Curiosidades

To promote Os Dez Mandamentos (1956), 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.

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 shouted "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 shouted "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, which he had had placed along with a cameraman 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.!".

One of the 36 co-founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

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 shouted, "Lunch!".

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.

According to Tim Adler's book about the history of the Mafia in Hollywood, in the late 1930s De Mille was threatened by the mob, which wanted to swindle him while he was in his hospital bed. DeMille stood up from the bed and ordered the gangster to get out of his room, because he -- DeMille -- was not afraid of the Mafia.

Charlton Heston, star of DeMille's O Maior Espetáculo da Terra (1952) and Os Dez Mandamentos (1956), said in his autobiography that "I should have thanked him for my career".

During his silent movie days, DeMille wanted to film a romantic scene on a California beach. His plan was to film the hero and heroine walking together on the beach as the sun slowly rose over the ocean behind them. He instructed his cameramen to "film the perfect sunrise." However, his cameramen informed him that this would be impossible - the sun does not *rise* over the ocean in California. It *sets!* "Well, then get me a sun-*set*," said DeMille. "We'll use rear-screen projection, and run the film in reverse so it looks like the sun is *rising* in the background." DeMille's camera crew went to the beach and filmed the sun setting over the ocean. A few days later, DeMille filmed the scene with the two actors on a movie soundstage made up to look like the beach. The on-location film of the Pacific sunset was reversed and projected on a rear screen, so that it looked as if the sun was rising slowly on the horizon behind the two actors. The scene was filmed in one take, and DeMille was ecstatic. The following day, DeMille and his crew gathered in a studio screening room to watch the scene. The film looked perfect - until DeMille noticed something that literally reduced him to tears. The reversed "sunrise" behind the two actors looked spectacular - but the waves on the beach were flowing backwards into the ocean, and all the seagulls in the rear projection scene were flying backwards.

A conservative Republican, DeMille was an active supporter of blacklisting real or alleged Communists, progressives and other "subversives." In 1952, he attempted to have Joseph L. Mankiewicz removed as President of the Directors Guild because he would not endorse the DeMille-inspired loyalty oath. Directors George Stevens and John Ford managed to block DeMille's efforts. DeMille also refused to cast liberal Democrat Burt Lancaster in Sansão e Dalila (1949) and O Maior Espetáculo da Terra (1952), despite Lancaster's imposing physique and real-life experience as a circus acrobat, which allowed him to do his own stunts.

Cecil B. De Mille and Alfred Hitchcock were the only directors whose names appeared on the marquee of the theater where his films played.

The lifetime achievement award from the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globe Awards) is named after him.

Although married to wife Constance for fifty-six 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, but preferred to live with their children in the main house.

According to Charlton Heston, DeMille was known to throw anyone off the set that he caught speaking during a take. One day, he came back to his office earlier than expected and his secretary quipped, "What happened, Mister DeMille? Did you talk during a take?".

Remade four of his own films.

He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1725 Vine Street; and for Radio at 6240 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.

Beginning in 1940 and continuing on to the end of his career, all of the films that he produced and directed were made in color and narrated by him.

Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe Award winners who mentioned DeMille in their acceptance speeches include Elizabeth Taylor (1985), Barbara Stanwyck (1986), his son-in-law Anthony Quinn (1987), Sophia Loren (1995), Shirley MacLaine (1998), Steven Spielberg (2008), and Martin Scorsese (2010).

According to DeMille he fell in love with film after watching O Grande Roubo do Trem (1903) in Manhattan with Jesse L. Lasky. Several days later they lunched with Sam Goldfish (later to change his name to Samuel Goldwyn) and attorney Arthur Friend and formed the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, which later grew to be Paramount Pictures.

Even when DeMille directed a contemporary story, he would frequently insert a sequence showing the same stars in a previous historical era, playing earlier incarnations of their modern-day characters. According to Gloria Swanson, who became a star in DeMille's films, he included these scenes because he genuinely believed in reincarnation.

Stuntman Jack Montgomery, who played a Christian cavalryman in DeMille's As Cruzadas (1935), recalled in an interview the tension that existed between DeMille and the dozens of stuntmen hired to do the battle scenes. They resented what they saw as DeMille's cavalier attitude about safety, especially as several stuntmen had been injured, and several horses killed, because of what they perceived to be DeMille's indifference. At one point, DeMille was standing on the parapets of the castle, shouting through his megaphone at the "combatants" gathered below. One of them, who had been hired for his expertise at archery, finally tired of DeMille's screaming, notched an arrow into his bow and fired it at DeMille's megaphone, the arrow embedding itself into the device just inches from DeMille's head. He quickly fled the set. He came back the next day, but for the rest of the picture, DeMille never shouted at the stuntmen again.

DeMille was notable for his courage and athleticism and despised men unwilling to perform dangerous stunts or who had phobias. He criticized Victor Mature on the set of Sansão e Dalila (1949), calling him "100 percent yellow".

Only eldest daughter Cecilia de Mille was the DeMilles' natural child, daughter Katherine DeMille and sons John and Richard de Mille being adopted later.

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. DeMille 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.

In a swipe at movie censors, published a satirical newspaper article in which he censored Mother Goose rhymes.

His father was born in Washington, Beaufort, North Carolina, and had English, German, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry. His mother was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, to a German Jewish family.

After Os Dez Mandamentos (1956), his remake of his earlier Os Dez Mandamentos (1923), DeMille began work on a project about Lord Robert Baden-Powell and the Boy Scout movement, but eventually abandoned it in favor of Lafite, o Corsário (1958). The actor he had in mind to play Baden-Powell was David Niven.

He and his wife adopted daughter Katherine DeMille in 1920, when she was 9. Her father had died in World War I and her mother died of tuberculosis. Her birth name was Katherine Lester.

A photograph of DeMille working on the set of Cleópatra (1934) 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.

Eight of his films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography: O Sinal da Cruz (1932), Cleópatra (1934), As Cruzadas (1935), Lafitte, O Corsário (1938), Legião de Heróis (1940), Vendaval de Paixões (1942), Sansão e Dalila (1949), and Os Dez Mandamentos (1956). Only Cleopatra won.

Directed three films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: Cleópatra (1934), O Maior Espetáculo da Terra (1952), and Os Dez Mandamentos (1956). The Greatest Show on Earth won.

His last three films, Sansão e Dalila (1949), O Maior Espetáculo da Terra (1952), and Os Dez Mandamentos (1956), were all nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. Only Sansão e Dalila (1949) won.

Six of his films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Special Effects: Aliança de Aço (1939), Vendaval de Paixões (1942), Pelo Vale das Sombras (1944), Os Inconquistáveis (1947), Sansão e Dalila (1949), and Os Dez Mandamentos (1956). Reap the Wild Wind and The Ten Commandments both won.

In December 1942, The Film Daily's national poll of critics named DeMille one of the year's Top Five Directors for his work in Vendaval de Paixões (1942). He placed third, behind William Wyler for Rosa de Esperança (1942) and John Ford for Como Era Verde o Meu Vale (1941).

Five of his films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction: Dinamite (1929), Legião de Heróis (1940), Vendaval de Paixões (1942), Sansão e Dalila (1949), and Os Dez Mandamentos (1956). Only Sansão e Dalila (1949) won.

Before casting Victor Mature as the male lead of Sansão e Dalila (1949), DeMille considered a then-unknown bodybuilder named Steve Reeves, after his original choice, Burt Lancaster, declined due to a bad back. DeMille liked Reeves and thought he was perfect for the part, but a clash between Reeves and the studio over his physique killed that possibility. Almost a decade later, Reeves found fame and stardom appearing in Hércules (1958) and many other Italian films.

According to his casting agent, DeMille spent a lot of time casting the female roles of his films because he was always searching for actresses who were not only beautiful and talented but also professional and easy to work with.

He planned four biblical epics which were never made: "The Deluge" (1927), about Noah's ark; "Esther" (1939), about the beautiful Jewish queen of Persia; "The Queen of Queens" (1940), about Mary, the mother of Jesus; and "Thou Art the Man" (1945), about David, king of Israel.

Of all his American history epics, his favorite was Aliança de Aço (1939).

Died the same day as Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer and interred at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called Hollywood Forever Cemetery) in Los Angeles, California. He was buried alongside his brother William C. de Mille at Hollywood Forever Cemetary. Among the pallbearers were Adolph Zukor, Samuel Goldwyn and Henry Wilcoxon.

He has directed two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Enganar e Perdoar (1915) and Os Dez Mandamentos (1956). He has also appeared in one film that is in the registry: Crepúsculo dos Deuses (1950).

President of DeMille Pictures Corporation, formed in 1925.

The Associated Press reported on Sunday 3 December 1944 that Paramount announced that production of "The Flame," DeMilles's epic about the Mexican Revolution, had been cancelled because of the high cost involved. ("'Flame' Too Costly", The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Monday 4 December 1944, Volume 51, page 3.).

Cast Gary Cooper in four of his films: Jornadas Heróicas (1936), Legião de Heróis (1940), Pelo Vale das Sombras (1944), and Os Inconquistáveis (1947).

Cast Gloria Swanson in six of his films: Don't Change Your Husband (1919), For Better, for Worse (1919), Macho e Fêmea (1919), Why Change Your Wife? (1920), Something to Think About (1920), and As Aventuras de Anatólio (1921).

He was married to the same woman for over fifty years. She was several years older and suffered increasingly from Alzheimer's Disease during the later years of their marriage. Despite all this, she outlived him.

Directed four films based on stories from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible: Os Dez Mandamentos (1923), O Rei dos Reis (1927), Sansão e Dalila (1949), and Os Dez Mandamentos (1956). The first two are silent films with sequences in two-strip Technicolor, while the other two are sound films in full Technicolor.

At the 15th Foreign Language Press Film Critics Circle Awards in 1957, DeMille won in two categories: Best Film ("in terms of content") and Best Director, both for Os Dez Mandamentos (1956).

Mary Pickford disliked DeMille, blaming him for the "failure" of the two silent films they made together (those films were actually big box-office hits). Although she had always appeared to be very cordial with the producer-director, she spoke ill of him in a 1974 interview. In his autobiography, DeMille thought, "If she resented not having her own way all the time, she did not show it. Mary is a good trouper".

He had substantial roles in Sunset Boulevard and Star Spangled Banner.

Son of businessman and Georgist Henry C. DeMille and play broker, screenwriter, playwright, theatre actress, and entrepreneur Beatrice DeMille (née Matilda Beatrice Samuel), and brother of director William C. de Mille, Cecil was also the uncle of Agnes de Mille and Peggy George, uncle-in-law of B.P. Fineman, and grandfather of Cecilia DeMille Presley and Valentina Quinn. His father was born in North Carolina, to a Protestant family. His mother was born in England, to German Jewish parents.