de Mille, William C[hurchill] (1878–1955), playwright. The son of Henry C. de Mille and father of Agnes de Mille, he was born in Washington, North Carolina, and studied at Columbia University, then at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. De Mille enjoyed a modest success with his first produced play, the Indian drama Strongheart (1905). After co‐writing the short‐lived comedy The Genius (1906) with his brother Cecil, he and Margaret Turnbull penned the well‐received comedy about West Point cadets, Classmates (1907), then on his own scored a hit with the Civil War drama The Warrens of Virginia (1907). De Mille's biggest success came with the political drama The Woman (1911). After striking out with two plays written with his brother, The Royal Mounted (1908) and After Five (1913), the two siblings went west, where they spent the rest of their careers in films.