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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:

Scoring, dubbing, and continuity

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 10 Sub-Series 2 Sub-Series 4 Sub-Series 6
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: 1934

Scoring, dubbing, and continuity

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 10 Sub-Series 2 Sub-Series 5 Sub-Series 6
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: 1934-1935

Scrapbooks, 1882-1978

 Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 18
Scope and Contents DeMille's staff compiled and maintained more than 279 volumes of scrapbooks from 1919 to 1963. They contain clippings (reviews, advertisements, notices) from various magazines and newspapers, clipped by a professional clipping service and assembled into scrapbooks by DeMille's secretarial staff. Some contain handbills and commercial tie-in publications. The arrangement of the materials is according to film title or subject matter, wether personal or professional. The scrapbooks are arranged...
Dates: 1882-1978

Screening books, 1949-1959

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 2 Sub-Series 6 Sub-Series 10
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: 1949-1959

Screening lists, 1934-1959

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 2 Sub-Series 6 Sub-Series 9
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: 1934-1959

Script development, 1938-1939

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 10 Sub-Series 2 Sub-Series 9 Sub-Series 2
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: 1938-1939

Script development, 1926-1930

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 8 Sub-Series 2 Sub-Series 1 Sub-Series 2
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: 1926-1930

Script development, 1932

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 10 Sub-Series 2 Sub-Series 1 Sub-Series 1
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: 1932

Script development

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 9 Sub-Series 2 Sub-Series 2 Sub-Series 1
Scope and Contents From the Series: The 10 boxes comprising this series document DeMille's nearly four years at MGM, 1928 to 1931. The records are grouped under general correspondence, arranged chronologically, but alphabetically within each year by name, organization, or activity. The second group, Motion Picture Production Files, contains a limited number of treatments, scenarios, script drafts, casting information, and preview cards relating to Dynamite, Madam Satan, and the third version of The Squaw Man. See also:...
Dates: 1929-1930

Script development--drafts, 1950-1951

 Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS 1400 Series 10 Sub-Series 2 Sub-Series 15 Sub-Series 6
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: 1950-1951