President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1929-31.
Alumnus of the AADA (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Class of 1901.
De Mille became a drama instructor at USC when his filmmaking career went into decline. One of his students there (and one with whom he often clashed) was a young Sam Peckinpah.
Hosted the very first Academy Awards in 1929 alongside Douglas Fairbanks and
again in 1930
His father, Henry Churchill deMille, was born in Washington, Beaufort, North Carolina, and had English, German, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry. His mother was born Matilda Beatrice Samuel in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, to a German Jewish family.