Cecil B. DeMille (1905)

It is a very long time since I spent a very pleasant summer in stock at the Elitch Gardens. Today in Hollywood I can hardly go anywhere without meeting one or more now rather famous people who…played in what all actors and actresses consider one of the greatest cradles of the drama in American history. As you start a new season, permit an old-time actor in Elitch’s Gardens to wish you a continuance of that success which was so rightfully yours in the early days of the stage. With kindest regards. Cecil B. DeMille.

[Borrillo, T. A. (2012). Denver’s historic Elitch Theatre: A nostalgic journey (a history of its times). Colorado. pp. 64-65.]

“All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” 45-years before Gloria Swanson spoke that legendary line, the 1905 season at Elitch Theatre included the young actor, Cecil B. DeMille, who would appear in minor roles in eleven of fifteen productions that summer.

However, Cecil B. DeMille went on to do much greater things as a director in Hollywood and is widely considered to be the man who made Hollywood the filmmaking capitol it is today.

A Hollywood pioneer, he directed and produced films such as The Ten Commandments (1923), The King of Kings (1927), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and The Ten Commandments (1956).

The Cecil B. DeMille Award is an honorary Golden Globe Award for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment”. It was first presented at the 9th Golden Globe Awards ceremony in February 1952 and is named in honor of its first recipient, director Cecil B. DeMille. DeMille received the award the year his penultimate film, The Greatest Show on Earth, premiered.

Seasons at the Theatre

1905

Productions/Roles:

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. [wikipedia]
He received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director for his circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), which won both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.
His last and best known film, The Ten Commandments (1956), also a Best Picture Academy Award nominee, is currently the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation.
In addition to his Best Picture Awards, he received an Academy Honorary Award for his film contributions, the Palme d’Or (posthumously) for Union Pacific (1939), a DGA Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
He was the first recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, which was named in his honor.

Elitch Theatre Connections:

Years after his time as a summer staff member at Elitch Theatre, DeMille would go on to work with many alums of the theatre. His film, The Ten Commandments, included Elitch Theatre alum: Edward G. Robinson, Vincent Price, and Douglass Dumbrille.
DeMille worked with Maude Fealy during his summer at the theatre and he later cast her in various roles, including in The Ten Commandments.
Cecil B. DeMille had a cameo with Elitch Theatre alumna, Gloria Swanson, in the legendary film, Sunset Boulevard, in which Swanson spoke the line: “All right, Mr. DeMille. I’m ready for my close-up.”