producer1933“The phrases, "happy ending" and "unhappy ending" are misnomers.”In their wordsAs quoted in "Truth and Logic: Now Prime Consideration" (1933)1930
Free and EasyFilm, Director Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited)1928
The Godless GirlFilm, Director, Producer1921
Forbidden FruitFilm, Director, Writer1919
Don't Change Your HusbandFilm, Director1917“Motion pictures are the most important contribution to literature and art since the invention of fiction.”In their wordsAs quoted in "Cecil De Mille Gives Views on Pictures and Art" (1917)“Motion pictures are visualized thought! Do you grasp how different that is from any other of the great arts?”In their wordsAs quoted in "Cecil De Mille Gives Views on Pictures and Art" (1917)1916
Joan the WomanFilm, Director, Producer1914
The Squaw ManFilm, Director, Writer1881Born12 August 1881Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
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In their own words 10
, Actors are born, and every human being is born an actor.
This bouquet is not given lightly.
Legend rides high with history, but truth follows a lonely trail. I've pursued verity from the museum at Cairo to the smoking tepees of the Cheyennes at Lame Deer, Montana.
Filmography 40
IAIndiana Jones: The Search for the Lost Golden Age
HSHail Satan?TBThe Buccaneer
TCThe Ten CommandmentsTWThe War of the Worlds
TEThe Greatest Show on Earth
SPSon of PalefaceSBSunset Boulevard
SDSamson and DelilahUNUnconquered
VGVariety Girl
TWThe Story of Dr. WassellRWReap the Wild Wind
SRStar Spangled Rhythm
NPNorth West Mounted PoliceUPUnion Pacific
TBThe Buccaneer
TPThe Plainsman
TCThe CrusadesCLCleopatra
FPFour Frightened People
TCThe Sign of the Cross
TMThe Squaw Man
MSMadam SatanFEFree and Easy
DYDynamiteTGThe Godless Girl
TKThe King of Kings
TCThe Ten CommandmentsFFForbidden Fruit
TAThe Affairs of Anatol
WWWhy Change Your Wife?
MFMale and FemaleDHDon't Change Your Husband
TAThe Little American
ARA Romance of the RedwoodsJWJoan the Woman
TCThe Cheat
CACarmenTMThe Squaw Man237 credits on file
Television 7
THThe U.S. and the Holocaust
HOHollywood
SCSpécial cinémaCICinépanoramaTLThis Is Your LifeWLWhat's My Line?TSThe Ed Sullivan ShowAwards
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Born in Ashfield, Massachusetts in 1881 and raised in New York, DeMille started as a stage actor in 1900 before moving into writing and directing plays. In 1914, he shot The Squaw Man, the first full-length feature filmed in Hollywood, marking the town's arrival as the industry's new center. He co-founded what became Paramount Pictures and spent the next four decades turning out 70 films that frequently dominated the box office several at a time. His 1923 The Ten Commandments held Paramount's revenue record for a quarter-century; The King of Kings reached 800 million viewers; Samson and Delilah became 1950's highest-grossing film. The Greatest Show on Earth won Best Picture in 1952, and his 1956 Ten Commandments remake - his final film - became the eighth highest-grossing of all time adjusted for inflation. He died in 1959, leaving behind the model every epic since has followed.
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