Cecil B. DeMille

He married Constance Adams, his co-star from ‘Hearts Are Trumps’ on August 16, 1902. They had four children, one biological daughter Cecilia (born on October 5, 1908), one adopted daughter Katherine Lester and two adopted sons, Richard and John.

Katherine became an actress and later married actor Anthony Quinn. Richard became a distinguished filmmaker and writer. He was also a psychologist.

DeMille succumbed to heart failure on January 21, 1959, in California. His funeral took place on January 23 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and his remains were interred in ‘Hollywood Memorial Cemetery’.

He was born on August 12, 1881, in Ashfield, Massachusetts, to Henry Churchill DeMille and Mathilda Beatrice Samuel DeMille.

His family was into theatrical arts. His father was a playwright and a lay reader in the Episcopal Church. He was brought up in Washington, North Carolina.

His father used to read classics and the Bible to the children at night. He later recalled that while staying in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, where the family operated a private school, he used to visit Christ Episcopal Church and it was at this church that he envisioned the story of the silent film, ‘The Ten Commandments’ (1923).

After his father succumbed to typhoid on February 10, 1893, his mother opened ‘Henry C. De Mille School for Girls’, an acting workshop, in their home. Later Beatrice worked with Broadway as a female play broker.

DeMille joined ‘Pennsylvania Military College’ (presently ‘Widener University’) at fifteen years of age and completed his graduation in 1898.

He made his acting debut as a teenager in 1900 with the theatrical company of Charles Frohman on Broadway stage with the play, ‘Hearts Are Trumps’. Other stage productions where he performed include ‘The Prince Chap’, and ‘Lord Chumley’.

Although he did a long string of performances, success seemed to elude him and he was better known in the theatrical circuit as brother of William, who was gradually making a mark as a playwright. William occasionally called DeMille to collaborate and the duo sometimes worked with theatrical director-producer, impresario and playwright David Belasco, who was an acquaintance of their father.

DeMille’s 1913 theatrical production ‘Reckless Age’ garnered success, but overall it was a hard time for him, and he struggled to sustain his family comprising his wife and a little daughter.

He along with Sam Goldfish (or Samuel Goldwyn), Jesse Lasky and a few East Coast businessmen founded ‘Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company’ in July 1913.

His first film, a silent western drama ‘The Squaw Man’ that he co-directed with Oscar Apfel was released on February 12, 1914, in the US. He chose Hollywood as the shooting location instead of the regulars and also made the film with a run time of 74 minutes, flouting the dictum of 20 minutes. The sensational interracial love story of the film not only made it a phenomenal hit establishing the Lasky Company but also "put Hollywood on the map" of show business.