De Mille, Cecil B.

Related Category: Film and Television: Biographies

(Cecil Blount De Mille), 1881–1959, American movie director and producer, b. Ashfield, Mass. In 1913, together with Samuel Goldwyn, he made the first feature-length film in Hollywood, The Squaw Man. In 1915 he came into prominence with his first “spectacle” film, Carmen. His films were marked by their epic style and their theatricality, by their mass crowd scenes, and often by their biblical themes. In 1953 he won an Academy Award for The Greatest Show on Earth. His biggest and most popular production, The Ten Commandments (1956), was a remake of his 1923 film.

See his autobiography, ed. by D. Hayne (1959, repr. 1985); biography by C. Higham (1980); study by G. Ringgold and D. Bodeen (1969); G. Ringgold and D. Bodeen, The Complete Films of Cecil B. De Mille (1985).