His stage career began in 1880, but Theodore Roberts is remembered today for his association with the films of Cecil B. DeMille, including DeMille’s 1918 remake of his own SQUAW MAN, as well as DON’T CHANGE YOUR HUSBAND and MALE AND FEMALE (both 1919) and (as Moses) in DeMille’s first TEN COMMANDMENTS (1923).
THE CRUISE OF THE JASPER B. (1926) was a late silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It starred Rod La Rocque (1898-1969) and Mildred Harris (1901-1944), today most famous as Charlie Chaplin's first wife. The plot of THE CRUISE OF THE JASPER B. revolves around a stolen inheritance and has elements suggesting reincarnation: it also boasts more than one scene where the hero (or the heroine) must appear in fetching undress.
By 1926, La Rocque had already appeared in DeMille's first TEN COMMANDMENTS (with Theodore Roberts and Julia Faye), and in 1927 DeMille served as best man at La Rocque's marriage to Vilma Bánky. The range of careers Cecil B. DeMille launched, or helped, is quite as remarkable as the length and variety of his career.
Standing, left to right: Oscar Apfel (1878-1938), camera man for and co-director of THE SQUAW MAN (1914); Max Figman (1861-1952), Lolita Robertson's husband and frequent co-star; Charles Richman (1865-1940); art director Wilfred Buckland (1866-1946); Theodore Roberts (1861-1928), Moses in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1923); Broadway transplants Robert Edeson (1868-1931) and Edward Abeles (1869-1919); and Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959).
