The Cheat is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Fannie Ward, Sessue Hayakawa, and Jack Dean, Ward's real-life husband.
The Cheat (1915 film)
Edith Hardy (Fannie Ward) and Hishuru Tori (Sessue Hayakawa) in The Cheat
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. His silent films included social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants. He was an active Freemason and member of Prince of Orange Lodge #16 in New York City.
Publicity portrait, c. 1920
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York
DeMille as a young man, c. 1904
Famous Players–Lasky Corporation – DeMille is seated, second from the right.