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.
Donald PleasenceFantastic Voyage is the mid-1960s science fiction film about a submarine and crew miniaturized to microscopic size and injected into the bloodstream of a dying scientist. The film made approximately twelve million dollars on a six and a half million…
Charlton HestonBen-Hur is one of the great American historical epics and the production that established the commercial and creative ceiling for biblical-era cinema. He had directed Wuthering Heights, Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, and various other major productions.
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