Katherine Orrison

Lionheart in Hollywood has the best picture of De Mille at work we’re likely to ever see, though at times you must read between the lines... In many ways it is the definitive De Mille book. Of course, Wilcoxon’s own life and career from 1935 on are covered here even when C. B. isn’t around... This is largely the work of Katherine Orrison who wrote this autobiography mostly after the subject died. But since she doesn’t engage in myth puffery of anyone, you have to believe she was being true to her subject’s wishes.

Lionheart in Hollywood is a book any buff will find hard to put down. General readers with only passing interest in Hollywood will be pleasantly surprised, even if they don’t know who Cecil B. De Mille was. He was such an incredible character they’re bound to be pulled in.

Best of all, we finally learn what De Mille’s long-secret last picture, Project X, would have been. Only Cecil B. De Mille would have gotten away with The Book of Daniel and Revelations!
Wilcoxon brings De Mille to life so clearly it is as if the reader can hear “the Old Man” speaking. De Mille seems to have been a rather dry, scholarly, remote man who could be dictatorial and unreasonable at times. He was also kind and generous and was especially loyal to those who had served him faithfully. According to Wilcoxon, De Mille was supposedly unsure of himself in casting his films, often unable to make up his mind. And Wilcoxon reveals De Mille disliked “yes men.”

Wilcoxon does not spare himself the many ups and downs with De Mille. He said De Mille was a “tough man to work for... You either loved him or hated him. There was no in-between.” Wilcoxon loved him: “I loved the old buzzard. I’ve missed him every day since he died. I suppose I always will.”
Very enjoyable memoirs by the veteran character actor, best remembered for his work for de Mille from the 1930s through the 1950s. Flavorful, with a good deal of material on De Mille, and insights into the perilous lives of career thespians. Wilcoxon’s memoir of his stint as producer on the De Mille-Anthony Quinn film The Buccaneer (full responsibility, no authority) is particularly harrowing and could serve as an object lesson to anyone in middle management.