Star Facts
  • Category Motion Pictures

    Address 1725 Vine Street

    Ceremony date 02/08/1960

  • Category Radio

    Address 6240 Hollywood Blvd

    Ceremony date 02/08/1960

Cecil B. DeMille
NY Academy of Dramatic Arts
Death Date:
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Cecil B. DeMille


DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts while his parents were vacationing there and grew up in Washington, North Carolina. While he is known as DeMille, his family name was Dutch and is usually spelt Demil. His father, Henry Churchill DeMille, was a North Carolina-born dramatist and lay reader in the Episcopal Church. His mother, Matilda Beatrice DeMille, was born in England to a Sephardic Jewish family but converted to her husband's faith. DeMille attended Pennsylvania Military College in Chester, Pennsylvania from the age of 15. He had an elder brother, William, and a sister Agnes, who died in childhood. Cecil DeMille's famous niece was named for her. After Henry DeMille's death at age 40, Cecil's mother, Beatrice, ran a well-known boarding school for girls in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. Henry, a playwright, was an administrator and faculty member during the early years of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, established in New York City in 1884. He is credited with providing its name, and both Cecil and William graduated from The Academy which they attended on scholarship. The Academy honored Cecil with an Alumni Achievement Award.


DeMille entered films in 1913. He directed dozens of silent films, including Paramount Pictures' first production, The Squaw Man, which was co-directed by Oscar Apfel, before coming into huge popularity during the late 1910s and early 1920s, when he reached the apex of his popularity with such films as Don't Change Your Husband, The Ten Commandments, and The King of Kings. A few of his silent films featured scenes in two-color Technicolor.