Cecil B. DeMILLE | Cecil Blount DeMille

* 12.08.1881, Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA † 21.01.1959, Hollywood / Los Angeles, USA

Regisseur, Produzent * 1896-98 Besuch des Pennsylvania Military College in Chester * folgt seinem Bruder William de Mille nach New York und studiert dort (1898-1900) an der American Academy of Dramatic Arts * erster Bühnenauftritt in Hearts Are Trumps * in den nächsten zwölf Jahre leitet die Theatertruppe seiner Mutter (De Mille Play Company) und betätigt sich auch als Regisseur, Autor und Schauspieler * 1913 (zusammen mit Jesse L. Lasky und Samuel Goldfish=Goldwyn) gründet die Produktionsfirma Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company * geht nach Hollywood und inszeniert (und produziert) dort zusammen mit Oscar Apfel seinen ersten Film The Squaw Man (1913/14 > gilt als erste Spielfilmproduktion in Hollywood/first US feature film) - mit dieser erfolgreichen Produktion kann sich sofort als Regisseur etablieren und verhilft auch der Produktionsfirma zum Durchbruch (1918 mit anderen Firmen zu Paramount Pictures Corp. fusioniert) * in folgenden Jahren inszeniert und produziert zahlreiche Filme diverser Genres * in den 20ern dreht erste Monumentalfilme mit biblischer Thematik (The Ten Commandments, 1923; The King of Kings, 1927) * gründet Cecil B. DeMille Productions (1921) und Cinema Corporation of America (1925) * 1928 wechselt für ein paar Jahre zu M-G-M * 1929 dreht seinen ersten Tonfilm (Dynamite) * 1931 Mitgründer der Screen Directors Guild * 1932 kehrt als unabhängiger Produzent zu Paramount zurück * 1936-44 Gastgeber [host] und Regisseur der Radioshow Lux Radio Theatre * 1959 Veröffentlichung (postum) seiner Autobiografie * gilt als Mitgründer von Hollywood als Filmmetropole ("He is generally acknowledged as the man who more than anyone else helped Hollywood become the world's greatest film center. Some historians even go as far as calling him 'the founder of Hollywood'." Film Encyclopedia)

"Directorially, I think, his pictures were the most horrible things I've ever seen in my life. But he put on pictures that made a fortune. In that respect, he was better than any of us." William A. Wellman
SOUND FILMS | TONFILME

Dynamite (1929-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Jeanie Macpherson; John Howard Lawson, Gladys Unger, K: J. Peverell Marley, D: Conrad Nagel * Kay Johnson * Charles Bickford * Julia Faye) 129m-Drama (01-04; 2912)

Madam Satan (1930-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Jeanie Macpherson; Gladys Unger, Elsie Janis, K: Harold Rosson, D: Kay Johnson * Reginald Denny * Lillian Roth * Roland Young) 116m-Musikmelodram (03-05; 3009)

The Squaw Man (1931-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Lucien Hubbard, Lenore J. Coffee; Elsie Janis, K: Harold Rosson, D: Warner Baxter * Lupe Velez) 106m-Westerndrama (Bühnenstück von Edwin Milton Royle, 1905) (02-04; 3109)

The Sign of the Cross (Im Zeichen des Kreuzes, 1932-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Waldemar Young, Sidney Buchman, K: Karl Struss, M: Rudolph G. Kopp, D: Fredric March * Elissa Landi * Claudette Colbert * Charles Laughton) 124m-Historiendrama (Bühnenstück von Wilson Barrett, 1895) (07-09; 3211)

This Day and Age (1933-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Bartlett Cormack, K: J. Peverell Marley, D: Charles Bickford, Richard Cromwell, Judith Allen) 86m-Krimidrama (05-06; 3308)

Four Frightened People (1933-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Bartlett Cormack, Lenore J. Coffee, K: Karl Struss, D: Claudette Colbert * Herbert Marshall * Mary Boland * William Gargan & Leo Carrillo) 78/95m-Abenteuerdrama (Roman von E. Arnot Robertson, 1931) (09-11; 3401)

Cleopatra (Cleopatra, 1934-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Waldemar Young, Vincent Lawrence; Bartlett Cormack, K: Victor Milner, M: Rudolph G. Kopp, D: Claudette Colbert * Warren William * Henry Wilcoxon) 100m-Historiendrama (03-05; 3410)

The Crusades (Kreuzritter - Richard Löwenherz, 1935-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Harold Lamb, Waldemar Young, Dudley Nichols, K: Victor Milner, D: Loretta Young * Henry Wilcoxon) 125m-Historienabenteuer (02-04; 3510)

The Plainsman (Der Held der Prärie, 1936-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Waldemar Young, Harold Lamb, Lynn Riggs; Jeanie Macpherson, K: Victor Milner, M: George Antheil, D: Gary Cooper * Jean Arthur) 114m-Western (07-?; 3701)

The Buccaneer (Der Freibeuter von Louisiana, 1937-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Edwin Justus Mayer, Harold Lamb, C. Gardner Sullivan; Jeanie Macpherson, K: Victor Milner, M: George Antheil, D: Fredric March, Franciska Gaal) 125m-Historienabenteuer (Roman Lafitte the Pirate von Lyle Saxon, 1930) (08-10; 3802)

Union Pacific (Union Pacific, 1938/39-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Walter DeLeon, C. Gardner Sullivan, Jesse Lasky, Jr.; Jack Cunningham, K: Victor Milner, M: Sigmund Krumgold, John Leipold, D: Barbara Stanwyck * Joel McCrea) 134m-Westerndrama (Roman Trouble Shooter von Ernest Haycox, 1936) (10-02; 3905)

North West Mounted Police (Die scharlachroten Reiter, 1939-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Alan Le May, Jesse Lasky, Jr., C. Gardner Sullivan, K: Victor Milner, W. Howard Greene, M: Victor Young, D: Gary Cooper * Madeleine Carroll) 125m-Western [Roman The Royal Canadian Mounted Police von R.C. Fetherstonhaugh, 1938] (03-?; 4012)

Reap the Wild Wind (Piraten im Karibischen Meer, 1941-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Alan Le May, Charles Bennett, Jesse Lasky, Jr., K: Victor Milner, William V. Skall, M: Victor Young, D: Ray Milland * John Wayne * Paulette Goddard) 124m-Abenteuer (Roman von Thelma Strabel, 1941) (06-08; 4203)

The Story of Dr. Wassell (Dr. Wassells Flucht aus Java, 1943-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Alan Le May, Charles Bennett, K: Victor Milner, William Snyder, M: Victor Young, D: Gary Cooper, Laraine Day, Signe Hasso, Dennis O'Keefe, Carol Thurston) 140m-Kriegsdrama (04-10; 4407)

Unconquered (Die Unbesiegten, 1946-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Charles Bennett, Fredric M. Frank, Jesse Lasky, Jr., K: Ray Rennahan, M: Victor Young, D: Gary Cooper * Paulette Goddard, Howard Da Silva, Boris Karloff, Cecil Kellaway, Ward Bond) 146m-Abenteuer (Roman von Neil H. Swanson, 1947) (07-11/+12; 4709)

Samson and Delilah (Samson und Delilah, 1948-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Jesse L. Lasky, Jr., Fredric M. Frank, K: George Barnes, M: Victor Young, D: Hedy Lamarr * Victor Mature * George Sanders * Angela Lansbury * Henry Wilcoxon) 130m-Monumentalfilm (10-12/+01; 5001)

The Greatest Show on Earth (1951-USA) (5201)

The Ten Commandments (Die Zehn Gebote, 1954-55-USA; R: Cecil B. DeMille, B: Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse Lasky, Jr., Jack Gariss, Fredric M. Frank, K: Loyal Griggs, M: Elmer Bernstein, D: Charlton Heston * Yul Brynner * Anne Baxter * Edward G. Robinson * Yvonne De Carlo * Debra Paget * John Derek) 220m-Monumentalfilm (10-12 + 03-08; 5611)
AWARDS

Honorary Award / Ehrenoscar (1950)

Cecil B. DeMille Award [Golden Globes 1952]

Golden Globe (beste Regie) für The Greatest Show on Earth (1953)

Lifetime Achievement Award [Directors Guild of America 1953]
BOOKS

Simon Louvish: Cecil B. DeMille: A Life in Art. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2008

Scott Eyman: Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010

Cecilia de Mille Presley & Mark A. Vieira: Cecil B. DeMille: The Art of the Hollywood Epic. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2014

Robert S. Birchard: Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2004

Cecil B. DeMille was the most successful filmmaker in early Hollywood history. Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood is a detailed and definitive chronicle of the screen work that changed the course of film history and a fascinating look at how movies were actually made in Hollywood’s Golden Age. Drawing extensively on DeMille’s personal archives and other primary sources, Robert S. Birchard offers a revealing portrait of DeMille the filmmaker that goes behind studio gates and beyond DeMille’s legendary persona. In his forty-five-year career DeMille's box-office record was unsurpassed, and his swaggering style established the public image for movie directors. DeMille had a profound impact on the way movies tell stories and brought greater attention to the elements of decor, lighting, and cinematography. Best remembered today for screen spectacles such as The Ten Commandments and Samson and Delilah , DeMille also created Westerns, realistic “chamber dramas,” and a series of daring and highly influential social comedies. He set the standard for Hollywood filmmakers and demanded absolute devotion to his creative vision from his writers, artists, actors, and technicians.
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