Cecil B. DeMille

Directing

Cecil B. DeMille

Born August 12, 1881 · Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA

Died January 21, 1959 · aged 77

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 religi…

Known For

The Ten CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments · 1956
The Ten Commandments
★ 7.81956
MovieDramaHistory
Escaping death, a Hebrew infant is raised in a royal household to become a prince. Upon discovery of his true heritage, Moses embarks on a personal quest to reclaim his destiny as the leader and liberator of the Hebrew people.
Sunset BoulevardSunset Boulevard · 1950
Sunset Boulevard
★ 8.31950
MovieDrama
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.
Samson and DelilahSamson and Delilah · 1949
Samson and Delilah
★ 6.61949
MovieRomanceDrama
When strongman Samson rejects the love of the beautiful Philistine woman Delilah, she seeks vengeance that brings horrible consequences they both regret.
The War of the WorldsThe War of the Worlds · 1953
The War of the Worlds
★ 6.81953
MovieScience FictionAction
The residents of a small town are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills, until they discover it is the first of many transport devices from Mars bringing an army of invaders invincible to any man-made weapon, even the atomic bomb.
The King of KingsThe King of Kings · 1927
The King of Kings
★ 6.41927
MovieDramaHistory
The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into a silent-era blockbuster. Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and the great showman’s singular cinematic bag of tricks, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic.
The Sign of the CrossThe Sign of the Cross · 1932
The Sign of the Cross
★ 6.41932
MovieDramaHistory
A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.
UnconqueredUnconquered · 1947
Unconquered
★ 6.51947
MovieDramaAdventure
England, 1763. After being convicted of a crime, the young and beautiful Abigail Hale agrees, to escape the gallows, to serve fourteen years as a slave in the colony of Virginia, whose inhabitants begin to hear and fear the sinister song of the threatening drums of war that resound in the wild Ohio valley.
The BuccaneerThe Buccaneer · 1958
The Buccaneer
★ 6.51958
MovieAdventureDrama
During the War of 1812 against Britain: General Andrew Jackson has only 1,200 men left to defend New Orleans when he learns that a British fleet will arrive with 60 ships and 16,000 men to take the city. In this situation an island near the city becomes strategically important to both parties, but it's inhabited by the last big buccaneer: Jean Lafitte. Although Lafitte never attacks American ships, the governor hates him for selling merchandise without taxes - and is loved by the citizens for the same reason. When the big fight gets nearer, Lafitte is drawn between the fronts. His heart belongs to America, but his people urge him to join the party that's more likely to win.

Filmography

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Red DiceRed Dice · 1926
Red Dice
★ 9.01926
MovieDramaCrime
This unusual melodrama with comic touches was based on Octavus Roy Cohen's novel The Iron Chance. Alan Beckwith (Rod La Rocque) is a war hero who is very much down on his luck. He makes a deal with big-time bootlegger Andrew North (Gustave von Seyffertitz) -- if North will give him a large sum of money, Beckwith will kill himself at the end of a year's time. He is to marry a girl of North's choosing and take out an insurance policy naming her as beneficiary; North will collect from the widow. The plot thickens when Beckwith and Beverly (Marguerite De La Motte), the girl North has him marry, actually fall in love. Beverly's brother, Johnny (Ray Hallor), teams up with Beckwith to steal one of North's cargos of rum. North and his men catch them and things look bad until revenue officers -- called on by Beverly -- show up. The North gang is rounded up and Beckwith looks forward to a long life with his wife.

Presenter

Till I Come Back to YouTill I Come Back to You · 1918
Till I Come Back to You
★ 5.71918
MovieWarRomance
Yvonne von Krutz, a Belgian, lives with her German husband Karl, whom she was forced to marry, and her spirited little brother Jacques in a farmhouse on the Belgian countryside. With the German invasion of Belgium, Karl joins the German forces, and Jacques is taken to a reformatory to be trained as a munitions worker. When Karl is taken prisoner, Capt. Jefferson Strong, an American engineer, assumes the German's identity and discovers an underground supply of explosives near the von Krutz farm. By means of a tunnel, the Americans plan to mine the explosives. To save Jacques and a group of children from the munitions factory, however, Jefferson sends them across the American lines through the tunnel, but they lose their way, and he is forced to disable the mine. Jefferson is court-martialed, but King Albert of Belgium, who has befriended little Jacques, intercedes on his behalf. Learning that Karl has been killed, Jefferson pursues his budding romance with Yvonne.

Director