During the making of The Virginian, 1914 DeMille
started his collection of accident films.This particular event involved
a rattle snake which was supposed to be defanged but was found not
to be. Someone on the set finally shot the snake which had coiled,
ready to strike, before it had a chance to bite the poor innocent
actor. The cameras were rolling and, from then on, DeMille saved
these "accidents". The following are some of examples:
- The most tragic accident in a DeMille film was when one of
his actors was killed. While filming The Captive, a group of
soldiers were to fire into a door and then break it down. The
door was supposed to be very strong and the guns were to have
been loaded with blanks. By mistake someone had loaded one of
the rifles with a live cartridge. When the gunshots rang out,
one of DeMille's regular cowboys sank to the ground and died,
shot through the head. Since many guns had been going off simultaneously,
it was never determined who was responsible. DeMille kept the
widow of the man who was killed on the payroll for many years.
DeMille once wondered "if her suffering was any greater than
that of the man who carried with him to his own grave the memory
of having taken another's life so uselessly?"
- In the making of his film, "We can't Have Everything",
the climax was to be the burning down of the studio of a fictional
movie director which was patterned after DeMille himself. DeMille
didn't know how to economically film this event until, to his
amazement, when returning from location, he was amazed to find
his own studio on fire. Unwilling to allow the situation be a
total loss he ordered his cameraman to set up the cameras. The
damage to the studio was estimated at about $100,000 but DeMille
said “We'll get it back with the picture. One thing is
destroyed so that something new may be created. We have fared
well enough through the crisis.”
You can read more about these accidents and many more interesting
facts about DeMille by reading the following book:
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