Actor: Stephen Boyd

Stephen Boyd played Messala in Ben-Hur, and the chariot race, which he performed substantially himself after extensive training, is the sequence the entire film is remembered for.

The relationship between Messala and Ben-Hur was written by Gore Vidal with a subtext Boyd played and Charlton Heston was reportedly not told about.

Fantastic Voyage and The Fall of the Roman Empire followed, and the career declined through the 1970s. He died at forty-five.