His parents Henry C. DeMille and Beatrice DeMille wrote plays. Henry died when he was 12 and his mother supported the family by opening a school for girls and a theatrical company. Too young to enlist in the Spanish-American War he followed his brother William to the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts, making his stage debut in 1900. For twelve years he was actor/manager of his mother's company. In 1913 he, Jesse L. Lasky and Sam Goldwyn formed the Lasky (Paramount) film company and, the next year, produced the successful six reeler, "The Squaw Man" their first Hollywood film. He championed the switch from short to feature-length films and is often credited with making Hollywood the motion picture capital of the world. Rather than putting his money into known stars he emphasized production values. He also developed stars, notably Gloria Swanson. He produced and directed 70 films and was involved in many more. Many of his films were romantic sexual comedies (he is supposed to have believed that Americans were curious only about money and sex). His best-known were biblical epics: King of Kings, The The Ten Commandments Crusades. From 1936 to 1945 he hosted and directed the hour-long "Lux Radio Theatre", which brought the actors and stories of many movies to the airwaves and further established him as the symbol of Hollywood. He appeared as himself in Sunset Blvd. with his own long-ago star Gloria Swanson playing the has-been Norma Desmond.
Sunset Blvd. (1950): $10,000
The Captive (1915): $500/week
The Warrens of Virginia (1915): $500/week

One of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Although married to wife Constance for sixty years, DeMille had long-term affairs with two other women: Jeanie Macpherson and Julia Faye, occasionally entertaining both women simultaneously on his yacht or his ranch. His wife knew of the affairs preferred to live with their children in the main house. DeMille was notable for his courage and athleticism and despised men unwilling to perform dangerous stunts or who had phobias. He lit into Victor Mature on the set of Samson and Delilah, calling him "100 percent yellow." Other Works: Only eldest daughter Cecilia de Mille was the deMille's natural child, daughter Katherine DeMille and sons John and Richard being adopted later. Interred at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called Hollywood Forever), Hollywood, California, USA. Son of Beatrice DeMille, brother of director William C. de Mille, uncle of Agnes de Mille and Peggy George. Uncle-in-law of B.P. Fineman. Was the original host of the popular "Lux Radio Theater," which presented one-hour radio adaptations of popular movies, often with the original stars, always with many of the biggest names in Hollywood. De Mille served as host/director of the series from its debut in 1936 until 1944, when a politically-oriented dispute with the American Federation of Radio Artists forced his suspension, and ultimate resignation, from the program. William Keighley succeeded him for the remainder of the program's run. A photograph of DeMille working on the set of Cleopatra appears in the selvage on the right side of a sheet of 10 USA 37¢ commemorative postage stamps, issued 25 February 2003, celebrating American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes. Grandfather of Cecilia DeMille Presley. He is perhaps the only director to film two remakes of one of his films ("The Squaw Man"). At his death, DeMille was in the process of producing/directing an epic film about the creation of the Boy Scouts, to star James Stewart. His estate papers include a script, and extensive research material. Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 207-222. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987. Remade four of his own films. He remade story of The Squaw Man, his first film, twice. Before the casting of Victor Mature, DeMille considered using a then unknown body builder named Steve Reeves as Samson, after his original choice, Burt Lancaster, declined due to a bad back. DeMille liked Reeves and thought he was perfect for the part, a clash between Reeves and the studio over his physique ended the chance of casting him. Almost a decade later, Reeves found fame and stardom appearing in Hercules (1957). To promote his film The Ten Commandments, he had stone plaques of the commandments posted at government buildings across the country. Many of them are still standing to this day, and some are now the subjects of First Amendment lawsuits. Died the same day as Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer. He and his wife adopted daughter Katherine in 1920, when she was 9, after her father died in WWI and her mother died of tuberculosis. Her birth name was Katherine Lester. His son, John Blount Demille, was born in 1913. He was of Spanish descent. Cecil B. DeMille is the subject of many Hollywood legends. According to one famous story, DeMille once directed a film that required a huge, expensive battle scene. Filming on location in a California valley, the director set up multiple cameras to capture the action from every angle. It was a sequence that could only be done once. When DeMille yelled "Action!," thousands of extras playing soldiers stormed across the field, firing their guns. Riders on horseback galloped over the hills. Cannons fired, pyrotechnic explosives were blown up, and battle towers loaded with soldiers came toppling down. The whole sequence went off perfectly. At the end of the scene, DeMille yelled "Cut!" He was then informed, to his horror, that three of the four cameras recording the battle sequence had failed. In Camera #1, the film had broken! Camera #2 had missed shooting the sequence when a dirt clod was kicked into the lens by a horse's hoof! Camera #3 had been destroyed when a battle tower had fallen on it! DeMille was at his wit's end, when he suddenly remembered that he still had Camera #4! A cameraman had been placed on a nearby hill to get a long shot of the battle sequence. DeMille grabbed his megaphone and called up to the cameraman, "Did you get all that?" The cameraman on the hill waved and shouted back, "Ready when you are, C.B.!" In another famous story, DeMille was on a movie set one day, about to film an important scene. He was giving a set of complicated instructions to a huge crowd of extras, when he suddenly noticed one female extra talking to another. Enraged, DeMille shouted at the extra, "Will you kindly tell everyone here what you are talking about that is so important?!" The extra replied, "I was just saying to my friend, 'I wonder when that bald-headed son of a bitch is going to call lunch.'" DeMille glared at the extra for a moment, then yelled, "Lunch!" In another story, DeMille welcomed a new assistant to his private bungalow on the Paramount lot. "This is an old building," he told the young man. "You'll notice the floor slants down and to the left. I'm placing you in the left side office at the end of the hall, so you can watch the heads as they roll by." In still another story, DeMille was sitting in a Paramount executive's office, discussing a film he wanted to make. The climax of the film would be yet another huge battle sequence, requiring thousands of extras. When the studio executive complained that it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay all the extras needed for the battle, DeMille smiled wickedly. "I've got that covered," he said. "We'll use real bullets." The lifetime achievement award from the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes) is named after him.