title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Operating on a much smaller budget with "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" than their previous games, Ninja Theory went out of their usual ways to film the cutscenes of the game. Instead of going to bigger studios and having a team of approximately 20 people film several actors together, as they did in the past, they filmed only Juergens in a small space, with only three other people needed on set: Antoniades directing and filming, one person to look after the audio, and one person to look after the motion capture process. To save more money, the team used equipment described by Antoniades as "fairly cheap", including material bought at a low price at IKEA and on Amazon. As a further cost-saving measure, they used their own boardroom for the motion capture scenes, rather than using external motion capture studio spaces.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: The helmet capturing Juergens' expressions and voice was provided to the team by Technoprops. The team opted to feature only two cameras on the helmet, as they felt that having four would be too uncomfortable for Juergens and impact her performance. The audio recording device was the most expensive part of the setup, and was placed around Juergens' forehead to avoid recording breathing sounds. Because all of Juergens' audio was recorded live, the team could not give her indications or reminders directly, or play music she would synchronize her performance with. For this reason, pre-recorded audio notes by Antoniades and excerpts from the soundtrack would be played at the same time on headphones both he and Juergens would wear, so they could act accordingly and in synchronization with each other.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: To feature the voices in Senua's head in a way that would be realistic regarding actual people suffering auditory hallucinations, the team, based on descriptions by Professor Charles Fernyhough, an expert on the subject, recorded several actors using binaural recording that also records the 3D position of sound, so the voices would sound as close or distant as the actors were to the microphone, replicating the way human ears perceive sounds. The team then invited voice hearers to listen to the result in order to give them feedback for future recordings. The original score for the game was composed by David García and Andy LaPlegua; the song "Just Like Sleep" by Passarella Death Squad is played during the final battle, and the song "Illusion" by VNV Nation plays during the ending credits.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: "Hellblade" was released for Windows and PlayStation 4 via digital channels on August 8, 2017. Following the period of timed console exclusivity for the PlayStation 4, a version for the Xbox One, with enhanced graphical support on the Xbox One X, was released on April 11, 2018. On July 31, 2018, an update added full virtual reality support via the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets. On February 13, 2019, the game was announced for Nintendo Switch later in Spring of the same year.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: While the game was playable through backwards compatibility on the Xbox Series X and Series S, an enhanced version with improved visuals and ray tracing support was released through a free optimization patch on August 9, 2021.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: The game received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic. Its choice to depict and revolve around psychosis was applauded as a unique and interesting choice, as was the execution of those themes, and the idea of blending its approach with Norse mythology and the grief-ridden journey of Senua. Juergens' performance, and the game's sound, artistic direction, tense atmosphere, and low price, were also praised; the quality of its production value and graphics was singled out as superior to what independent games usually offer. Reception of the combat and puzzles were more mixed, with several reviewers complaining about combat being too repetitive and simplistic, the lack of variety in the enemies, and about the puzzles being redundant.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Brandin Tyrrel of "IGN" praised the story, sound, directing, art direction, voice acting, music, and innovative presentation, and stating "it unfolds like a beautiful, dark, tense visual novel, placing the excellently raw, human performance of its main character front and center on her journey into the land of the Northmen. Her story is one of confusion, sadness, fear, and loss, and it's punctuated by moments of beauty, and strength that has left a lasting impression on me." He added "As impressive as ["Hellblade"s] story is, Ninja Theory's smart design reinforces the sensory nature of the harrowing tale through subtle and intuitive mechanics [...] Its incredibly smart use of audio and visual distortion and trickery to convey the frightening effects of psychosis, hallucinations, and delusion, are married with the gameplay elements for an experience that rarely ever grapples over whether it's a game or a story". Brad Shoemaker of "Giant Bomb" stated as a narrative effort, its success was "almost unparalleled in the medium". He applauded the story, sound, characters, graphics, Juergens' performance and "piercing intensity". He appreciated the less artistic elements, but felt that the gameplay for battles was "usually satisfying but can also feel like a chore in confined spaces". However, he described the boss fights as "all unique and exceptionally memorable". Alice Bell of "VideoGamer.com" gave the game a 9 out of 10, praising its "incredibly compelling story", "fast, stylish combat", and "beautiful and horrible audio and visual design".


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: In a positive review, Leif Johnson of "PC Gamer" praised "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" for its themes, presentation and story, but complained that the "inspiration doesn't carry over to the actual fights. [...] I frankly found it kind of dull in the one-on-one duels at the start, and it didn't help that the enemies sometimes seem to skip a few animations when reacting to attacks. Nor does it help that there's precious little variation in the foes themselves, who almost always show up as tall, shirtless warriors with deer-skull helmets or as beefy berserker shamans. By the end of the first hour, you've basically seen every non-boss you're going to see". He did, however, consider combat to get much better once Senua has to face many enemies at once. In one of the publications to give the game a somewhat negative review, "Edge" was unhappy with the game's depiction of Senua's condition.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Several reviewers were less enthusiastic, with most criticism directed at the gameplay, fights and puzzles; however, most of them still praised "Hellblade" as a work of art. Among them was "Game Informer"s Joe Juba, who found "Hellblade" to be "undeniably memorable, telling a compelling tale that explores subject matter many consider taboo". However, he believed that the gameplay suffered from the game's themes. Unaware of the fake nature of the game's supposed permadeath, he complained that it was too unclear how close to a permanent game over he was, and felt the sense that he was in "frustrating". He also found the puzzles tedious, and believed that the idea of the fight sequences allowing certain enemies to be off-screen translated poorly to gameplay.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: "Eurogamer" ranked the game ninth on their list of the "Top 50 Games of 2017", "GamesRadar+" ranked it 16th on their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017, and "EGMNow" ranked it 19th in their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017, while "Polygon" ranked it 24th on their list of the 50 best games of 2017. The game received nominations for "Best PC Game", "Best PlayStation 4 Game", "Best Action-Adventure Game", "Best Graphics", "Best Story", and "Most Innovative" (the latter for which it became a runner-up) at "IGN"s Best of 2017 Awards.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: "Game Informer" has listed "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" among best games released throughout the eighth video game generation.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: The game's depiction of psychosis was applauded, and often described as the game's greatest quality. Several media outlets and reviewers analyzed the game's depiction of psychosis in more detail: it was noted that all parts of the game, including the fights and puzzles, were made to further the depiction of Senua's psychosis and revolved around her condition. Paul Fletcher, a neuroscientist and psychosis expert at the University of Cambridge who worked on the game, said that "It's been exciting to see Senua received so positively by those who have lived with experiences of psychosis."


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Michael Briers of "PlayStationLifeStyle", stated that "by working closely with neuroscientists and those unfortunate few who have been diagnosed as psychotic, "Hellblade" carefully avoids those cheap, half-assed tropes that render a character insane and, therefore, woefully one-dimensional. Not only does it act as a disservice to those who suffer from mental illness, this practice of painting in broad strokes only minimizes the room for nuance, but "Senua's Sacrifice" boldly cuts through the white noise". Leif Johnson of "PC Gamer" praised the gripping depiction of a character suffering from psychosis, stating "Ninja Theory uses haunted eyes to full effect in long, moody closeups peppering the narrative. [Senua] peers not only into the darkness but seemingly past the camera, past the screen. Looking back, I found depths of despair and anger there that were sometimes hard to meet head-on [...] Some people would crumble under such pain. But still, Senua fights. It's a little inspiring."


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Alice Bell of "VideoGamer.com" noted that although Senua's psychosis is a cause of tragedy in her life, the game also depicted her condition as something that can bring her contentment, stating that her hallucinations are sometimes "actually lovely too, reflecting that psychosis can manifest as color and beauty." Regarding the story as a whole, she stated "you [the player] learn about the trauma Senua has faced, made greater by her struggles with her own mental health and others' lack of understanding of it. Great care has been taken, with input every step of the way from psychologists and people who have experienced psychosis, to give as faithful a representation of it as possible. The hardest battles are fought in the mind, says Dillion, although Senua has physical battles as well."


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Mollie L Patterson of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" declared that "while I can't speak to that side of things from personal experience, I can tell you that I was legitimately affected by [Senua's] condition at times. Playing a good portion of the game with headphones on, quiet moments were often broken by the never-ending chatter of those other selves conflicting in their thoughts, with some wanting to help their host in her quest, and others constantly telling Senua (and you) that she was wrong in her choices, that she was destined to failure, or that it was all hopeless. It's hard to explain how powerful those words can be, even as a player detached from Senua's condition, and it was one of many elements that helped form a bond between us."


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Shoemaker stated ""Hellblade"s single most powerful trick is a near-constant stream of voices in Senua's head, recorded with a spatial audio technique so they feel like they're all around you, nagging at you, undermining your decisions and your confidence. These voices are frequently in conflict with what you're doing and even with each other; one side can be encouraging you while the other mock you mercilessly. The effect is striking. Over time Senua's pain becomes palpable, incontestable, especially as the stress worsens the longer these voices harangue you, the more vicious and deranged they become. It's important to remember that you as the player, though, have the luxury of turning them off whenever you want. "Hellblade"s robust bag of psychological tricks and the sheer fact of Senua's distressing reality result in the game's uncommon ability to capture the feelings of worthlessness, lack of control, of being misunderstood and shunned, the strange mix of hope and despair that can accompany a debilitating mental illness."


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Not all media outlets were satisfied with the game's depiction of the condition. In an article he published to criticize the game, "Mic" gaming editor Jason Faulkner, who had experience working with the mentally ill, praised Senua's character, but was highly critical of the game, stating that it should have focused on helping people to truly understand psychosis, and have the condition be "focal and explicit", instead of representing it metaphorically: "If you go into the game without any background information, you might assume that Senua is living with delusions and Norse mythology-inspired hallucinations — or you might think that she's being haunted by demons and ghosts. [...] The portrayal of Senua's mental illness would be better served by showing both sides of her story: what's in her head and what's actually happening." He also stated that the game "stifles the opportunity to inject commentary about the broader picture of mental health care", notably by not depicting caregivers or other people dedicated to helping those with mental illness in real life. "Edge" deplored that Senua's psychosis was depicted as "something of an asset: a helpful superpower that can give you the strength to soldier on through the darkness, so long as you can put up with the odd breakdown here and there."


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Early in the game, after Senua's hand starts to rot because she got "tainted", the Darkness tells her that every time she "dies" (every death turns out to be a vision of a possible future), the rot will spread further up, until it reaches her head and consumes her soul; the game implies that, if this happens, it will result in a permadeath, as the player's save would be deleted, and all game progress until then would be erased. However, several media outlets later found out that the rot stops spreading after a certain number of deaths, and cannot progress further before a certain point in the game, ultimately making it impossible for it to reach Senua's head.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Antoniades said that the permadeath mechanic was a bluff: while the rot will spread on Senua's body over repeated deaths, it will never fully reach her head; the wording they chose to describe this was meant to convey part of the fear associated with mental illness and psychosis directly to the player. Antoniades said "We were looking for ideas of how you introduce fear, and one of those ideas was the permadeath mechanic. It's the only time we're very explicit about what will happen to you in the game." He considered that they believed that players and critics have mistaken their wording on the permadeath mechanic when the game was released, which created a "blowout", but he defended their use of the wording as "it's your interpretation as a player that taints the meaning behind it. That's something we wanted to do on purpose, because with mental illness it's your frame of mind that interprets the world, and that can cause you distress."


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: Reid McCarter of "PC Gamer" strongly defended Ninja Theory's move, calling it "great game design and a modern expression of unreliable narration". He stated "As the story progresses, the nature of the corruption becomes clearer as the player comes to understand a correlation between Senua's backstory and psychology and the way they perceive the game's dangers. It is a beautifully executed bit of narrative design, game systems and story working in tandem." "PCGamesN" called it a "clever decision", as it "focuses on Senua's own fear of her enemies and degrading mental state". "Eurogamer" called it "a cool trick that makes the player feel a sense of dread as they're playing the game. Dread, anxiety and death are all themes "Hellblade" revolves around. It certainly fits".


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: While only released in digital form, "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice" was a commercial success. It was the best selling game on the PlayStation Store in Europe for the month of its release. According to director Tameem Antoniades the game sold "better than expected" and broke even in approximately three months, ahead of the six to nine months the developers expected. "PC Gamer" stated about "Hellblade"s success that "the news can only be positive. Perhaps if other developers see an experimental game like "Hellblade" finding commercial success then they'll be more likely to take risks on their own titles—and that, ultimately, will lead to more interesting games". To celebrate World Mental Health Day on October 10, 2017, Ninja Theory donated all profit made from the sales of "Hellblade" on that day to Rethink Mental Illness. By June 2018, the game had sold over a million copies across all three platforms.


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: In addition to the awards received by the game, the team of "Hellblade", including Antoniades and Juergens, won the award for Best Real-Time Graphics & Interactivity at SIGGRAPH in 2016, for a showcase demonstration of a technique they called "Realtime Cinematography", during which they performed and filmed live a scene from "Hellblade", which was "shot, captured and edited to final quality in minutes, a process that would normally take weeks or months".


title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

text: "Senua's Saga: Hellblade II" was announced during The Game Awards 2019, with plans for release on Windows and Xbox Series X/S. The game soundtrack will be composed by Heilung and will be set in Iceland and will use Epic Games's new Unreal Engine 5.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: The term Greek Dark Ages refers to the period of Greek history from the end of the Mycenaean palatial civilization, around 1100 BC, to the beginning of the Archaic age, around 750 BC. Archaeological evidence shows a widespread collapse of Bronze Age civilization in the Eastern Mediterranean world at the outset of the period, as the great palaces and cities of the Mycenaeans were destroyed or abandoned. At about the same time, the Hittite civilization suffered serious disruption, as cities from Troy to Gaza were destroyed. In Egypt, the New Kingdom fell into disarray, which led to the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. Following the collapse, fewer, smaller settlements suggest extensive famine and depopulation. In Greece, the Linear B script used by Mycenaean bureaucrats to write the Greek language ceased, with the Greek alphabet not developing until the beginning of the Archaic Period. The decoration on Greek pottery after about 1100 BC lacks the figurative decoration of Mycenaean ware and is restricted to simpler, generally geometric styles (1000–700 BC).


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: It was previously thought that all contact was lost between mainland Hellenes and foreign powers during this period, yielding little cultural progress or growth. But archaeologist Alex Knodell considers that artifacts from excavations at Lefkandi on the Lelantine Plain in Euboea in the 1980s "revealed that some parts of Greece were much wealthier and more widely connected than traditionally thought, as a monumental building and its adjacent cemetery showed connections to Cyprus, Egypt, and the Levant as markers of elite status and authority, much as they had been in previous periods", and this shows that significant cultural and trade links with the east, particularly the Levant coast, developed from c. 900 BC onwards. Additionally, evidence has emerged of the new presence of Hellenes in sub-Mycenaean Cyprus and on the Syrian coast at Al-Mina.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: During the Dark Ages of Greece the old major settlements were abandoned (with the notable exception of Athens), and the population dropped dramatically in numbers. Within these three hundred years, the people of Greece lived in small groups that moved constantly in accordance with their new pastoral lifestyle and livestock needs, while they left no written record behind leading to the conclusion that they were illiterate. Later in the Dark Ages (between 950 and 750 BC), Greeks relearned how to write once again, but this time instead of using the Linear B script used by the Mycenaeans, they adopted the alphabet used by the Phoenicians “innovating in a fundamental way by introducing vowels as letters. The Greek version of the alphabet eventually formed the base of the alphabet used for English today.”


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: Life was undoubtedly harsh for the Greeks of the Dark Ages. However, in retrospect, one major result of the period can be identified. The deconstruction of the old Mycenaean economic and social structures with the strict class hierarchy and hereditary rule were forgotten, and gradually replaced with new socio-political institutions that eventually allowed for the rise of democracy in 5th c. BC Athens. Notable events from the Dark Ages period include the first Olympics, in 776, and the composition of the Homeric epics the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey".


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: Around this time, large-scale revolts took place in several parts of the eastern Mediterranean. Attempts to overthrow existing kingdoms were made as a result of economic and political instability by surrounding people, who were already plagued with famine and hardship. Part of the Hittite kingdom was invaded and conquered by the so-called Sea Peoples, whose origins, perhaps from different parts of the Mediterranean region such as the Black Sea, the Aegean and Anatolian regions, remain obscure. The 13th- and 12th-century inscriptions and carvings at Karnak and Luxor are the only sources for "Sea Peoples," a term invented by the Egyptians and recorded in boastful accounts of Egyptian military successes. There is little more evidence for these so-called Sea Peoples than these inscriptions.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: A similar assemblage of peoples may have attempted to invade Egypt twice, once during the reign of Merneptah, about 1208  BC, and again during the reign of Ramesses III, about 1178  BC.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: With the collapse of the palatial centers, no more monumental stone buildings were built, and the practice of wall painting may have ceased. Writing in the Linear B script also ceased, and vital trade links were lost as towns and villages were abandoned. Writing in the Linear B script ended particularly due to the redistributive palace economy crashing; there was no longer a need to keep records about commerce. The population of Greece declined. The world of organized state armies, kings, officials, and redistributive systems disappeared. Most of the information about the period comes from burial sites and the grave goods contained within them.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: The emerging fragmented, localized, and autonomous cultures lacked cultural and aesthetic cohesion and are noted for their diversity of material cultures in pottery styles (e.g. conservative in Athens, eclectic in Knossos), burial practices, and settlement structures. The Protogeometric style of pottery was stylistically simpler than earlier designs, characterized by lines and curves. Generalizations about the "Dark Age Society" are considered simplifications, because the range of cultures throughout Greece at the time cannot be grouped into a single "Dark Age Society" category. Tholos tombs are found in early Iron Age Thessaly and in Crete but not in general elsewhere, and cremation was the dominant rite in Attica but nearby in the Argolid, it was inhumation. Some former sites of Mycenaean palaces, such as Argos or Knossos, continued to be occupied; the fact that other sites experienced an expansive "boom time" of a generation or two before they were abandoned has been associated by James Whitley with the "big-man social organization", which is based on personal charisma and is inherently unstable: he interprets Lefkandi in this light.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: Some regions in Greece, such as Attica, Euboea, and central Crete, recovered economically from these events faster than others, but life for common Greeks would have remained relatively unchanged as it had done for centuries. There was still farming, weaving, metalworking and pottery but at a lower level of output and for local use in local styles. Some technical innovations were introduced around 1050  BC with the start of the Protogeometric style (1050–900 BC), such as the superior pottery technology that included a faster potter's wheel for superior vase shapes and the use of a compass to draw perfect circles and semicircles for decoration. Better glazes were achieved by higher temperature firing of the clay. However, the overall trend was toward simpler, less intricate pieces and fewer resources being devoted to the creation of beautiful art.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: The smelting of iron was learned from Cyprus and the Levant and was exploited and improved upon by using local deposits of iron ore previously ignored by the Mycenaeans: edged weapons were now within reach of less elite warriors. Though the universal use of iron was one shared feature among Dark Age settlements, it is still uncertain when the forged iron weapons and armour achieved strength superior to those that had previously been cast and hammered from bronze. From 1050, many small local iron industries appeared, and by 900, almost all weapons in grave goods were made of iron.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: The distribution of the Ionic Greek dialect in historic times indicates early movement from the mainland of Greece to the Anatolian coast to such sites as Miletus, Ephesus, and Colophon, perhaps as early as 1000, but the contemporaneous evidence is scant. In Cyprus, some archaeological sites begin to show identifiably Greek ceramics, a colony of Euboean Greeks was established at Al Mina on the Syrian coast, and a reviving Aegean Greek network of exchange can be detected from 10th-century Attic Protogeometric pottery found in Crete and at Samos, off the coast of Asia Minor.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: Cyprus was inhabited by a mix of "Pelasgians" and Phoenicians, joined during this period by the first Greek settlements. Potters in Cyprus initiated the most elegant new pottery style of the 10th and 9th centuries, the "Cypro-Phoenician" "black on red" style of small flasks and jugs that held precious contents, probably scented oil. Together with distinctively Greek Euboean ceramic wares, it was widely exported and is found in Levantine sites, including Tyre and far inland in the late 11th and 10th centuries. Cypriot metalwork was exchanged in Crete.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: Greece during this period was likely divided into independent regions organized by kinship groups and the "oikoi" or households, the origins of the later "poleis". Excavations of Dark Age communities such as Nichoria in the Peloponnese have shown how a Bronze Age town was abandoned in 1150 BC but then reemerged as a small village cluster by 1075 BC. At this time there were only around forty families living there with plenty of good farming land and grazing for cattle. The remains of a 10th century building, including a megaron, on the top of the ridge has led to speculation that this was the chieftain's house. This was a larger structure than those surrounding it but it was still made from the same materials (mud brick and thatched roof). It was perhaps also a place of religious significance and communal storage of food. High-status individuals did in fact exist in the Dark Age, but their standard of living was not significantly higher than others of their village. Most Greeks did not live in isolated farmsteads but in small settlements. It is likely that at the dawn of the historical period two or three hundred years later, the main economic resource for each family was the ancestral plot of land of the "Oikos", the "kleros" or allotment; without this, a man could not marry.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: Lefkandi on the island of Euboea was a prosperous settlement in the Late Bronze Age, possibly to be identified with old Eretria. It recovered quickly from the collapse of Mycenaean culture, and in 1981 excavators of a burial ground found the largest 10th-century building yet known from Greece. Sometimes called "the "heroon"", this long narrow building, 50 metres by 10 metres, or about 150 feet by 30 feet, contained two burial shafts. In one were placed four horses and the other contained a cremated male buried with his iron weapons and an inhumed woman, heavily adorned with gold jewellery. The man's bones were placed in a bronze jar from Cyprus, with hunting scenes on the cast rim. The woman was clad with gold coils in her hair, rings, gold breastplates, an heirloom necklace (an elaborate Cypriot or Near Eastern necklace made some 200 to 300 years before her burial), and an ivory-handled dagger at her head. The horses appeared to have been sacrificed, some appearing to have iron bits in their mouths. No evidence survives to show whether the building was erected to house the burial, or whether the "hero" or local chieftain in the grave was cremated and then buried in his grand house; whichever is true, the house was soon demolished and the debris used to form a roughly circular mound over the wall stumps.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: Between this period and approximately 820 BC, rich members of the community were cremated and buried close to the eastern end of the building, in much the same way Christians might seek to be buried close to a saint's grave; the presence of imported objects, notable throughout more than eighty further burials, contrast with other nearby cemeteries at Lefkandi and attest to a lasting elite tradition.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: The archaeological record of many sites demonstrates that the economic recovery of Greece was well underway by the beginning of the 8th century BC. Cemeteries, such as the Kerameikos in Athens or Lefkandi, and sanctuaries, such as Olympia, recently founded in Delphi or the Heraion of Samos, first of the colossal free-standing temples, were richly provided with offerings - including items from the Near East, Egypt, and Italy made of exotic materials including amber and ivory. Exports of Greek pottery demonstrate contact with the Levant coast at sites such as Al-Mina and with the region of the Villanovan culture to the north of Rome. The decoration of pottery became more elaborate and included figured scenes that parallel the stories of Homeric Epic. Iron tools and weapons improved; renewed Mediterranean trade brought new supplies of copper and tin to make a wide range of elaborate bronze objects, such as tripod stands like those offered as prizes in the funeral games celebrated by Achilles for Patroclus. Other coastal regions of Greece besides Euboea were once again full participants in the commercial and cultural exchanges of the eastern and central Mediterranean and communities developed governance by an elite group of aristocrats rather than by the single "basileus" or chieftain of earlier periods.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: By the mid-to-late-8th century BC, a new Greek alphabet system was adopted from the Phoenician alphabet by a Greek with first-hand experience of it. The Greeks adapted the abjad used to write Phoenician (a Semitic language used by the Phoenicians), notably introducing characters for vowel sounds and thereby creating the first truly alphabetic writing system. The new alphabet quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean and was used to write not only the Greek language but also Phrygian and other languages in the eastern Mediterranean. As Greece sent out colonies west towards Sicily and Italy (Pithekoussae, Cumae), the influence of their new alphabet extended further. The ceramic Euboean artifact inscribed with a few lines written in the Greek alphabet referring to "Nestor's Cup", discovered in a grave at Pithekoussae (Ischia), dates from c. 730 BC; it seems to be the oldest written reference to the "Iliad". The Etruscans benefited from the innovation: Old Italic variants spread throughout Italy from the 8th century. Other variants of the alphabet appear on the Lemnos Stele and in the alphabets of Asia Minor. The previous Linear scripts were not completely abandoned: the Cypriot syllabary, descended from Linear A, remained in use on Cyprus in Arcadocypriot Greek and Eteocypriot inscriptions until the Hellenistic era.


title: Greek Dark Ages

text: Some scholars have argued against the concept of a Greek Dark Age, on grounds that the former lack of archaeological evidence in a period that was mute in its lack of inscriptions (thus "dark") is an accident of discovery rather than a fact of history. As James Whitley has put it, "The Dark Age of Greece is our conception. It is a conception strongly coloured by our knowledge of the two literate civilisations that preceded and succeeded it: the bureaucratic, palace-centred world of Mycenaean Greece and the chaotic and creative Archaic age of Hellenic civilisation."


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó (; born 29 December 1962) is a Catalan politician and journalist from Spain. Since 2019 he has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). A former mayor of Girona, Puigdemont served as President of Catalonia from 2016 to 2017 when he was removed from office by the Spanish Government following the unilateral Catalan declaration of independence. He is co-founder of the National Call for the Republic (CNxR), leader of the Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat) electoral alliance and founder of the Together for Catalonia party.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: After education in Amer and Girona, he became a journalist in 1982, writing for various local publications and becoming editor-in-chief of "El Punt". He was the director of the Catalan News Agency from 1999 to 2002 and the director of Girona's House of Culture from 2002 to 2004. Puigdemont's family were supporters of Catalan independence and Puigdemont became involved in politics as a teenager, joining the nationalist Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), the predecessor to the PDeCAT, in 1980. He gave up journalism to pursue a career in politics in 2006 when he was elected as a member of the Parliament of Catalonia for the constituency of Girona. He was elected to the Municipality Council of Girona in 2007 and in 2011 he became Mayor of Girona. On 10 January 2016, following an agreement between the Junts pel Sí (JxSí), an electoral alliance led by the CDC, and the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), the Parliament of Catalonia elected Puigdemont as the 130th President of the Government of Catalonia.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 6–7 September 2017, he approved laws for permitting an independence referendum and the juridical transition and foundation of a Republic, a legal framework superseding the Spanish Constitution to be put in place if the referendum supported independence. On 1 October 2017, the Catalan independence referendum was held in Catalonia despite the suspension of the laws by the Constitutional Court of Spain. Polling stations were partially closed and some saw the use of excessive force by the National Police Corps and Civil Guard. A total 43% of Catalan citizens voted in the referendum, 92% of them supporting independence. The Catalan Parliament declared independence on 27 October 2017 which resulted in the Spanish government imposing direct rule on Catalonia, dismissing Puigdemont and the Catalan government. The Catalan Parliament was dissolved and the 2017 Catalan regional election was held. On 30 October 2017 charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds were brought against Puigdemont and other members of the Puigdemont Government. Puigdemont, along with others, fled to Belgium and European Arrest Warrants (EAW) were issued against them. At the regional elections held on 21 December 2017, Puigdemont's party, Together for Catalonia, was second, and Catalan secessionists retained a slim majority of seats and 47.6% of votes. Puigdemont called for fresh talks with the then Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy but these were rejected.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Puigdemont remained in Belgium to avoid arrest if he returned to Spain, with this situation being defined as exile by some, self-imposed exile by some others, and also as fugitive from justice. On 25 March 2018, he was detained by the Autobahnpolizei (highway patrol) acting on his European Arrest Warrant in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. He was released on bail, with the state high court deciding he could not be extradited for "rebellion" as German law does not coincide with Spanish law on the definition thereof, a requirement of his EAW. On 10 July 2018 a Spanish Supreme Court judge suspended him as a deputy in the Catalan parliament. On 12 July 2018, a German court decided that he could be extradited back to Spain for misuse of public funds, but not for the more serious charge of rebellion. Puigdemont's legal team said they would appeal any decision to extradite him. Following the German court decision, on 19 July 2018, Spain dropped the European arrest warrants against Puigdemont and other Catalan officials in self-exile. He was elected as a Member of the European Parliament after the 2019 European Parliament election in Spain. In March 2021, the European Parliament voted to lift his parliamentary immunity. On 23 September 2021, it was reported that he had been arrested by police in Sardinia, Italy acting on a tip-off and was being asked to be transferred to Spain under the terms of a European arrest warrant. After a night in prison, he was released without any precautionary measures.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Puigdemont was born on 29 December 1962 in Amer, a village in the "comarca" of la Selva in the province of Girona in north-eastern Catalonia, Spain. The son of Francesc Xavier Puigdemont i Oliveras, a baker, and Francesc's wife Núria Casamajó i Ruiz, he is the second of eight brothers. Puigdemont's maternal grandmother was Andalusian. Puigdemont's grandfather, who fought in the Spanish Civil War before fleeing to France, founded the Pastisseria Puigdemont in 1928. The Puigdemont family still own the bakery located in Amer's main square. Puigdemont's great-grandfather and his uncle Josep Puigdemont were mayors of Amer and were supporters of Catalan independence, as was Puigdemont's father Xavier.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Puigdemont received basic education in Amer before, aged nine, he was sent to study at the Church-run Santa Maria del Collell boarding school in Girona where he was taught in Spanish and "learned to be a fighter". At the age of 16 he was already a reporter for the "Diari de Girona" newspaper, writing articles on football and other news.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: As a teenager Puigdemont attended political meetings with his uncle Josep and helped found the Nationalist Youth of Catalonia. In 1980 he joined the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), a conservative Catalan nationalist political party, now known as the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT).


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: After school Puigdemont joined the University College of Girona to study Catalan philology but dropped out to pursue a career in journalism. In 1983, aged 21, Puigdemont was involved in a car accident which left him seriously injured and with a slight scar on his face. It has been suggested that this explains his Beatle haircut but friends deny this.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Puigdemont joined the "El Punt", a pro-independence Catalan language newspaper, as a journalist in 1982. He rose through the ranks to become the paper's editor-in-chief. He also wrote a weekly column for the "Presència" magazine. He is a member of the Catalan Journalists Association.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Beginning in 1988, Puigdemont started collecting references about Catalonia in the international press, material that resulted in the publication of the 1994 book "Cata... què? Catalunya vista per la premsa internacional" ("Cata...what? Catalonia as seen by the foreign press"). During the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona Puigdemont was a member of an organisation supporting Catalan nationalists detained as part of "Operation Garzón".


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: In the 1990s Puigdemont took a year off work to study linguistic policies elsewhere in Europe. As a result, he started working on application of new technologies in the provision of news and founded the Catalan News Agency (ACN) which was established by the Generalitat de Catalunya in 1999. Puigdemont also founded "Catalonia Today", an English-language magazine. Puigdemont was director of ACN until 2002, when the then-president of the Diputació de Girona, Carles Pàramo, offered him the position of director of the Girona cultural centre, the Casa de Cultura, a position he held until 2004.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Puigdemont left journalism to devote himself fully to politics in 2006 when the Convergence and Union (CiU) electoral alliance invited him to be a candidate for the Parliament of Catalonia. Puigdemont contested the 2006 regional election as a CiU candidate in the Province of Girona and was elected. He was re-elected at the 2010, 2012 and 2015 regional elections, the latter as a Junts pel Sí (JxSí) electoral alliance candidate.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Puigdemont contested the 2007 local elections as a CiU candidate in Girona and was elected but the CiU remained in opposition. At the 2011 local elections, in which Puigdemont we re-elected, the CiU ended the Socialists's 32-year rule in Girona. Puigdemont became Mayor of Girona. He was re-elected at the 2015 local elections. He was a member of executive committee of the Association of Municipalities for Independence and in July 2015 succeeded Josep Maria Vila d'Abadal as its chair.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Following a last-minute agreement between pro-Catalan independence parties Junts pel Sí and Popular Unity Candidacy to replace Artur Mas due in part to the various alleged cases of corruption and the austerity cuts under his government, Puigdemont was elected the 130th President of Catalonia on 10 January 2016. He resigned as Mayor of Girona on 11 January 2016 as no-one is allowed to be a regional president and a municipal mayor at the same time. He was the first president of Catalonia to refuse to take the oath of loyalty to the Spanish constitution and the Spanish monarch.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: In June 2017 Puigdemont announced that the Catalan independence referendum would be held on 1 October 2017. The Catalan Parliament passed legislation on 6 September 2017 authorising the referendum which would be binding and based on a simple majority without a minimum threshold. The following day, the Constitutional Court of Spain suspended the legislation, blocking the referendum. The Spanish government put into effect Operation Anubis in order to disrupt the organisation of the referendum and arrested Catalan government officials. Despite this the referendum went ahead though it was boycotted by opponents of secessionism and turnout was only 43%. Among those who voted 92% supported independence. Around 900 people were injured as the Spanish police used violence to try to prevent voting in the referendum.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 27 October 2017 the Catalan Parliament declared independence in a vote boycotted by opposition MPs. Almost immediately the Senate of Spain invoked article 155 of the constitution, dismissing Puigdemont and the Catalan government and imposing direct rule on Catalonia. The following day Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved the Catalan Parliament and called for fresh regional elections on 21 December 2017. On 30 October 2017 Spanish Attorney General José Manuel Maza laid charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds at the Audiencia Nacional against Puigdemont and other members of the Catalan government. The charges carry maximum sentences of 30, 15 and 6 years in prison respectively.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Puigdemont and five other Catalan ministers (Dolors Bassa, Meritxell Borrás, Antoni Comín, Joaquim Forn and Meritxell Serret) arrived in Belgium on 30 October 2017. According to Spanish media the group had driven to Marseille shortly after the charges were laid before the Audiencia Nacional and from there flown to Brussels. Puigdemont claimed that he had gone to "the capital of Europe" to speak from a position of "freedom and safety" and that he would not return to Spain unless he was guaranteed a fair trial. Earlier Belgium's Secretary of State for Asylum, Migration and Administrative Simplification Theo Francken had stated that prospect of Puigdemont being granted asylum was "not unrealistic".


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 3 November 2017 a Spanish judge issued European Arrest Warrants against Comín, Clara Ponsatí i Obiols, Lluís Puig, Puigdemont and Serret after they failed to attend a high court hearing in Madrid the previous day. On 5 November 2017 the five politicians, accompanied by their lawyers, surrendered to the Belgian police but after a ten-hour hearing a Belgian judge released them all on bail. They were ordered not to leave Belgium without permission and had to provide details of their accommodation. On 5 December 2017 the Supreme Court of Spain withdrew the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) against Puigdemont and four others stating that EAW were not valid for alleged crimes committed by a wider group of people, e.g. the Catalan government. But judge warned that the national arrest warrants remain valid, meaning that the group risked arrest if they returned to Spain.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: While remaining self-exiled, Puigdemont contested the 2017 regional election as a Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat) electoral alliance candidate in the Province of Barcelona and was re-elected to Parliament. At the election Catalan secessionists retained a slim majority in the Catalan Parliament. After the election Puigdemont called for new unconditional talks with the Spanish government and that he was willing to meet Rajoy outside of Spain. Rajoy rejected the offer, saying that he was only willing to speak with the leader of the Catalan government, whom he considered to be Inés Arrimadas, leader of the unionist Citizens, the largest single party in the Catalan Parliament.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 23 February 2018, Puigdemont's portrait was ordered to be removed from Santiago Sierra's “Contemporary Spanish Political Prisoners” exhibition in Madrid.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 1 March 2018, Puigdemont was hoping to be selected by the Catalan Parliament as President of Catalonia again, but the Catalan Parliament heeded warnings from Spain's judiciary and postponed the session in which Puigdemont could be selected. Subsequently, Puigdemont announced that he was no longer seeking re-election as leader of Catalonia. Later he announced the creation of a government-in-exile organization named "Council of the Republic".


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 25 March 2018, while returning to Brussels from a trip to Finland, Puigdemont was stopped in Germany near the Danish border and arrested pursuant to the European warrant that had been reissued against him two days previously. On 5 April 2018, the Oberlandesgericht (Higher State Court) in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein ruled that Puigdemont would not be extradited on charges of rebellion, and released him on bail while deliberating about the extradition on charges of misuse of public funds. According to that decision, Puigdemont was required to report to police once a week and could not leave Germany without permission of the public prosecutor.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: After his release, Puigdemont called on Spain's government to release Catalan separatists from imprisonment and establish a dialog with them.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 12 July 2018 the higher court in Schleswig-Holstein confirmed that Puigdemont could not be extradited by the crime of rebellion, but may still be extradited based on charges of misuse of public funds. Puigdemont's legal team said they would appeal any decision to extradite him. Ultimately, though, Spain dropped its European arrest warrant, ending the extradition attempt. Puigdemont was once again free to travel, and chose to return to Belgium.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: In January 2019 Puigdemont filed a constitutional application for "amparo" directed against the president of the Catalan parliament, Roger Torrent and the Board of the Chamber. The complaint, presented to the Spanish Constitutional Court, argued Puigdemont had been denied the use of his political rights as Torrent did not allow him to delegate his vote from Belgium after Puigdemont's criminal indictment and suspension of his parliamentary condition by Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Following the April 2019 arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Puigdemont said that "Human rights, and especially freedom of expression, are under attack once again in Europe."


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Puigdemont ran 1st in the list for the 2019 European Parliament election in Spain and he was elected member of the European Parliament. However, he refused to attend the act of observance of the Spanish Constitution before the Junta Electoral Central in Madrid, a requirement to acquire a certificate as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). The consequential absence of Puigdemont and Toni Comín in the list of certificated Spanish MEPs was communicated to them by the president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani through a letter; the letter also explained that, therefore, he could not address them as MEPs. Puigdemont and Comín filed a request before the General Court of the European Union asking for precautionary measures against the decision of the European Parliament, which was dismissed. He spent much of the inaugural session of the European Parliament on 2 July 2019 in the German city of Kehl, across the Rhine from the seat of the European Parliament in the city of Strasbourg, located on French soil and avoided by Puigdemont. Judge Pablo Llarena has reactivated a detention order of Puigdemont both in Europe and also reactivated an international detention order of Puigdemont in October 2019.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 20 December 2019, Puigdemont was accredited as an MEP after a ruling from the European Court of Justice said that he was permitted to take on his role as MEP.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Puigdemont and Comín attended their first EP session on 13 January 2020 as non-attached members. Puigdemont first intervention dealt with a defense of the right of self-determination. Both MEPs asked to join the Greens–European Free Alliance (EU parliament party political group); co-president Philippe Lamberts acknowledged the group considered the request a "problem" for them and, while entertaining internal debate in order to decide on the issue, Lamberts deemed the most logical outcome would be for them to join the group to which "their best Belgian friends" (the N-VA) belong. Also in January 2020, Spanish Supreme Court judge Manuel Marchena proceeded to file an application before EP President David Sassoli in order to revoke the immunity of Puigdemont and Comín.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Later in January 2020, just hours before the scheduled internal vote among the Greens/ALE MEPs on the request filed by Puigdemont and Comín to join the Greens/ALE group, both Puigdemont and Comín withdrew their application.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 30 April 2021, Morocco granted Puigdemont asylum. According to a source from the Moroccan foreign ministry, the decision was made in due to "the principle of reciprocity to host the Catalan independence leader" after Sahrawi President Brahim Ghali was allowed to go to Spain to get treated for COVID-19.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 23 September 2021, Puigdemont was arrested at the airport of Alghero by the Italian police just after he was descending from the plane he was traveling from Brussels. The arrest took place following a Spanish Supreme Court Euro-order issued in 2019 and forced him to spend the night in the Sardinian prison of Bancali. At a court hearing the day after his arrest, he was released without any precautionary measures, in line with the Italian prosecutor's request.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: One of the founders of the youth organization of the right-of-centre Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) in the province of Girona, Puigdemont has associated himself since then with the most staunchly pro-independence faction in the party.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: In 2017, he considered the European Union to be a "club of decadent and obsolescent countries" that was "controlled by a small few", also suggesting that Catalonia should be allowed to vote on its exit from the EU if Catalans wanted it. Although he openly supports the EU and Euro, he has supported the idea that "we should work to change it". He has rejected a EU which does not protect human rights and the right of representation. He has denied being "europhobic" and he has referred to himself and his party not as eurosceptic but as "euro-demanding".


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 17 February 2022, days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Puigdemont did not support the package of measures designed to aide Ukraine, as issued by the European Parliament. Some of Puigdemont's aides were previously reported to have links with the Kremlin, including with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In September 2021 the European Parliament, which had previously lifted the parliamentary immunity of Puigdemont, launched a deeper investigation into the possible criminal implications of such contacts. No conclusive evidence has been presented.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: Puigdemont married Romanian journalist Marcela Topor in 2000. They have two daughters, Magali and Maria, and live in Girona. He speaks Catalan, English, French, Romanian and Spanish. Puigdemont is a supporter of Girona FC and FC Barcelona and plays rock guitar and the electric piano. As a teenager Puigdemont played bass in a short-lived Catalan rock band formed about 1980.


title: Carles Puigdemont

text: On 2 February 2018, the Belgian commune of Waterloo confirmed that he had rented a villa and planned to establish his official residence there.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. His silent films included social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants. He was an active Freemason and member of Prince of Orange Lodge #16 in New York City.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and grew up in New York City. He began his career as a stage actor in 1900. He later moved to writing and directing stage productions, some with Jesse Lasky, who was then a vaudeville producer. DeMille's first film, "The Squaw Man" (1914), was also the first full-length feature film shot in Hollywood. Its interracial love story made it commercially successful and it first publicized Hollywood as the home of the U.S. film industry. The continued success of his productions led to the founding of Paramount Pictures with Lasky and Adolph Zukor. His first biblical epic, "The Ten Commandments" (1923), was both a critical and commercial success; it held the Paramount revenue record for twenty-five years.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille directed "The King of Kings" (1927), a biography of Jesus, which gained approval for its sensitivity and reached more than 800 million viewers. "The Sign of the Cross" (1932) is said to be the first sound film to integrate all aspects of cinematic technique. "Cleopatra" (1934) was his first film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. After more than thirty years in film production, DeMille reached a pinnacle in his career with "Samson and Delilah" (1949), a biblical epic which became the highest-grossing film of 1950. Along with biblical and historical narratives, he also directed films oriented toward "neo-naturalism", which tried to portray the laws of man fighting the forces of nature.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: 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. DeMille's reputation as a filmmaker has grown over time and his work has influenced numerous other films and directors.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: Cecil Blount DeMille was born on August 12, 1881, in a boarding house on Main Street in Ashfield, Massachusetts, where his parents had been vacationing for the summer. On September 1, 1881, the family returned with the newborn DeMille to their flat in New York. DeMille was named after his grandmothers Cecelia Wolff and Margarete Blount. He was the second of three children of Henry Churchill de Mille (September 4, 1853 – February 10, 1893) and his wife Matilda Beatrice deMille (née Samuel; January 30, 1853 – October 8, 1923), known as Beatrice. His brother, William C. DeMille, was born on July 25, 1878. Henry de Mille, whose ancestors were of English and Dutch-Belgian descent, was a North Carolina-born dramatist, actor, and lay reader in the Episcopal Church. DeMille's father was also an English teacher at Columbia College (now Columbia University). He worked as a playwright, administrator, and faculty member during the early years of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, established in New York City in 1884. Henry deMille frequently collaborated with David Belasco in playwriting; their best-known collaborations included "The Wife", "Lord Chumley", "The Charity Ball", and "Men and Women".


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: Cecil B. DeMille's mother, Beatrice, a literary agent and scriptwriter, was the daughter of German Jews. She had emigrated from England with her parents in 1871 when she was 18; the newly arrived family settled in Brooklyn, New York, where they maintained a middle-class, English-speaking household.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille's parents met as members of a music and literary society in New York. Henry was a tall, red-headed student. Beatrice was intelligent, educated, forthright, and strong-willed. The two were married on July 1, 1876, despite Beatrice's parents' objections because of the young couple's differing religions; Beatrice converted to Episcopalianism.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille was a brave and confident child. He gained his love of theater while watching his father and Belasco rehearse their plays. A lasting memory for DeMille was a lunch with his father and actor Edwin Booth. As a child, DeMille created an alter-ego, Champion Driver, a Robin Hood-like character, evidence of his creativity and imagination. The family lived in Washington, North Carolina, until Henry built a three-story Victorian-style house for his family in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey; they named this estate "Pamlico". John Philip Sousa was a friend of the family, and DeMille recalled throwing mud balls in the air so neighbor Annie Oakley could practice her shooting. DeMille's sister Agnes was born on April 23, 1891; his mother nearly did not survive the birth. Agnes would die on February 11, 1894, at the age of three from spinal meningitis. DeMille's parents operated a private school in town and attended Christ Episcopal Church. DeMille recalled that this church was the place where he visualized the story of his 1923 version of "The Ten Commandments".


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: On January 8, 1893, at age 40, Henry de Mille died suddenly from typhoid fever, leaving Beatrice with three children. To provide for her family, she opened the Henry C. DeMille School for Girls in her home in February 1893. The aim of the school was to teach young women to properly understand and fulfill the women's duty to herself, her home, and her country. Before Henry deMille's death, Beatrice had "enthusiastically supported" her husband's theatrical aspirations. She later became the second female play broker on Broadway. On Henry DeMille's deathbed, he told his wife that he did not want his sons to become playwrights. DeMille's mother sent him to Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener University) in Chester, Pennsylvania, at age 15. He fled the school to join the Spanish–American War, but failed to meet the age requirement. At the military college, even though his grades were average, he reportedly excelled in personal conduct. DeMille attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (tuition-free due to his father's service to the Academy). He graduated in 1900, and for graduation, his performance was the play "The Arcady Trail". In the audience was Charles Frohman who would cast DeMille in his play "Hearts are Trumps", DeMille's Broadway debut.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: Cecil B. DeMille began his career as an actor on the stage in the theatrical company of Charles Frohman in 1900. He debuted as an actor on February 21, 1900, in the play "Hearts Are Trumps" at New York's Garden Theater. In 1901, DeMille starred in productions of "A Repentance", "To Have and to Hold", and "Are You a Mason?" At the age of twenty-one, Cecil B. DeMille married Constance Adams on August 16, 1902, at Adams's father's home in East Orange, New Jersey. The wedding party was small. Beatrice DeMille's family was not in attendance, and Simon Louvish suggests that this was to conceal DeMille's partial Jewish heritage. Adams was 29 years old at the time of their marriage, eight years older than DeMille. They had met in a theater in Washington D.C. while they were both acting in "Hearts Are Trumps".


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: They were sexually incompatible; according to DeMille, Adams was too "pure" to "feel such violent and evil passions." DeMille had more violent sexual preferences and fetishes than his wife. Adams allowed DeMille to have several long term mistresses during their marriage as an outlet, while maintaining an outward appearance of a faithful marriage. One of DeMille's affairs was with his screenwriter Jeanie MacPherson. Despite his reputation for extramarital affairs, DeMille did not like to have affairs with his stars, as he believed it would cause him to lose control as a director. He related a story that he maintained his self-control when Gloria Swanson sat on his lap, refusing to touch her.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: In 1902, he played a small part in "Hamlet". Publicists wrote that he became an actor in order to learn how direct and produce, but DeMille admitted that he became an actor in order to pay the bills. From 1904 to 1905, DeMille attempted to make a living as a stock theatre actor with his wife Constance. DeMille made a 1905 reprise in "Hamlet" as Osric. In the summer of 1905 DeMille joined the stock cast at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado. He appeared in eleven of the fifteen plays presented that season, although all were minor roles. Maude Fealy would appear as the featured actress in several productions that summer and would develop a lasting friendship with DeMille. (He would later cast her in The Ten Commandments.)


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: His brother William was establishing himself as a playwright and sometimes invited him to collaborate. DeMille and William collaborated on "The Genius", "The Royal Mounted", and "After Five". However, none of these were very successful; William deMille was most successful when he worked alone. DeMille and his brother at times worked with the legendary impresario David Belasco, who had been a friend and collaborator of their father. DeMille would later adapt Belasco's "The Girl of the Golden West", "Rose of the Rancho", and "The Warrens of Virginia" into films. DeMille was credited with creating the premise of Belasco's "The Return of Peter Grimm". "The Return of Peter Grimm" sparked controversy; however, because Belasco had taken DeMille's unnamed screenplay, changed the characters and named it "The Return of Peter Grimm", producing and presenting it as his own work. DeMille was credited in small print as "based on an idea by Cecil DeMille". The play was successful, and DeMille was distraught that his childhood idol had plagiarized his work.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille performed on stage with actors whom he would later direct in films: Charlotte Walker, Mary Pickford, and Pedro de Cordoba. DeMille also produced and directed plays. His 1905 performance in "The Prince Chap" as the Earl of Huntington was well received by audiences. DeMille wrote a few of his own plays in-between stage performances, but his playwriting was not as successful. His first play was "The Pretender-A Play in a Prologue and 4 Acts" set in seventeenth century Russia. Another unperformed play he wrote was "Son of the Winds", a mythological Native American story. Life was difficult for DeMille and his wife as traveling actors; however, traveling allowed him to experience part of the United States he had not yet seen. DeMille sometimes worked with the director E.H. Sothern, who influenced DeMille's later perfectionism in his work. In 1907, due to a scandal with one of Beatrice's students, Evelyn Nesbit, the Henry deMille School lost students. The school closed, and Beatrice filed for bankruptcy. DeMille wrote another play originally called "Sergeant Devil May Care" which was renamed "The Royal Mounted". He also toured with the Standard Opera Company, but there are few records to indicate DeMille's singing ability. DeMille had a daughter, Cecilia, on November 5, 1908, who would be his only biological child. In the 1910s, DeMille began directing and producing other writer's plays.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille was poor and struggled to find work. Consequently, his mother hired him for her agency The DeMille Play Company and taught him how to be an agent and a playwright. Eventually, he became manager of the agency and later, a junior partner with his mother. In 1911, DeMille became acquainted with vaudeville producer Jesse Lasky when Lasky was searching for a writer for his new musical. He initially sought out William deMille. William had been a successful playwright, but DeMille was suffering from the failure of his plays "The Royal Mounted" and "The Genius". However, Beatrice introduced Lasky to DeMille instead. The collaboration of DeMille and Lasky produced a successful musical called "California" which opened in New York in January 1912. Another DeMille-Lasky production that opened in January 1912 was "The Antique Girl". DeMille found success in the spring of 1913 producing "Reckless Age" by Lee Wilson, a play about a high society girl wrongly accused of manslaughter starring Frederick Burton and Sydney Shields. However, changes in the theater rendered DeMille's melodramas obsolete before they were produced, and true theatrical success eluded him. He produced many flops. Having become disinterested in working in theatre, DeMille's passion for film was ignited when he watched the 1912 French film "Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth".


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: Desiring a change of scene, Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse Lasky, Sam Goldfish (later Samuel Goldwyn), and a group of East Coast businessmen created the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in 1913 over which DeMille became director-general. Lasky and DeMille were said to have sketched out the organization of the company on the back of a restaurant menu. As director-general, DeMille's job was to make the films. In addition to directing, DeMille was the supervisor and consultant for the first year of films made by the Lasky Feature Play Company. Sometimes, he directed scenes for other directors at the Feature Play Company in order to release films on time. Moreover, when he was busy directing other films, he would co-author other Lasky Company scripts as well as create screen adaptations that others directed.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: The Lasky Play Company sought out William DeMille to join the company, but he rejected the offer because he did not believe there was any promise in a film career. When William found out that DeMille had begun working in the motion picture industry, he wrote DeMille a letter, disappointed that he was willing "to throw away [his] future" when he was "born and raised in the finest traditions of the theater". The Lasky Company wanted to attract high-class audiences to their films so they began producing films from literary works. The Lasky Company bought the rights to the play "The Squaw Man" by Edwin Milton Royle and cast Dustin Farnum in the lead role. They offered Farnum a choice to have a quarter stock in the company (similar to William deMille) or $250 per week as salary. Farnum chose $250 per week. Already $15,000 in debt to Royle for the screenplay of "The Squaw Man", Lasky's relatives bought the $5,000 stock to save the Lasky Company from bankruptcy. With no knowledge of filmmaking, DeMille was introduced to observe the process at film studios. He was eventually introduced to Oscar Apfel, a stage director who had been a director with the Edison Company.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: On December 12, 1913, DeMille, his cast, and crew boarded a Southern Pacific train bound for Flagstaff via New Orleans. His tentative plan was to shoot a film in Arizona, but he felt that Arizona did not typify the Western look they were searching for. They also learned that other filmmakers were successfully shooting in Los Angeles, even in winter. He continued to Los Angeles. Once there, he chose not to shoot in Edendale, where many studios were, but in Hollywood. DeMille rented a barn to function as their film studio. Filming began on December 29, 1913, and lasted three weeks. Apfel filmed most of "The Squaw Man" due to DeMille's inexperience; however, DeMille learned quickly and was particularly adept at impromptu screenwriting as necessary. He made his first film run sixty minutes, as long as a short play. "The Squaw Man" (1914), co-directed by Oscar Apfel, was a sensation and it established the Lasky Company. This was the first feature-length film made in Hollywood. There were problems; however, with the perforation of the film stock and it was discovered the DeMille had brought a cheap British film perforator which had punched in sixty-five holes per foot instead of the industry-standard of sixty-four. Lasky and DeMille convinced film pioneer Siegmund Lubin of the Lubin Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia to have his experienced technicians reperforate the film This was also the first American feature film; however, only by release date, as D. W. Griffith's "Judith of Bethulia" was filmed earlier than "The Squaw Man", but released later. Additionally, this was the only film in which DeMille shared director's credit with Oscar C. Apfel.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: "The Squaw Man" was a success, which led to the eventual founding of Paramount Pictures and Hollywood becoming the "film capital of the world". The film grossed over ten times its budget after its New York premiere in February 1914. DeMille's next project was to aid Oscar Apfel and directing "Brewster's Millions", which was wildly successful. In December 1914, Constance Adams brought home John DeMille, a fifteen-month-old, whom the couple legally adopted three years later. Biographer Scott Eyman suggested that this may have been a result of Adams's recent miscarriage.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: Cecil B. DeMille's second film credited exclusively to him was "The Virginian". This is the earliest of DeMille's films available in a quality, color-tinted video format. However, this version is actually a 1918 re-release. The first few years of the Lasky Company were spent in making films nonstop, literally writing the language of film. DeMille himself directed twenty films by 1915. The most successful films during the beginning of the Lasky Company were "Brewster's Millions" (co-directed by DeMille), "Rose of the Rancho", and "The Ghost Breaker". DeMille adapted Belasco's dramatic lighting techniques to film technology, mimicking moonlight with U.S. cinema's first attempts at "motivated lighting" in "The Warrens of Virginia". This was the first of few film collaborations with his brother William. They struggled to adapt the play from the stage to the set. After the film was shown, viewers complained that the shadows and lighting prevented the audience from seeing the actors' full faces, complaining that they would only pay half price. However, Sam Goldwyn realized that if they called it "Rembrandt" lighting, the audience would pay double the price. Additionally, because of DeMille's cordiality after the "Peter Grimm" incident, DeMille was able to rekindle his partnership with Belasco. He adapted several of Belasco's screenplays into film.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille's most successful film was "The Cheat"; DeMille's direction in the film was acclaimed. In 1916, exhausted from three years of nonstop filmmaking, DeMille purchased land in the Angeles National Forest for a ranch which would become his getaway. He called this place, "Paradise", declaring it a wildlife sanctuary; no shooting of animals was allowed besides snakes. His wife did not like Paradise, so DeMille often brought his mistresses there with him including actress Julia Faye. In addition to his Paradise, DeMille purchased a yacht in 1921 which he called "The Seaward".


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: While filming "The Captive" in 1915, an extra, Bob Fleming, died on set when another extra failed to heed to DeMille's orders to unload all guns for rehearsal. DeMille instructed the guilty man to leave town and would never reveal his name. Lasky and DeMille maintained the widow Fleming on the payroll; however, according to leading actor House Peters Sr. DeMille refused to stop production for the funeral of Fleming. Peters claimed that he encouraged the cast to attend the funeral with him anyway since DeMille would not be able to shoot the film without him. On July 19, 1916, the Jesse Lasky Feature Play Company merged with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company, becoming Famous Players-Lasky. Zukor became president with Lasky as the vice president. DeMille was maintained as director-general and Goldwyn became chairman of the board. Goldwyn was later fired from Famous Players-Lasky due to frequent clashes with Lasky, DeMille, and finally Zukor. While on a European vacation in 1921, DeMille contracted rheumatic fever in Paris. He was confined to bed and unable to eat. His poor physical condition upon his return home affected the production of his 1922 film "Manslaughter". According to Richard Birchard, DeMille's weakened state during production may have led to the film being received as uncharacteristically substandard.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: During World War I, the Famous Players-Lasky organized a military company underneath the National Guard called the "Home Guard" made up of film studio employees with DeMille as captain. Eventually, the Guard was enlarged to a battalion and recruited soldiers from other film studios. They took time off weekly from film production to practice military drills. Additionally, during the war, DeMille volunteered for the Justice Department's Intelligence Office, investigating friends, neighbors, and others he came in contact with in connection with the Famous Players-Lasky. He volunteered for the Intelligence Office during World War II as well. Although DeMille considered enlisting in World War I, he stayed in the United States and made films. However, he did take a few months to set up a movie theater for the French front. Famous Players-Lasky donated the films. DeMille and Adams adopted Katherine Lester in 1920 whom Adams had found in the orphanage over which she was the director. In 1922, the couple adopted Richard deMille.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: Film started becoming more sophisticated and the subsequent films of the Lasky company were criticized for primitive and unrealistic set design. Consequently, Beatrice deMille introduced the Famous Players-Lasky to Wilfred Buckland, who DeMille had known from his time at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and he became DeMille's art director. William deMille reluctantly became a story editor. William deMille would later convert from theater to Hollywood and would spend the rest of his career as a film director. Throughout his career, DeMille would frequently remake his own films. In his first instance, in 1917, he remade "The Squaw Man" (1918), only waiting four years from the 1914 original. Despite its quick turnaround, the film was fairly successful. However, DeMille's second remake at MGM in 1931 would be a failure.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: After five years and thirty hit films, DeMille became the American film industry's most successful director. In the silent era, he was renowned for "Male and Female" (1919), "Manslaughter" (1922), "The Volga Boatman" (1926), and "The Godless Girl" (1928). DeMille's trademark scenes included bathtubs, lion attacks, and Roman orgies. Many of his films featured scenes in two-color Technicolor. In 1923, DeMille released a modern melodrama "The Ten Commandments" which was a significant change from his previous stint of irreligious films. The film was produced on a large budget of $600,000, the most expensive production at Paramount. This concerned the executives at Paramount; however, the film turned out to be the studio's highest-grossing film. It held the Paramount record for twenty-five years until DeMille broke the record again himself.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: In the early 1920s, scandal surrounded Paramount; religious groups and the media opposed portrayals of immorality in films. A censorship board called the Hays Code was established. DeMille's film "The Affairs of Anatol" came under fire. Furthermore, DeMille argued with Zukor over his extravagant and over-budget production costs. Consequently, DeMille left Paramount in 1924 despite having helped establish it. He joined the Producers Distributing Corporation. His first film in the new production company, DeMille Pictures Corporation, was "The Road to Yesterday" in 1925. He directed and produced four films on his own, working with Producers Distributing Corporation because he found front office supervision too restricting. Aside from "The King of Kings," none of DeMille's films away from Paramount were successful. "The King of Kings" established DeMille as "master of the grandiose and of biblical sagas". Considered at the time to be the most successful Christian film of the silent era, DeMille calculated that it had been viewed over 800 million times around the world. After the release of DeMille's "The Godless Girl", silent films in America became obsolete and DeMille was forced to shoot a shoddy final reel with the new sound production technique. Although this final reel looked so different from the previous eleven reels that it appeared to be from another movie, according to Simon Louvish, the film is one of DeMille's strangest and most "DeMillean" film.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: The immense popularity of DeMille's silent films enabled him to branch out into other areas. The Roaring Twenties were the boom years and DeMille took full advantage, opening the Mercury Aviation Company, one of America's first commercial airlines. He was also a real estate speculator, an underwriter of political campaigns, and vice president of Bank of America. He was additionally vice president of the Commercial National Trust and Savings Bank in Los Angeles where he approved loans for other filmmakers. In 1916, DeMille purchased a mansion in Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin lived next door for a time, and after he moved, DeMille purchased the other house and combined the estates.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: When "talking pictures" were invented in 1928, Cecil B. DeMille made a successful transition, offering his own innovations to the painful process; he devised a microphone boom and a soundproof camera blimp. He also popularized the camera crane. His first three sound films were produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. These three films, "Dynamite", "Madame Satan", and his 1931 remake of "The Squaw Man" were both critically and financially unsuccessful. He had completely adapted to the production of sound film despite the film's poor dialogue. After his contract ended at MGM, he left, but no production studios would hire him. He attempted to create a guild of a half a dozen directors with the same creative desires called the Director's Guild. However, the idea failed due to lack of funding and commitment. Moreover, DeMille was audited by the Internal Revenue Service due to issues with his production company. This was, according to DeMille, the lowest point of his career. DeMille traveled abroad to find employment until he was offered a deal at Paramount.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: In 1932, DeMille returned to Paramount at the request of Lasky, bringing with him his own production unit. His first film back at Paramount, "The Sign of the Cross", was also his first success since leaving Paramount besides "The King of Kings". DeMille's return was approved by Zukor under the condition that DeMille not exceed his production budget of $650,000 for "The Sign of the Cross". Produced in eight weeks without exceeding budget, the film was financially successful. "The Sign of the Cross" was the first film to integrate all cinematic techniques. The film was considered a "masterpiece" and surpassed the quality of other sound films of the time. DeMille followed this epic uncharacteristically with two dramas released in 1933 and 1934. "This Day and Age" and "Four Frightened People" were box office disappointments, though "Four Frightened People" received good reviews. DeMille would stick to his large-budget spectaculars for the rest of his career.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: Cecil B. DeMille was outspoken about his strong Episcopalian integrity but his private life included mistresses and adultery. DeMille was a conservative Republican activist, becoming more conservative as he aged. He was known as anti-union and worked to prevent unionizing of film production studios. However, according to DeMille himself, he was not anti-union and belonged to a few unions himself. He said he was rather against union leaders such as Walter Reuther and Harry Bridges whom he compared to dictators. He supported Herbert Hoover and in 1928 made his largest campaign donation to Hoover. DeMille also liked Franklin D. Roosevelt, however, finding him charismatic, tenacious, and intelligent and agreeing with Roosevelt's abhorrence of Prohibition. DeMille lent Roosevelt a car for his campaign for the 1932 United States presidential election and voted for him. However, he would never again vote for a Democratic candidate in a presidential election.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: From June 1, 1936, until January 22, 1945, Cecil B. DeMille hosted and directed "Lux Radio Theater", a weekly digest of current feature films. Broadcast on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from 1935 to 1954, the Lux Radio show was one of the most popular weekly shows in the history of radio. While DeMille was host, the show had forty million weekly listeners, gaining DeMille an annual salary of $100,000. From 1936 to 1945, he produced, hosted, and directed all shows with the occasional exception of a guest director. He resigned from the Lux Radio Show because he refused to pay a dollar to the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA) because he did not believe that any organization had the right to "levy a compulsory assessment upon any member." Consequently, he had to resign from the radio show.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille sued the union for reinstatement but lost. He then appealed to the California Supreme Court and lost again. When the AFRA expanded to television, DeMille was banned from television appearances. Consequently, he formed the DeMille Foundation for Political Freedom in order to campaign for the right to work. He began presenting speeches across the United States for the next few years. DeMille's primary criticism was of closed shops, but later included criticism of communism and unions in general. The United States Supreme Court declined to review his case. Despite his loss, DeMille continued to lobby for the Taft–Hartley Act, which passed. This prohibited denying anyone the right to work if they refuse to pay a political assessment, however, the law did not apply retroactively. Consequently, DeMille's television and radio appearance ban lasted for the remainder of his life, though he was permitted to appear on radio or television to publicize a movie. William Keighley was his replacement. DeMille would never again work on radio.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: In 1939, DeMille's "Union Pacific" was successful through DeMille's collaboration with the Union Pacific Railroad. The Union Pacific gave DeMille access to historical data, early period trains, and expert crews, adding to the authenticity of the film. During pre-production of "Union Pacific", DeMille was dealing with his first serious health issue. In March 1938, he underwent a major emergency prostatectomy. He suffered from a post-surgery infection from which he nearly did not recover, citing streptomycin as his saving grace. The surgery caused him to suffer from sexual dysfunction for the rest of his life, according to some family members. Following his surgery and the success of "Union Pacific", in 1940, DeMille first used three-strip Technicolor in "North West Mounted Police". DeMille wanted to film in Canada; however, due to budget constraints, the film was instead shot in Oregon and Hollywood. Critics were impressed with the visuals but found the scripts dull, calling it DeMille's "poorest Western". Despite the criticism, it was Paramount's highest-grossing film of the year. Audiences liked its highly saturated color, so DeMille made no further black-and-white features. DeMille was anti-communist and abandoned a project in 1940 to film Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" due to its communist themes despite the fact he had already paid $100,000 for the rights to the novel. He was so eager to produce the film, that he hadn't yet read the novel. He claimed he abandoned the project in order to complete a different project, but in reality, it was to preserve his reputation and avoid appearing reactionary. While concurrently filmmaking, he served in World War II at the age of sixty as his neighborhood air-raid warden.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: In 1942, DeMille worked with Jeanie MacPherson and brother William deMille in order to produce a film called "Queen of Queens" which was intended to be about Mary, mother of Jesus. After reading the screenplay, Daniel A. Lord warned DeMille that Catholics would find the film too irreverent, while non-Catholics would have considered the film Catholic propaganda. Consequently, the film was never made. Jeanie MacPherson would work as a scriptwriter for many of DeMille's films. In 1938, DeMille supervised the compilation of film "Land of Liberty" to represent the contribution of the American film industry to the 1939 New York World's Fair. DeMille used clips from his own films in "Land of Liberty". Though the film was not high-grossing, it was well-received and DeMille was asked to shorten its running time to allow for more showings per day. MGM distributed the film in 1941 and donated profits to World War II relief charities.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: In 1942, DeMille released Paramount's most successful film, "Reap the Wild Wind". It was produced with a large budget and contained many special effects including an electronically operated giant squid. After working on "Reap the Wild Wind", in 1944, he was the master of ceremonies at the massive rally organized by David O. Selznick in the Los Angeles Coliseum in support of the Dewey–Bricker ticket as well as Governor Earl Warren of California. DeMille's subsequent film "Unconquered" (1947) had the longest running time (146 minutes), longest filming schedule (102 days) and largest budget of $5 million. The sets and effects were so realistic that 30 extras needed to be hospitalized due to a scene with fireballs and flaming arrows. It was commercially very successful.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille's next film, "Samson and Delilah" in 1949, became Paramount's highest-grossing film up to that time. A Biblical epic with sex, it was a characteristically DeMille film. Again, 1952's "The Greatest Show on Earth" became Paramount's highest-grossing film to that point. Furthermore, DeMille's film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Story. The film began production in 1949, Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey were paid $250,000 for use of the title and facilities. DeMille toured with the circus while helping write the script. Noisy and bright, it was not well-liked by critics, but was a favorite among audiences. DeMille signed a contract with Prentice Hall publishers in August 1953 to publish an autobiography. DeMille would reminisce into a voice recorder, the recording would be transcribed, and the information would be organized in the biography based on the topic. Art Arthur also interviewed people for the autobiography. DeMille did not like the first draft of the biography, saying that he thought the person portrayed in the biography was an "SOB"; he said it made him sound too egotistical. Besides filmmaking and finishing his autobiography, DeMille was involved in other projects. In the early 1950s, DeMille was recruited by Allen Dulles and Frank Wisner to serve on the board of the anti-communist National Committee for a Free Europe, the public face of the organization that oversaw the Radio Free Europe service. In 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott asked DeMille for help in designing the cadet uniforms at the newly established United States Air Force Academy. DeMille's designs, most notably his design of the distinctive cadet parade uniform, won praise from Air Force and Academy leadership, were ultimately adopted, and are still worn by cadets.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: In 1952, DeMille sought approval for a lavish remake of his 1923 silent film "The Ten Commandments". He went before the Paramount board of directors, which was mostly Jewish-American. The members rejected his proposal, even though his last two films, "Samson and Delilah" and "The Greatest Show on Earth", had been record-breaking hits. Adolph Zukor convinced the board to change their minds on the grounds of morality. DeMille did not have an exact budget proposal for the project, and it promised to be the most costly in U.S. film history. Still, the members unanimously approved it. "The Ten Commandments", released in 1956, was DeMille's final film. It was the longest (3 hours, 39 minutes) and most expensive ($13 million) film in Paramount history. Production of "The Ten Commandments" began in October 1954. The Exodus scene was filmed on-site in Egypt with the use of four Technicolor-VistaVision camera filming 12,000 people. They continued filming in 1955 in Paris and Hollywood on 30 different sound stages. They were even required to expand to RKO sound studios for filming. Post-production lasted a year and the film premiered in Salt Lake City. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, it grossed over $80 million, which surpassed the gross of "The Greatest Show on Earth" and every other film in history, except for "Gone with the Wind". A unique practice at the time, DeMille offered ten percent of his profit to the crew.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: On November 7, 1954, while in Egypt filming the Exodus sequence for "The Ten Commandments", DeMille (who was seventy-three) climbed a ladder to the top of the massive Per Rameses set and suffered a serious heart attack. Despite the urging of his associate producer, DeMille wanted to return to the set right away. DeMille developed a plan with his doctor to allow him to continue directing while reducing his physical stress. Although DeMille completed the film, his health was diminished by several more heart attacks. His daughter Cecilia took over as director as DeMille sat behind the camera with Loyal Griggs as the cinematographer. This film would be his last.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: Due to his frequent heart attacks, DeMille asked his son-in-law, actor Anthony Quinn, to direct a remake of his 1938 film "The Buccaneer". DeMille served as executive producer, overseeing producer Henry Wilcoxon. Despite a cast led by Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner, the 1958 film "The Buccaneer" was a disappointment. DeMille attended the Santa Barbara premiere of "The Buccaneer" in December 1958. DeMille was unable to attend the Los Angeles premiere of "The Buccaneer". In the months before his death, DeMille was researching a film biography of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement. DeMille asked David Niven to star in the film, but it was never made. DeMille also was planning a film about the space race as well as another biblical epic about the Book of Revelation. DeMille's autobiography was mostly completed by the time DeMille died and was published in November 1959.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: Cecil B. DeMille suffered a series of heart attacks from June 1958 to January 1959, and died on January 21, 1959, following an attack. DeMille's funeral was held on January 23 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. He was entombed at the Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now known as Hollywood Forever). After his death, notable news outlets such as "The New York Times", the "Los Angeles Times", and "The Guardian" honored DeMille as "pioneer of movies", "the greatest creator and showman of our industry", and "the founder of Hollywood". DeMille left his multi-million dollar estate in Los Feliz, Los Angeles in Laughlin Park to his daughter Cecilia because his wife had dementia and was unable to care for an estate. She would die one year later. His personal will drew a line between Cecilia and his three adopted children, with Cecilia receiving a majority of DeMille's inheritance and estate. The other three children were surprised by this, as DeMille did not treat the children differently in life. Cecilia lived in the house for many years until her death in 1984, but the house was auctioned by his granddaughter Cecilia DeMille Presley who also lived there in the late 1980s.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille believed his first influences to be his parents, Henry and Beatrice DeMille. His playwright father introduced him to the theater at a young age. Henry was heavily influenced by the work of Charles Kingsley whose ideas trickled down to DeMille. DeMille noted that his mother had a "high sense of the dramatic" and was determined to continue the artistic legacy of her husband after he died. Beatrice became a play broker and author's agent, influencing DeMille's early life and career. DeMille's father worked with David Belasco theatrical producer, impresario, and playwright. Belasco was known for adding realistic elements in his plays such as real flowers, food, and aromas that could transport his audiences into the scenes. While working in theatre, DeMille used real fruit trees in his play "California" as influenced by Belasco. Similar to Belasco, DeMille's theatre was revolved around entertainment, rather than artistry. Generally, Belasco's influence of DeMille's career can be seen in DeMille's showmanship and narration. E.H. Sothern's early influence on DeMille's work can be seen in DeMille's perfectionism. DeMille recalled that one of the most influential plays he saw was "Hamlet", directed by Sothern.


title: Cecil B. DeMille

text: DeMille's filmmaking process always began with extensive research. Next, he would work with writers to develop the story that he was envisioning. Then, he would help writers construct a script. Finally, he would leave the script with artists and allow them to create artistic depictions and renderings of each scene. Plot and dialogue were not a strong point of DeMille's films. Consequently, he focused his efforts on his films' visuals. He worked with visual technicians, editors, art directors, costume designers, cinematographers, and set carpenters in order to perfect the visual aspects of his films. With his editor, Anne Bauchens, DeMille used editing techniques to allow the visual images to bring the plot to climax rather than dialogue. DeMille had large and frequent office conferences to discuss and examine all aspects of the working film including story-boards, props, and special effects.