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.

Filmography

• 1995The Casting Couch
• Hollywood — Self (archive footage, uncredited)
• 1958The Buccaneer — Presenter of Prologue, Producer, Executive Producer
• 1957The Buster Keaton Story — Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited)
• 1956The Ten Commandments — Narrator (uncredited), Director, Producer
• 1953The War of the Worlds — Executive Producer
• 1952Son of Paleface — Photographer (uncredited)
• 1952The Fallbrook Story — Self, Introduction
• 1952The Greatest Show on Earth — Narrator (voice) (uncredited), Director, Producer
• 1950Sunset Boulevard — Cecil B. DeMille
• 1949Samson and Delilah — Narrator (uncredited), Director, Producer
• 1947Unconquered — Self - Narrator (voice) (uncredited), Director, Producer
• 1947Variety Girl — Cecil B. DeMille
• 1944The Story of Dr. Wassell — Voice of Narrator (uncredited), Director, Producer
• 1942Reap the Wild Wind — Prologue Speaker (voice) (uncredited), Director, Producer
• 1942Star Spangled Rhythm — Cecil B. DeMille
• 1940North West Mounted Police — Narrator (voice) (uncredited), Director, Producer
• 1939Land of Liberty — Editor
• 1939Union Pacific — Director, Producer
• 1938The Buccaneer — Director, Producer
• 1936The Plainsman — Director, Producer
• 1935Hollywood Extra Girl — Cecil B. DeMille
• 1935The Crusades — Director
• 1934Cleopatra — Producer, Director
• 1934Four Frightened People — Director, Producer
• 1933This Day and Age — Director, Producer
• 1932The Sign of the Cross — Director, Producer
• 1931The Squaw Man — Director
• 1930Free and Easy — Director Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited)
• 1930Madam Satan — Radio Newscaster (voice) (uncredited), Director, Producer
• 1929Dynamite — Director
• 1928Let 'Er Go Gallegher — Executive Producer
• 1928The Godless Girl — Director, Producer
• 1927The Angel of Broadway — Producer
• 1927The Fighting Eagle — Producer
• 1927The King of Kings — Director, Producer
• 1927Vanity — Producer
• 1927White Gold — Producer
• 1926Red Dice — Presenter
• 1926Silence — Producer
• 1926The Cruise of the Jasper B — Producer
• 1926The Volga Boatman — Director, Producer
• 1926Whispering Smith — Producer
• 1925The Dressmaker from Paris — Supervising Producer
• 1925The Golden Bed — Director
• 1925The Road to Yesterday — Director
• 1925The Wedding Song — Producer
• 1924Feet of Clay — Director, Producer
• 1924Triumph — Producer, Director
• 1923Adam's Rib — Director, Producer
• 1923Hollywood — Cecil B. DeMille
• 1923The Ten Commandments — Producer, Director
• 1922Manslaughter — Director
• 1922Saturday Night — Director, Producer
• 1921Fool's Paradise — Director
• 1921Forbidden Fruit — Director, Story, Producer
• 1921The Affairs of Anatol — Director
• 1921The Affairs of Anatol - Promo Reel — As himself, Director
• 1920Something to Think About — Director, Producer
• 1920Why Change Your Wife? — Director, Producer
• 1919Don't Change Your Husband — Director
• 1919For Better, for Worse — Director
• 1919Male and Female — Director, Producer
• 1918Old Wives for New — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1918The Squaw Man — Director
• 1918The Whispering Chorus — Director
• 1918Till I Come Back to You — Director
• 1918We Can't Have Everything — Director, Editor
• 1917A Romance of the Redwoods — Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
• 1917Betty to the Rescue — General Manager
• 1917Lost and Won — Producer
• 1917Nan of Music Mountain — Director
• 1917The Devil Stone — Director
• 1917The Little American — Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
• 1917The Woman God Forgot — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1916Joan the Woman — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1916Maria Rosa — Director
• 1916The Dream Girl — Director
• 1916The Heart of Nora Flynn — Director
• 1916The Love Mask — Writer
• 1916The Trail of the Lonesome Pine — Director, Story, Producer
• 1915After Five — Director
• 1915Carmen — Director, Producer, Editor
• 1915Chimmie Fadden — Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
• 1915Chimmie Fadden Out West — Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
• 1915Kindling — Director, Writer, Producer
• 1915Temptation — Editor, Director
• 1915The Arab — Producer, Director, Writer
• 1915The Captive — Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
• 1915The Cheat — Editor, Director, Producer
• 1915The Girl of the Golden West — Director, Producer, Writer, Editor
• 1915The Golden Chance — Director, Story, Producer, Editor
• 1915The Unafraid — Director, Story
• 1915The Warrens of Virginia — Director, Producer
• 1915The Wild Goose Chase — Director
• 1914Brewster's Millions — Director, Producer
• 1914Lord Chumley — Theatre Play
• 1914Ready Money — Writer
• 1914The Call of the North — Director
• 1914The Circus Man — Writer
• 1914The Ghost Breaker — Director, Writer, Producer
• 1914The Man From Home — Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
• 1914The Man on the Box — Director
• 1914The Master Mind — Director
• 1914The Only Son — Director
• 1914The Rose of the Rancho — Editor, Director, Writer
• 1914The Squaw Man — Faro Dealer, Producer, Director, Writer
• 1914The Virginian — Director, Editor
• 1914What's His Name — Director, Producer, Writer, Editor

Appearances as themselves (33)

• The U.S. and the Holocaust — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Indiana Jones: The Search for the Lost Golden Age — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• 2020Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle — Self (archive footage)
• 2020Patterns of Evidence: The Red Sea Miracle II — Self
• 2020Yul Brynner, the Magnificent — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• 2019Hail Satan? — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• 2019Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• 2016The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille — Self
• 2012Fascination: Unauthorized Story of Marilyn Monroe — Self (archive footage)
• 2007Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema — Self (archive footage)
• 2003The Making of The Ten Commandments — Self
• 1988All-Time Movie Greats — Self (archive footage)
• 1984Going Hollywood: The '30s — Self (archive footage)
• 1983Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1982Showbiz Ballyhoo — Self (archive footage)
• 1976Hooray for Hollywood — Self (archive footage)
• 1975Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? — Self (archive footage)
• Spécial cinéma — Self (archive footage)
• Cinépanorama — Self
• This Is Your Life — Self
• What's My Line? — Self
• The Ed Sullivan Show — Self
• 1947Jens Mons in America — Self (uncredited)
• 1945Screen Snapshots (Series 25, No. 1): 25th Anniversary — Self
• 1942Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10) — Self
• 1939The Movies March On — Self (archive footage)
• 1934The Hollywood You Never See — Self
• 1933Hollywood on Parade No. B-5 — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1930Estrellados — Self (Guest Appearance)
• 1928The Circus: Premiere — Self
• 1927Life in Hollywood — Self
• 1927Life in Hollywood No. 1 — Self
• 1922A Trip to Paramountown — Self