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70 free Cecil B. DeMille trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Cecil B. DeMille trivia quiz covers the whole career of the man Hollywood called Mr. DeMille: the playwright's son who acted for Charles Frohman, sketched a film company on the back of a menu with Jesse Lasky, rented a barn in Hollywood to shoot The Squaw Man in 1913, and went on to make 70 features and become the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. You will find questions on the silent-era hits and scandals (The Cheat, Male and Female, the 1923 Ten Commandments and its buried Egyptian sets), the sound-era spectacles (The Sign of the Cross, Cleopatra, Union Pacific, Reap the Wild Wind, Samson and Delilah, The Greatest Show on Earth) and the 1956 Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. It also covers Lux Radio Theatre and the one-dollar union fee that ended his broadcasting career, his cameo in Sunset Boulevard, his family (brother William, niece Agnes de Mille, son-in-law Anthony Quinn), his politics, his awards and the Golden Globe that bears his name. Every answer has been checked against primary sources, chiefly the Wikipedia articles on DeMille and his films, and each explanation adds one more detail. Play, see your score, and share it with the classic-film fans in your group chat.
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Q 01In which Massachusetts town was Cecil B. DeMille born in 1881, while his parents were on summer vacation?
Ashfield
The family was back in its New York flat within three weeks, and he was raised in New York City.
Q 02How many feature films did DeMille create between 1914 and 1958?
70
He is called the most commercially successful producer-director in film history, often with three or four films dominating the box office at once.
Q 03Why did DeMille adopt the spelling 'DeMille' rather than the family's 'de Mille'?
He thought it would look better on a marquee
His grandfather had already added the 'le' to the original 'de Mil' for 'visual symmetry'; his children and niece Agnes kept 'de Mille'.
Q 04DeMille's father Henry, a playwright, frequently collaborated with which legendary Broadway impresario?
David Belasco
Belasco's realistic staging and dramatic lighting shaped DeMille's showmanship, though Belasco later plagiarized one of DeMille's ideas.
Q 05Which famous sharpshooter neighbor practiced by shooting mud balls young Cecil threw in the air?
Annie Oakley
John Philip Sousa was also a family friend at the estate called 'Pamlico'.
Q 06Which New York school, where his father had taught, did DeMille attend tuition-free until 1900?
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
Charles Frohman saw his graduation performance and cast him in Hearts Are Trumps, his Broadway debut.
Q 07Which producer cast DeMille in his 1900 Broadway debut, Hearts Are Trumps?
Charles Frohman
DeMille later admitted he became an actor to pay the bills, not to learn directing.
Q 08Which vaudeville producer partnered with DeMille on 1912 musicals before they entered films?
Jesse L. Lasky
Lasky had originally wanted DeMille's brother William; their mother Beatrice steered him to Cecil instead.
Q 09Which 1912 French film ignited DeMille's passion for cinema?
Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth
He had lost interest in a theater career full of flops before seeing it.
Q 10Legend says Lasky and DeMille sketched their new film company's structure on the back of what?
A restaurant menu
The Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company was formed in 1913 with Sam Goldfish, later Samuel Goldwyn.
Q 11DeMille's debut, The Squaw Man (1914), holds what place in Hollywood history?
Earliest full-length feature shot there
Its success established Hollywood as the new home of the American film industry.
Q 12Where did DeMille first plan to shoot The Squaw Man before deciding it lacked a Western look?
Flagstaff, Arizona
He continued by train to Los Angeles and rented a barn in Hollywood rather than shooting in Edendale where other studios were.
Q 13What did DeMille rent to serve as the studio for The Squaw Man?
A barn
Q 21DeMille's silent-era trademarks included lion attacks, Roman orgies and what domestic fixture?
Bathtubs
He is credited with discovering the possibilities of the 'boudoir' on screen without being vulgar.
Q 22The 1923 The Ten Commandments cost how much, making it Paramount's most expensive production to date?
$600,000
It held the studio's revenue record for 25 years, until DeMille himself broke it.
Q 23The Exodus scenes of the 1923 The Ten Commandments were shot in the dunes of which California county?
Santa Barbara
Legend says the massive sets, including four 35-foot pharaohs and 21 sphinxes, were dynamited and buried in the sand.
The Lasky-DeMille Barn is now the Hollywood Heritage Museum and was dedicated as a California landmark in 1956.
Q 14Who co-directed The Squaw Man with the inexperienced DeMille?
Oscar Apfel
It was the only film on which DeMille ever shared director's credit.
Q 15DeMille's cheap British perforator punched how many holes per foot of film, instead of the standard 64?
65
Siegmund Lubin's technicians had to reperforate the film to save it.
Q 16Sam Goldwyn suggested marketing DeMille's shadowy look under which painter's name so audiences would 'pay double'?
Rembrandt
Exhibitors had complained they could only see half the actors' faces and would pay half price.
Q 17Which 1915 Sessue Hayakawa film brought DeMille acclaim for its lighting and tinting?
The Cheat
He then bought land in the Angeles National Forest for a retreat he named 'Paradise'.
Q 18What did DeMille call his mountain retreat, a sanctuary where only snakes could be shot?
Paradise
His wife disliked it, so he often took mistresses such as actress Julia Faye there instead.
Q 19The 1916 merger of the Lasky company with Famous Players eventually became which studio?
Paramount Pictures
Adolph Zukor became president, Lasky vice president and DeMille director-general; Goldwyn was later fired.
Q 20Which screenwriter was DeMille's exclusive writer for fifteen years and his long-time mistress?
Jeanie MacPherson
DeMille avoided affairs with his stars, believing it would cost him control on set.
Q 24DeMille estimated his 1927 life of Jesus, The King of Kings, had been seen how many times worldwide?
Over 800 million
It was the first film to premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
Q 25The King of Kings (1927) holds what distinction at Grauman's Chinese Theatre?
First film to premiere there
H. B. Warner played Jesus, and the opening and resurrection scenes were shot in two-color Technicolor.
Q 26In the 1920s DeMille founded which unusual side business, one of America's first commercial airlines?
Mercury Aviation Company
He was also vice president of Bank of America and approved loans to other filmmakers.
Q 27Which comedian lived next door to DeMille's mansion until DeMille bought his house and combined the estates?
Charlie Chaplin
DeMille had bought the mansion in Laughlin Park in 1916.
Q 28DeMille's first three sound films, including Madam Satan, were made at which studio, all flopping?
MGM
He then found no studio would hire him and called it the lowest point of his career until Paramount took him back in 1932.
Q 29What two sound-era production tools did DeMille devise during the transition to talkies?
A microphone boom and a soundproof camera blimp
He also popularized the camera crane.
Q 30What was DeMille's first film back at Paramount in 1932, made in eight weeks on a $650,000 budget?
The Sign of the Cross
It is said to be the first sound film to integrate every aspect of cinematic technique.