DeMille directed dozens of
silent films, including
Paramount Pictures' first production,
The Squaw Man (1914), which was co-directed by Oscar Apfel, before coming into huge popularity during the late 1910s and early 1920s, when he reached the apex of his popularity with such films as
Don't Change Your Husband (1919),
The Ten Commandments (1923), and
The King of Kings (1927).
Though most commonly referred to by the press as DeMille with a capital "D", DeMille used "deMille" with a small "d" for his personal dealings. DeMille's business address for most of his career was 2010 DeMille (capital "D") Drive,
Hollywood, California (which is actually in the adjacent
Los Angeles neighborhood of
Los Feliz). He used the small "d" for private correspondence and the capital for his business and film dealings. In either case, the persona of the larger than life showman was reinforced by such affectations and his status as an icon thrived.
Cecil B. DeMille had a keen eye for talent and was known for being an instrumental catalyst for the rising status of many a struggling or unknown actor. Actor
Richard Dix's best-remembered early role was in the silent version of DeMille's
The Ten Commandments.
Richard Cromwell owed his 1930s movie fame in part to being personally selected by DeMille for the role as the leader of the youth gang in DeMille's poignant, now cult-favorite,
This Day and Age (1933).
DeMille displayed a loyalty to certain supporting performers, casting them over and over in his pictures. They included
Henry Wilcoxen, Julia Faye, Joseph Schildkraut, Ian Keith, Charles Bickford, Theodore Roberts, Akim Tamiroff, and
William Boyd. He also cast leading actors such as
Claudette Colbert, Gloria Swanson, Gary Cooper, Jetta Goudal, Robert Preston, Paulette Goddard, and
Charlton Heston in multiple pictures. He was not known as a particularly good director of actors, often hiring actors whom he relied on to develop their own characters and act accordingly.
DeMille also had a reputation for being a tyrant on the set, and he despised actors who were not willing to take physical risks; such was the case with
Victor Mature in
Samson and Delilah, when Mature refused to wrestle the lion, though the lion was tame and had had its teeth pulled. (DeMille remarked that Mature was "100% yellow").
Paulette Goddard's refusal to risk personal injury in a scene involving fire in
Unconquered cost her DeMille's favor and probably a role in
The Greatest Show on Earth. DeMille was, however, adept at directing "thousands of extras," and many of his pictures included spectacular set pieces, such as the parting of the
Red Sea in both versions of
The Ten Commandments; the toppling of the pagan temple in
Samson and Delilah; train wrecks in
Union Pacific and
The Greatest Show on Earth; and the destruction of a zeppelin in
Madame Satan. DeMille knew what the movie-going public wanted, and he provided it.
DeMille was one of the first directors in Hollywood to become a celebrity in his own right, performing as himself, long before the likes of
Erich von Stroheim and
Alfred Hitchcock made it fashionable. From 1936 to 1944, DeMille hosted and even acted as pitchman for Cecil B. DeMille's
Lux Radio Theater, which was one of the most popular dramatic
radio shows at the time. Gloria Swanson immortalized DeMille with the oft-repeated line, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" in
Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, wherein DeMille played himself. DeMille also appeared as himself in Paramount's 1947 all-star musical comedy
Variety Girl and he narrated many of his later films, as well as appearing on screen in the introduction to
The Ten Commandments.
While he continued to be prolific throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he is probably best known for his 1956 film
The Ten Commandments (which is very different from his 1923 film by the same title). Also representative of his penchant for the spectacular was the 1952 production of
The Greatest Show on Earth which gave DeMille an
Oscar for best picture and a nomination for best director.
In 1954, Secretary of the Air Force
Harold E. Talbott sought out DeMille for help in designing the cadet uniforms at the newly established
United States Air Force Academy. DeMille's designs—most notably his design of the distinctive cadet parade uniform—won praise from Air Force and Academy leadership, were ultimately adopted, and are still worn by cadets today.
Near the end of his life, DeMille began pre-production work on a film biography of
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts, and had asked
David Niven to star in the film; the film was never made. He asked his son-in-law, actor
Anthony Quinn, to direct a remake of his 1938 film
The Buccaneer; although DeMille served as executive producer, he was very unhappy with Quinn's work and tried unsuccessufully to remedy the situation. Despite a good cast led by
Charlton Heston and
Yul Brynner, and some impressive battle scenes, the film was a disappointment.
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