While there are many forgotten pioneers of early American theater and motion pictures, few are remembered with the recognition they deserve. Beatrice DeMille managed to link the nineteenth century theater world with the developing motion-picture industry in America. DeMille was the mother of two influential filmmakers, but she was also a playwright and theatrical manager, and a cultural force in her own right.
By Allan R. Ellenberger
Born Mathilda Beatrice Samuel on January 23, 1853, in Liverpool, England, she came from a Jewish family whose background combined intellectual curiosity with artistic sensibility. Her father Herbert Louis Samuel was a writer and educator. The Samuel family immigrated to America some years later. Like many immigrant families of the period, the Samuels sought opportunity in the expanding cultural life of America.
Beatrice was raised in an educated, literary home. She spent her childhood learning the language and lore of the theater that had developed in America's cities during the second half of the nineteenth century. Bright and willful, she began gravitating towards the world of the stage that so intrigued her.
In 1876 she married Henry Churchill de Mille, an actor and playwright who had begun establishing himself within the American theatrical community. Their partnership proved both romantic and creative. Henry de Mille was developing a reputation as a dramatist of polished social comedies, and Beatrice soon became an active collaborator in his theatrical work. Moving to New York, then the capital of American theater, they wrote and produced numerous successful stage plays together. Included in these were The Main Line (1881) and Strongheart. During this period, they demonstrated an understanding of fashionable society and human relationships that appealed to audiences of the period.
Soon after, two sons were born who would one day change Hollywood forever. In 1878 William C. deMille was born, followed by Cecil B. DeMille in 1881. Cecil was destined to produce some of the greatest epics the motion-picture industry had ever seen.
Theater was life to the de Mille family. From actors to writers to producers, the de Milles' home was constantly entertained by people of the stage. As a result, both William and Cecil were brought up around the industry, spending much of their boyhood being introduced to the theater through their father's career in New York's theater circle.
Henry Churchill de Mille
William C. deMille
Cecil B. De Mille
Tragedy struck the family in 1893 when Henry Churchill de Mille died suddenly at the age of forty-two. His death left Beatrice widowed with two teenage sons and limited financial security. Faced with the challenge of supporting her family, she turned her full attention to writing and theatrical management.
Showcasing her tenacity, Beatrice wrote and produced plays and stayed connected with the theatre scene. She also placed emphasis on managing her sons' careers. William and Cecil became actors and playwrights like their parents, eventually moving into the emerging field of motion pictures.
By the early twentieth century the hub of the American film industry had started moving west to California. Sensing the potential of this new industry Cecil B. DeMille went into business with producer Jesse L. Lasky and director Samuel Goldwyn, forming the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. In 1914 DeMille made The Squaw Man, which is generally considered to be the first feature filmed in Hollywood.
As Cecil's success grew, Beatrice moved out to Southern California to live near her sons. Beatrice had spent nearly her entire life working in the legitimate theater when she moved out to Hollywood and suddenly found herself in the epicenter of an entirely new industry that would revolutionize entertainment.
Beatrice quickly became known in Hollywood society as a witty, sharp, and wise mother figure who loved to share her expertise in theatrical history. Guests of the DeMille household were often greeted by Beatrice holding court with discussions on books, theater, and movies. Beatrice's effect on her sons, especially Cecil, would last a lifetime. The way Cecil B. DeMille told stories through his films was influenced by traditions he learned from his parents.
By the early 1920s Hollywood had come to equate the DeMille name with success. Cecil was creating huge productions like The Ten Commandments, and William was an accomplished director and screenwriter as well. The family’s theatrical legacy had successfully transitioned into the new medium of motion pictures.
Beatrice DeMille lived long enough to see the dawn of that success but unfortunately did not live to see its fruition. She passed away at her home at 2026 North Argyle Avenue (demolished), Hollywood on October 8, 1923, at the age of seventy. Her funeral was at St. Stephens Episcopal Church, and the pallbearers included Jesse Lasky, Theodore Roberts, Robert Edeson and Dustin Farnum. Her death occurred at a time when Hollywood itself was in its infancy and the DeMille dynasty just beginning to unfold.
She was initially inurned in a niche in the newly built Colonnade of Hollywood Cemetery which would become so identified with members of the motion picture industry her sons would make famous. In 1952 when Cecil constructed his family sarcophagus, she was re-inurned and her ashes placed in a marble urn on the west side of the memorial along with her mother, Cecilia Wolfe Samuel (1829-1920), lying in an adjoining niche. In death, as in life, she was forever a part of Hollywood's legacy.
Beatrice DeMille's story is often lost in discussions about her sons, but her life is nonetheless an important piece of American entertainment history.
Beatrice was part of a generation that bridged the gap between nineteenth-century stagecraft and motion pictures. Through her literary efforts, perseverance in the face of loss, and mentorship of two aspiring directors, she helped to create the DeMille legacy. In many ways she stands as the quiet architect of a Hollywood dynasty—a playwright and mother whose influence extended far beyond the stage and into the very foundations of the motion-picture industry.
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