Born on this date in 1881 was Cecil B deMille, visionary film-maker and pioneer of Hollywood’s Golden Age, with a career spanning several decades. He was known for epics like Cleopatra and The Ten Commandments. 10 facts about him.
His father was a successful playwright and drama teacher and his mother ran a school for girls.
He started his career as an actor with Charles Frohman’s theatrical company, making his stage debut in 1900 in a play called Hearts Are Trumps at New York's Garden Theater. While some say he worked as an actor in order to learn about writing and directing, DeMille himself said it was because he needed the money.
He eventually lost interest in stage acting and developed a passion for film. After going to see a movie called The Great Train Robbery in 1903 with Jesse L. Lasky, the pair arranged to meet a man named Sam Goldfish (later changed to Goldwyn) and his attorney with a view to setting up a film company called the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, which later grew to be Paramount Pictures.
His first film was a silent one called The Squaw Man in 1914. He co-wrote and co-directed it, and as well as marking his directorial debut, it was the first feature-length film shot entirely in Hollywood.
DeMille was one of the first to use sound in his films, and was also a trailblazer in the use of Technicolor.
Plot and dialogue were not a strong point of DeMille's films. His strength lay in the visual aspect. He worked with visual technicians, editors, art directors, costume designers, cinematographers, and set carpenters in order to make sure the scenes looked exactly right.
He met his wife, Constance Adams, while working as an actor in his very first play and they married in 1902. The marriage lasted 56 years, but DeMille was a player and had numerous affairs, sometimes entertaining two mistresses on his yacht at the same time while Constance stayed home with the kids, fully aware of what he was up to. She claimed she preferred to stay at home on dry land.
During WWII he was an air raid warden in Hollywood and worked for civil defence. He was quite athletic and not very tolerant of actors who refused to perform their own stunts. He once referred to Victor Mature as "100 percent yellow".
His final film was The Ten Commandments, which came out in 1956. It was DeMille’s longest film, running for 3 hours and 39 minutes, and costing $13 million, the highest in Paramount history and grossed over $80 million, more than any other film except for Gone With the Wind.
He died of a heart attack at the age of 77 in 1959. At the time, he had plans for several more epic films. He’d been doing the research for one about the formation of the Boy Scouts which would have starred James Stewart, and he also had more Biblical epics in mind The Deluge about Noah's Ark; Esther, about the Jewish queen of Persia; The Queen of Queens, about The Virgin Mary, and Thou Art the Man about David, king of Israel.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
No comments:
Post a Comment