Richard de Mille
| Richard de Mille | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 12, 1922 Monrovia, California, U.S. |
| Died | April 8, 2009 |
| Occupation | Author, investigative journalist, psychologist |
| Nationality | American |
Richard de Mille (February 12, 1922 – April 8, 2009) was an American author, investigative journalist, and psychologist.
He was born in Monrovia, California, to William C. deMille, (whose first wife was Anna Angela George, the daughter of notable economist Henry George), and the Scottish author and screenwriter Lorna Moon. His uncle, Cecil B. DeMille, adopted and raised Richard, not telling him of his true parentage until the death of his birth father when Richard was 33 years old. He first enrolled at Columbia University, later transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles before graduating.
He served with the United States Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1946. That year, he became a writer and director at KTLA, remaining in that position through 1950. Around this time he joined the movement that was to become Scientology leaving KTLA to become an editorial/personal assistant to founder L. Ron Hubbard. De Mille used the nom de plume "D. Folgere" (an Anglo-Saxon phrase meaning "follower") when editing and/or ghost-writing during that time, despite Hubbard's protests that it would appear "Dick de Mille wasn't a true believer". He was attracted to Hubbard because, as he later said, "I thought he was a great man who had made a great discovery, and whatever his shortcomings they must be discounted because he had the answer." On February 24, 1951, De Mille assisted Hubbard in kidnapping the latter's wife, Sara, from her apartment in Los Angeles in an unsuccessful bid to have her declared insane by a psychiatrist. They eventually released her in Yuma, Arizona. The two men had already taken Hubbard's daughter Alexis and a few days later flew together with Alexis to Havana, Cuba. By 1954 he had become disillusioned with Scientology and left the organization, explaining that he had "didn't like all the contradictions and I was becoming more and more sceptical of the whole thing".
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