Cecil B. DeMille

AKA:

The King of Hollywood

Birth Name:

Cecil Blount DeMille

Birth Date:

August 12, 1881

Birth Place:

Ashfield, Massachusetts

Death Date:

January 21, 1959

Place of Death:

2000 De Mille Drive, Hollywood, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Heart failure due to a series of heart attacks

Cemetery Name:

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Show Business

Considered the founding father of the American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history he was also one of the founders of Paramount Pictures. As a director, producer, writer and actor. Cecil B. DeMille was the original aristocrat of Hollywood. And when it was all over, the grand total of Cecil B. DeMille’s box-office grosses, when adjusted for inflation, comes to $30 billion.

Fun Fact

He was able to ply his stage craft in one of the last films of his career, DeMille famously played himself in one pithy scene in the classic film, Sunset Boulevard and proved so credible, the film’s director, the renowned, Billy Wilder is credited with saying,” “DeMille was very good. Much better than a lot of the actors in his pictures. He took direction terrifically. He loved it, he understood it. He was very subtle.”

In the biography “Orson Welles & The Golden Age of Hollywood” Orson pontificates for the first time on two of the great actors and directors of the time: John Barrymore, who was a great friend to Welles when he first came to Hollywood, and C. B. DeMille, who was more of a nemesis. So there is little surprise in seeing how Welles stands up for the memory of John Barrymore, while noting that Mr. DeMille was little more than a Fascist. Welles, as it turns out, was quite correct about DeMille, as we now know from the famous directors guild meeting where Mr. DeMille attempted to force a loyalty pledge from film directors during the McCarthy era witch hunts. Ironically, it was Welles own favorite Hollywood director, John Ford who stood up to DeMille and basically called C. B’s proposal “Un-American” since they attempted to suppress the right to the individuals freedom of speech, as well as the artist’s right to freedom of expression.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

6000 Santa Monica Blvd.

Los Angeles, California, 90038

USA

North America

Map of Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, California

Grave Location:

Garden of Legends, Section 8, Lot 50

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery take the first left and drive around to the lake. The Demille family can be found on the road near Don Adams on the opposite side of the lake from the mausoleum.