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DeMille, Cecil B. (Cecil Blount), 1881-1959

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1881 - 1959

Biographical History

Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959) was an American motion picture producer and director, considered the archetype of the American film mogul. His 70 films reflect changing American tastes and values, and he was particularly noted for his multimillion-dollar spectacles.

Cecil B. DeMille was born on August 12, 1881 in Ashfield, Massachusetts to Henry Churchill de Mille and Matilda Beatrice Samuel de Mille. DeMille started acting on Broadway in 1900, and by 1913 he joined a film studio partnership which would eventually become Paramount Pictures. DeMille had a long and storied career as a filmmaker and directed several epic films, such as the Ten Commandments (1956). DeMille died on January 21, 1959, in Hollywood, California.

Citation:
His The Royal ...

LC data base, 10/11/85 (hdg.: DeMille, Cecil Blount, 1881-1959; usage: Cecil B. DeMille); LC manual auth. cd. (also shows usage: Cecil B. De Mille)

Wikipedia, Sept. 16, 2010 (Cecil Blount DeMille; b. Aug. 12, 1881 in Ashfield, Mass.; d. Jan. 21, 1959 in Hollywood, Calif.; American film director and producer)

Turner Classic Movies database, Oct. 7, 2010 (Cecil B. DeMille Productions; est. 1921; founded by Cecil B. DeMille)

Empire of dreams, 2010: p. 212 (Cecil B. DeMille Pictures Corporation; founded by Cecil B. DeMille)

Found in 573 Collections and/or Records:

Henry Wilcoxon, 1958

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 5 Sub-Series 5
Scope and Contents From the Series:

This series of 6 boxes contains correspondence, notes and desk calendars (1933-1965), and appointment books of key DeMille employees: Florence Cole (secretary), Gladys Rosson (secretary), Joseph W. Harper (businessman and son-in-law), Henry Wilcoxon (associate producer), Russell A. Treacy (business manager), and Stella Stray (DeMille's first employee, a secretary, hired in 1913).

Dates: 1958

Index to actors in C. B. DeMille motion pictures

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 2 Sub-Series 6 Sub-Series 11
Scope and Contents From the Series: Identified by DeMille as "Personal," this group of 196 boxes begins with 22 boxes dealing with the research and writing of the posthumously published The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1959), edited by Donald Hayne. The files are arranged chronologically by year, and items within each year are arranged alphabetically by subject or name. Over time, the organization of some of the files deteriorated into groups of unrelated records. Therefore, files...
Dates: 1919-1965

Index to recordings-discography

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 2 Sub-Series 6 Sub-Series 13
Scope and Contents From the Series: Identified by DeMille as "Personal," this group of 196 boxes begins with 22 boxes dealing with the research and writing of the posthumously published The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1959), edited by Donald Hayne. The files are arranged chronologically by year, and items within each year are arranged alphabetically by subject or name. Over time, the organization of some of the files deteriorated into groups of unrelated records. Therefore, files...
Dates: 1919-1965

Inventories, 1919-1937

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 2 Sub-Series 6 Sub-Series 8
Scope and Contents From the Series: Identified by DeMille as "Personal," this group of 196 boxes begins with 22 boxes dealing with the research and writing of the posthumously published The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1959), edited by Donald Hayne. The files are arranged chronologically by year, and items within each year are arranged alphabetically by subject or name. Over time, the organization of some of the files deteriorated into groups of unrelated records. Therefore, files...
Dates: 1919-1937

Inventories, indexes, lists, correspondence, 1919-1965

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 2 Sub-Series 6
Scope and Contents From the Series: Identified by DeMille as "Personal," this group of 196 boxes begins with 22 boxes dealing with the research and writing of the posthumously published The Autobiography of Cecil B. DeMille (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1959), edited by Donald Hayne. The files are arranged chronologically by year, and items within each year are arranged alphabetically by subject or name. Over time, the organization of some of the files deteriorated into groups of unrelated records. Therefore, files...
Dates: 1919-1965

Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company/Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, 1913-1939

 Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 7
Scope and Contents This series of 20 boxes contains material from 1913, the beginning of DeMille's motion picture career, to 1924. The files are arranged chronologically and within each year alphabetically by film title.Production files often contain treatments, play scripts, tinting guides, scenarios, music scores, contracts, financial statements, story files, story contest submissions, anc censorship notes. The series concludes with the files of story editor Ella King Adams. The films of this...
Dates: 1913-1939

Joseph W. Harper, 1959-1963

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 5 Sub-Series 3
Scope and Contents From the Series:

This series of 6 boxes contains correspondence, notes and desk calendars (1933-1965), and appointment books of key DeMille employees: Florence Cole (secretary), Gladys Rosson (secretary), Joseph W. Harper (businessman and son-in-law), Henry Wilcoxon (associate producer), Russell A. Treacy (business manager), and Stella Stray (DeMille's first employee, a secretary, hired in 1913).

Dates: 1959-1963

Joseph W. Harper Files, 1926-1963

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 12 Sub-Series 40
Scope and Contents From the Series: Found in ths series of 261 boxes are files relating to the activities of DeMille Productions, beginning in 1916. They include financial records and ledgers from 1916 to 1952. The extensive correspondence fields (1922-1959) are arranged chronologically, and then alphabetically within each year. The original order maintained in these files often includes years other than those indicated by the file heading. Files from preceding years were occasionally brought froward for reference or for...
Dates: 1926-1963

Land of Liberty, 1915-1939

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 10 Sub-Series 2 Sub-Series 9
Scope and Contents From the Series: In 1932 DeMille returned to Paramount Pictures after an eight-year absence. There he set up his own production entity know to those on his Paramount lot as the DeMille Unit. This series is the largest single group of material in the DeMille Archives, numbering 450 boxes. It is organized into two main groups: General Correspondence and Motion Picture Production Files.General Correspondence is arranged chronologically, and then alphabetically within each year by individual,...
Dates: 1915-1939

Legal

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 8 Sub-Series 2 Sub-Series 1 Sub-Series 4
Scope and Contents From the Series: In late 1924, DeMille purchased the Thomas Ince Studio in Culver City and renamed the facility DeMille Studio. This series of 35 boxes documents the nearly four-year lifespan of the organization and contains two main parts: the first deals with general financial and business correspondence and story properties from 1925 to 1928, and is arranged alphabetically ; the second part is comprised of film production files from the same period including 13 boxes of material on The Road to Yesterday,...
Dates: 1926-1958