William DeMille
William DeMille was an influential American playwright, screenwriter, and director whose career evolved through three distinct phases from the early 1900s until his retirement in 1953. Initially, from 1900 to 1914, he gained recognition on Broadway, co-authoring several plays with his brother, the renowned filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille. After a period of self-reflection prompted by the failure of his play, DeMille transitioned to Hollywood, where he dedicated the next twenty-five years to screenwriting and directing, predominantly in the silent film era, with only a few later works in sound films. His writing is characterized by a quiet moralism and humor, often exploring themes of individual courage and social pressures, as seen in notable works like *Strongheart* and *The Warrens of Virginia*.
In addition to his creative output, DeMille was instrumental in academia, establishing the drama department at the University of Southern California in 1946, where he worked alongside his second wife, Clara Baranger. His legacy is further enriched by his family's artistic achievements, including those of his daughters, Agnes de Mille, a renowned choreographer, and Peggy George, an actress. DeMille also made his mark in the film industry by hosting the first two Academy Awards ceremonies and briefly serving as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He passed away in 1955, leaving behind a rich legacy in both theater and film.
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William DeMille
Educator
- Born: July 25, 1878
- Birthplace: Washington, D.C.
- Died: March 5, 1955
- Place of death: Playa del Rey, California
Biography
William DeMille’s career can be divided into three phases. From 1900 until 1914, he became well known and respected as a playwright with fourteen plays on the New York stage to his credit. Four of these plays were coauthored with his brother, Cecil B. DeMille, who changed the spelling of his last name.
By 1913, Cecil had established himself in Hollywood and was urging William to join him. At first reluctant to do so, declaring “with deepest certainty” that he had no desire to go West, the failure of his stage play, After Five, in late October, 1913, caused him to reconsider. He soon became fascinated with cinema, a new art for the people. The second phase of his career, from 1914 to 1939, was devoted to work as a screenwriter and director, and he created a prodigious output of scripts for silent films. Several of these scripts were adaptations of his own stage plays, and despite his fascination with the new technology of talking films, only his last three screenplays were talkies.
In 1946, he established the drama department at the University of Southern California. He dedicated the third phase of his career to academic life in association with his second wife, Clara Baranger, who served as a lecturer in the same department. He retired in 1953, less than two years before his death.
DeMille shared the limelight with five members of his family: his parents, Henry and Beatrice de Mille, who were both writers; his younger brother, Cecil B. DeMille, who became famous as a film director; and his two daughters by first wife Anna George, Agnes de Mille, who found fame as a choreographer, and Peggy George, an actress. What distinguishes DeMille is the quiet, sometimes humorous, and slightly moralistic qualities of his writing. While brother Cecil became famous for his epic spectaculars, William chose to work in smaller, more humane ways.
His plays often illustrate the power and importance of individual courage in the face of social pressures, as exemplified by Strongheart, The Warrens of Virginia, and The Woman. Strongheart portrays a college football player’s conflict between the demands of his Indian tribe and the call of his heart. The Warrens of Virginia deals with a romantic relationship between a Northern officer and the daughter of a wealthy Virginia plantation owner during the Civil War. The Woman pits political integrity against chivalric respect for a woman’s reputation.
In some of his one-act plays, DeMille indulges in humorous twists on standard social mores, as in Rollo: A Play for the Future, which plays on gender reversal, as men of the future are suddenly in need of emancipation. In Food: A Tragedy of the Future, food scarcity makes a single chicken egg such a highly valued commodity that its breaking is a heartrending tragedy. His first play, The Forest Ring, is set in a forest populated by fairies, invisible to all but a very few human beings, who bring a callous hunter to recognize the errors of his ways. Some of DeMille’s success came from his association with famed director David Belasco, who provided powerful renditions of DeMille’s plays.
Many of the silent films DeMille wrote and directed from the 1910’s through the 1920’s are now lost. One of the few that still exists is Miss Lulu Bett, a compassionate portrait of a poverty-stricken spinster that he directed and was released in 1921.
DeMille was the host of the first and second Academy Awards ceremonies and briefly served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He died in 1955.