In 1950, Norma Desmond descended the stairway of her mansion in “Sunset Boulevard” to meet her denouement and deliver one of the most oft-quoted lines on celluloid. “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” The fading silent-film star intended to exit under the direction of the best.
Thirty-four years later, following the spectacular opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympics, Steven Spielberg paused, searching for words to match his exuberance for the production. Then he smiled and declared, “It’s Cecil B. DeMille.”
Mr. DeMille’s larger-than-life legend endures. In AMC’s documentary “The DeMille Dynasty,” it reaches out to embrace other members of this remarkable family. A granddaughter of Cecil, Cecilia DeMille Presley, is a film preservation activist and one of the executive producers of the special. Presley wants the film to acquaint new generations of movie fans with the creative contributions of the film titan, as well as the artistic merits of his parents, his brother William, and his niece Agnes.
Charlton Heston — star of “The Greatest Show on Earth” and “The Ten Commandments” — narrates the story of their legacy to the silver screen, theater and dance. Those interviewed include Celeste Holm, Gregory Hines, Michael Kidd and Elmer Bernstein. They provide first-hand accounts and an extra-familial point of view. Family members Cecilia DeMille Presley, Richard DeMille, adopted son of Cecil, and Richard Prude, son of Agnes, give viewers an insider’s perspective.
Heston points out that his mentor “was one of the guys who invented film.” AMC’s special shows how he did it. “DeMille” traces Cecil’s evolution from the time he immigrated West and set up shop in a little yellow barn in 1913, through the captivating production details of his final film: the unforgettable 1956 version of “The Ten Commandments.” “If it’s spectacle audiences wanted,” Heston opines, “Cecil B. DeMille could be counted on to provide it.”
Indeed. DeMille’s trademark moral and religious stories steeped in showmanship brought in audiences totalling 1 1/2 times the world population of the era. He won the allegiance of moviegoers by never stinting on the time, money, and imagination expended on his films.
“The logistics of the exodus was a nightmare,” Presley recalls of the famous sequence in “The Ten Commandments.” It required 10 production managers and 12,000 extras.
“They hired whole villages. The drivers of the chariots were members of the Egyptian army.”
During the shoot, DeMille climbed a ladder to inspect the huge enterprise and suffered a heart attack. Fortunately, Presley and her mother — Cecil’s daughter — were on location with him. “Mother took over the picture until he was better. She was a godsend to him. He relied on her from when she was a very young woman until the day he died.”
Presley brings to the film an intimate knowledge of the family’s professional and personal interworkings. She grew up in the house next door to her grandfather. As soon as she was old enough to dress herself, she moved in next door. “He just cleared his ante-room, and I went up there. I had two rooms, but I knew where the action was. From the time I was old enough to take care of myself, I went on every trip he ever made: back to Valley Forge to make a speech, to travel with the circus, to Egypt.”
Her rich memories fill the documentary. The story of Cecil’s mother Constance hawking the silver to fund his move West. The tale of President Roosevelt’s quick response when DeMille wanted access to Dr. Wassel for a biographical film on the hero. The role his mother, the first female dramatists’ agent, and his father, a theatrical producer, played in his success. Agnes’ secondary career as an author. William’s quietly gifted ways.
As guardian of the archives, she also held the power to release rarely seen film clips: lyrical moments from the silent films of Cecil and William, footage of the filmmakers at work, amusing outtakes. Though Cecil constitutes the primary root system of the artistic family tree, William and Agnes left formidable cultural legacies of their own.
Viewers will learn that William, an established playwright, offered to pay Cecil’s train fare home if his venture out West went bust. But it would be William who boarded a train. Heading for Hollywood, he joined Cecil in his successful moviemaking business. William enhanced the family bequest by founding the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, presiding over the first Oscar ceremony and founding the theater department at USC.
While the men made Hollywood their domain, Agnes — William’s eldest daughter — enveloped the world of dance. Though the young woman defied everyone’s idea of a dancer, she didn’t let that stop her from revolutionizing choreography.
By her mid-30s, she established herself as an innovator with the London production of “Rodeo” mixing classic ballet and American folk dance. Then came the chance to choreograph “Oklahoma.” In the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, she pushed choreography beyond pure entertainment and pioneered the use of dance to move the story forward and define character. Choreographer Michael Kidd (“Guys and Dolls”) describes her considerable contribution.
“I will always recall Agnes as a person who fought passionately for everything she believed in; would not let her work be diluted by people who were looking for easy answers. She believed that what she had to contribute was important; it was important and enabled us to work in the field of musical comedy in a manner in which we could not have achieved had it not been for Agnes DeMille.”
Her persistence of vision and perfectionism reflect the common threads running through the character of the DeMilles. Above all, Presley emphasizes, they shared an unremitting passion to produce the highest quality work.
Actress Celeste Holm captures the essence of the dynasty’s mutual artistic quest. “They worked with the same sense of responsibility to the glory of life and its preciousness.”
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`The DeMille Dynasty’ 9 p.m. Tuesday, AMC
