(12 August 1881, Ashfield, Massachusetts - 21 January 1959, Hollywood, California)

Legendary film director and producer Cecil B. DeMille was most noted for his epic extravaganzas, like The Ten Commandments and The Greatest Show on Earth.

Cecil Blount DeMille was born on August 12, 1881, in Ashfield, MA, to parents who were both playwrights. His mother had a traveling theatre troupe, which Cecil both performed for and managed for 12 years.

In 1913 he, Jesse L. Lasky and Sam Goldwyn formed the Lasky (Paramount) film company and, the next year, produced the successful six reeler The Squaw Man, their first Hollywood film. DeMille produced and directed over 70 films over the years, with The Greatest Show on Earth winning the Best Picture Oscar, in 1952.

DeMille enjoyed the limelight, and he frequently appeared on screen in prologues or curtain-raising sequences of some of his earlier films. He also was the original host of the popular "Lux Radio Theater," which presented one-hour radio adaptations of popular movies, often with the original stars and always with many of the biggest names in Hollywood. DeMille served as host/director of the series from its debut in 1936 until 1944, when a dispute with the American Federation of Radio Artists forced his suspension, and ultimate resignation, from the program. He was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association honored DeMille by naming its annual Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures award after him.