The Ten Commandments Movie

Gina Wilhelm Actress - The Ten Commandments Movie

It's an American Easter tradition: The night before Easter, the ABC television network airs Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments."

DeMille was the "archetypical Hollywood director" for 50 years. He acted on Broadway in 1900, but by 1913 had joined the filmmaking group that would eventually become Paramount Pictures.

Although today he is best known for his Biblical epics, DeMille made popular "sharp social comedies," western, and American history films.

DeMille wrote many of his pictures before 1925 (often writing the stage plays the movie would be based on), edited several between 1914 and 1918, and was the producer on most of his films as well.

He was a leading director of "A" movies from 1914 until his final directorial effort, "The Ten Commandments," in 1956.

The epic was in part a remake of a 1923 silent film by the same name. In fact, some of the cast and crew of the '23 movie worked on the '56 picture.

The classic stars Charlton Heston as Moses, Yul Brynner as his adoptive brother Pharoah Ramses II, and Anne Baxter as Nefretiri.

The movie has been hailed by the American Film Institute as one of the ten best epics of all time. It is also one of the most financially successful films of all time.

Gina Wilhelm Actress