In 1963, at the age of eight, he appeared in Jack Palance's ABC circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth.

Among his best-known films are Cleopatra ; Samson and Delilah ; The Greatest Show on Earth, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture ; and The Ten Commandments, which was his last and most successful film.

Paulette Goddard's refusal to risk personal injury in a scene involving fire in Unconquered cost her DeMille's favor and probably a role in The Greatest Show on Earth.

DeMille was, however, adept at directing " thousands of extras ", and many of his pictures included spectacular set pieces, such as the parting of the Red Sea in both versions of The Ten Commandments, the toppling of the pagan temple in Samson and Delilah, train wrecks in The Road to Yesterday, Union Pacific and The Greatest Show on Earth, and the destruction of a zeppelin in Madame Satan.

Also representative of his penchant for the spectacular was the 1952 production of The Greatest Show on Earth which gave DeMille an Oscar for best picture and a nomination for best director.

In his book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, biologist Richard Dawkins grapples with the question of why pain has to be so very painful.

A " Museum Show " which might be deceptively billed as " World's Greatest Freaks Past and Present ," is a sideshow in which the exhibits are usually not alive.

* List of South Africans – Voted 14th in the TV Show 100 Greatest South Africans

St. Louis posted an NFL-best 14-2 regular season record led by quarterback Kurt Warner and " The Greatest Show on Turf " offense.

The Rams ' 1999 – 2001 offense, nicknamed " The Greatest Show on Turf ," is widely considered one of the best in NFL history.

Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival is also known as The Greatest Show on Earth, and it definitely is.

The Carnival in Brazil is a big part of the Brazilian Culture, and it is sometimes referred to by the Brazilians as the " Greatest Show on Earth ".

The Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 drama film set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and starring Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, and Charlton Heston.

A television series, also called The Greatest Show on Earth, was inspired by the film, but with Jack Palance in the role of Charlton Heston's character.

and of the men and women who fight to make it — The Greatest Show on Earth!

Brad bargains to keep the circus on the road as long as it is making a profit, thus keeping the 1, 400 performers and roustabouts who make Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus ' the Greatest Show On Earth working.

However, the plot and cameos play second fiddle to the documentary-like look at The Greatest Show On Earth in its last years under canvas.

At the time the movie was filmed, John Ringling North was the owner of The Greatest Show On Earth.

In 1952, Bosley Crowther called The Greatest Show on Earth a " lusty triumph of circus showmanship and movie skill " and a " piece of entertainment that will delight movie audiences for years ":

In 2005, " The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying The Best of Hollywood's Worst " includes The Greatest Show On Earth.

In 2006, in an article for MSNBC about the 78th Academy Awards selection of Crash as Best Picture, Erik Lundegaard called Crash the " worst Best Picture winner since the ' dull, bloated ' film The Greatest Show on Earth "

Another likely reason The Greatest Show On Earth was voted Best Picture of 1952 was that it was seen as a " last chance " vote for Cecil B. DeMille, to honor him for a lifetime of film making going well back into the silent movie era.

It may be that the members of the Academy ( which included many veterans of the silent era ) felt that as an elder statesman of Hollywood, he deserved the honor even if films like The Quiet Man, High Noon, Singin ' in the Rain, and Ivanhoe were seen as better than The Greatest Show On Earth.

In Steven Spielberg's remake of War of the Worlds, in an early scene the children of Tom Cruise's character are seen channel-surfing on their television, and the train-wreck scene from The Greatest Show On Earth is being broadcast.

In 2012, the album was ranked # 385 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, while Newsweek magazine pronounced it the second best album of its decade.

In 1997, the episode " Hedda Hopper's Hollywood " was ranked # 62 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

" In December 2006, TV Guide even ranked the duo's distinct laughing at # 66 on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases.

In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him # 20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

* In 2002, on a UK poll broadcast by the BBC, Chaplin was ranked number 66 on a list of the 100 Greatest Britons.

It went on to be declared one of the best albums of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time issue in 2003.

In 1997, the episodes " Thanksgiving Orphans " and " Home Is the Sailor " were respectively ranked No. 7 and No. 45 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

In 2002, Cheers was ranked No. 18 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

In 1999, 88 years after his final major league appearance and 44 years after his death, editors at The Sporting News ranked Cy Young 14th on their list of " Baseball's 100 Greatest Players ".

* In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Colin Powell on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

Cronenberg has appeared on various " Greatest Director " lists.

While the compositions and performances were credited to " Jimmy Thudpucker ", they were in fact co-written and sung by Brewer, who also co-wrote and provided the vocals for " Ginny's Song ", a 1976 single on the Warner Bros. Label, and Jimmy Thudpucker's Greatest Hits, an LP released by Windsong Records, John Denver's subsidiary of RCA Records ).

In 1996 TV Guide ranked him number 36 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list.

In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 39th on their list of the " 100 Greatest Artists of All Time ", and 23rd on their list of the best singers of all-time.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time and the 23rd best singer of all time.

The Detroit River became the busiest commercial river in the world and was dubbed " the Greatest Commercial Artery on Earth " by The Detroit News in 1908.

That song is included on Baseball's Greatest Hits compact discs.

In 1996, Ed Sullivan was ranked # 50 on TV Guides " 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time ".