He is one of the first Hollywood directors known for presenting subjects taken from history and the Bible in large, expensive productions. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history.
(1881-1959) American film director and producer. He is one of the first Hollywood directors known for presenting subjects taken from history and the Bible in large, expensive productions. Cecil Blount De Mille was born on August 12, 1881, and died on January 21, 1959.
He was born as the son of a theater actor family. In 1913 he formed one of the first production companies with Jesse Lasky and Samuel Goldwyn, and the following year he shot the six-reel film The Squaw Man. This film, which was a great commercial success, encouraged De Mille.
Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. His silent films included social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants. He was an active Freemason and member of Prince of Orange Lodge #16 in New York City.
Whether in the Western genre, historical genre, or opera adaptation, he always took care to use expensive decorations and rich clothes in his films and brought ostentation to the fore. This tendency is particularly notable in the biblical commentary in the films The Ten Commandments in 1923 and Samson and Delilah in 1949.
The right-leaning De Mille could not keep up with the changes after the 1950s because he came into conflict with the cinema workers' unions. But as one of Hollywood's former professionals, he has always attracted attention and respect. Although the excessive flamboyance of his films has become somewhat outdated today, scenes such as the pyramid scene in The Ten Commandments still have an epic quality.
Films:
The Squaw Man, 1914,
The Ten Commandments, 1923,
Cleopatra, 1934;
The Plainsman, 1937,
Samson and Delilah, 1949;
The Greatest Show on Earth, 1952.