Scott Eyman's Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille PDF

most sensible often called THE DIRECTOR of such miraculous movies as The Ten Commandments and King of Kings, Cecil B. DeMille lived a existence as epic as any of his cinematic masterpieces.

As a toddler DeMille discovered the Bible from his father, a theology pupil and playwright who brought Cecil and his older brother, William, to the theater. Tutored by means of impresario David Belasco, DeMille chanced on how audiences spoke back to showmanship: units, lighting, costumes, and so forth. He took this information with him to l. a. in 1913, the place he turned one of many motion picture pioneers, in partnership with Jesse Lasky and Lasky’s brother-in-law Samuel Goldfish (later Goldwyn). figuring out of a barn on streets aromatic with orange blossom and pepper bushes, the Lasky corporation grew to become out a string of winning silents, so much of them directed through DeMille, who turned one of many greatest names of the silent period. With motion pictures resembling The Squaw guy, Brewster’s hundreds of thousands, Joan the girl, and Don’t switch Your Husband, he was once the inventive spine of what may develop into Paramount Studios. In 1923 he filmed his first model of The Ten Commandments and later a moment biblical epic, King of Kings, both huge, immense box-office successes.

Although his acceptance rests principally at the biblical epics he made, DeMille’s own lifestyles used to be no morality story. He remained married to his spouse, Constance, for greater than fifty years, yet for many of the wedding he had 3 mistresses at the same time, all of whom labored for him. He confirmed nice loyalty to a small staff of actors who knew his kind, yet he additionally stumbled on a few significant stars, between them Gloria Swanson, Claudette Colbert, and later, Charlton Heston.

DeMille was once one of many few silent-era administrators who made a totally profitable transition to sound. In 1952 he gained the Academy Award for most sensible photo with The maximum convey on Earth. whilst he remade The Ten Commandments in 1956, it used to be a bigger hit than the silent model. He may well act, too: in Billy Wilder’s vintage movie Sunset side road, DeMille memorably performed himself.

In the Nineteen Thirties and Nineteen Forties DeMille grew to become a loved ones identify due to the Lux Radio Theater, which he hosted. yet after falling out with a union, he gave up this system, and his politics shifted to the precise as he championed loyalty oaths and Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist witch hunts.

As Scott Eyman brilliantly demonstrates during this fantastically researched biography, which attracts on a big cache of DeMille relations papers now not on hand to prior biographers, DeMille used to be even more than his clichéd snapshot. A proficient director who labored in lots of genres; a faithful relations guy and constant buddy with a hugely unconventional own existence; a pioneering filmmaker: DeMille comes alive in those pages, a legend whose superb profession outlined an era.