(August 12, 1881–January 21, 1959), was an American motion-picture producer and director. He was know for the originality and accuracy of his epic productions, which utilized spectacular crowd scenes and special effects. His best-known films include: Cleopatra; Union Pacific; The Crusades; The Sign of the Cross; Autobiography; The King of Kings 1927; Samson and Delilah 1949; The Ten Commandments 1923, remade 1956; and The Greatest Show on Earth, for which he won the 1952 Academy Award for best film.
Born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, Cecil B. DeMille was educated at Pennsylvania Military Academy and at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He worked as an actor for several years, wrote two plays, and from 1936 to 1945 produced numerous radio programs. His niece, Agnes de Mille (born 1909), was well-known for her choreography of the films and musicals: Oklahoma! (1943); Paint Your Wagons (1951); Carousel (1945); and Rodeo (1942).
In 1956, at the New York opening of the film The Ten Commandments, Cecil B. DeMille stated:
The Ten Commandments are not the laws. They are THE LAW. Man has made 32 million laws since the Commandments were handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai more than three thousand years ago, but he has never improved on God’s law. The Ten Commandments are the principles by which man may live with God and man may live with man. They are the expressions of the mind of God for His creatures. They are the charter and guide of human liberty, for there can be no liberty without the law. …
What I hope for our production of The Ten Commandments is that those who see it shall come from the theater not only entertained and filled with the sight of a big spectacle, but filled with the spirit of truth. That it will bring to its audience a better understanding of the real meaning of this pattern of life that God has set down for us to follow.3311