Ben-Hur

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Approfondimenti

Rock Hudson was furious with Universal for not loaning him out for "Ben-Hur ". However, he did sign [...]	D
Stephen Boyd, and several other actors playing Romans, wore dark contact lenses, so their eyes appea [...]	D
Sculptors cast more than 200 pieces of statuary to supplement the thousands of props used from Cinec [...]	D
The 6 cameras used on the film cost, at the time, some Â£200,000.	D
During filming, director William Wyler noticed that one of the extras was missing a hand. He had the [...]	D
Director William Wyler took on the project because he wanted to do a Cecil B. DeMille type of pictur [...]	D
In Christian tradition, Balthasar of the Three Wise Men is the black or dark-skinned one. In this mo [...]	D
Nervous at the expense and trying to cover all its bases, MGM executives dissatisfied with the scrip [...]	D
Final film of Cathy O'Donnell. NOTE: She was married to Robert Wyler, director William Wyler's broth [...]	D
Leslie Nielsen made a screen test for the part of Messala, part of which can be seen in the document [...]	D
Much has been made in later years about the possible homosexual undertone between Ben-Hur and Massal [...]	D
Charlton Heston mused years later that, if "Ben-Hur" director William Wyler and El Cid (1961) direct [...]	D
Charlton Heston was initially offered the role of Messala.	D
Director William Wyler had served as an assistant director wrangling extras in crowds under action s [...]	D
The chariot race required 15,000 extras on a set constructed on 18 acres of backlot at Cinecitta Stu [...]	D
The ten-square-block set that represents Jerusalem is a historically accurate one.	D
Marlon Brando was considered for the role of Judah Ben-Hur.	D
There was no wrap party after the shooting of Ben-Hur.	D
In the Roman ship galley scenes, Judah Ben-Hur is referred to as "number 41." In the original Genera [...]	D
Originally William Wyler had planned only to film the first unit and leave the second unit duties to [...]	D
Adjusted for inflation, this would be the 13th highest-grossing movie of all time.	D
This is the first of three films to have won 11 Academy Awards, including the Best Picture Oscar. Th [...]	D
Judah tells Messala that Rome is strangling the whole world, and when it falls there will be a shout [...]	D
The top-grossing US film of 1959.	D
The first and only Best Picture Oscar winner to also win Best Special Effects.	D
Cesare Danova screen-tested to play Ben-Hur.	D
It shares the top spot of most Oscar wins for a movie. The other movies are Titanic (1997) and Lord [...]	D
In a nice bit of realism, indicative of a big budget film, the raft that Judah and Arias leave behin [...]	D
Because the main set for the chariot race was still being built, an identical track was constructed [...]	D
The first film to sweep all the technical awards at the Oscars: Best Director, Editing, Cinematograp [...]	D
The film's credits appear with the Sistine Chapel ceiling's center panel, "The Creation of Adam", as [...]	D
The pace and scope of the production, combined with miserable summer heat, began taking a toll on ev [...]	D
Liselotte Pulver was the first choice to play Esther and was already cast. When a German producer in [...]	D
Stuntman Cliff Lyons worked as a stuntman/chariot driver in both this film and the original Ben-Hur [...]	D
The only Hollywood film to make the Vatican-approved film list in the category of religion.	D
Director William Wyler decided that the Romans should have British accents, and that the four Americ [...]	D
The Roman soldier standing on the spina, or center island of the circus, was a dummy. It never seems [...]	D
The chariot race was shot MOS - without sound. This was added in post-production when the decision w [...]	D
According to his memoirs, Stewart Granger was offered the role of Messala but claimed that he turned [...]	D
It's never explained why, after he's been told that his mother and sister have died, Judah decides t [...]	D
Yakima Canutt and Andy Marton shoot the chariot race but Wyler edited it.	D
The heat of Rome proved to be a serious drawback for the action scenes. Horses could only make about [...]	D
William Wyler was a renowned stickler for detail. Charlton Heston recalled one particular scene wher [...]	D
MGM commissioned over 40 scripts for the film over a period of six years.	D
When film students are given a tour of the Panavision facility, they are shown the chariot race from [...]	D
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.	D
Famed stuntman Yakima Canutt was brought in to coordinate all the chariot race stunt work and train [...]	D
Held the record for most Oscars won (11) for 38 years, until "Titanic" matched it in 1998.	D
Judah Ben-Hur struggles with five men during the course of the film: he fights two Roman guards whil [...]	D
Charlton Heston and James Stewart, who had been nominated for Best Actor for Anatomy of a Murder, ar [...]	D
MGM offered Universal 750,000 dollars for the loan-out of its contract star Rock Hudson. Hudson seri [...]	D
The production cost MGM a massive $15 million, and was a gamble by the studio to save itself from ba [...]	D
Robert Ryan was considered for the role of Messala, with Burt Lancaster as Ben-Hur. However, he was [...]	D
Roger Ebert wrote, "One of the film's problems was that there was no plausible explanation for the h [...]	D
Charlton Heston had about a month to learn how to drive a chariot properly. Stephen Boyd--who was ca [...]	D
Frank Thring had the odd distinction of playing both Pontius Pilate in this film, and Herod Antipas [...]	D
The chariot arena was built by more than 1,000 workers beginning in January 1958, according to some [...]	D
In the original novel, Ben-Hur's mother does not have a name; she is referred to as Mother of Hur. F [...]	D
Ava Gardner and Pier Angeli were considered for the role of Esther.	D
Kirk Douglas was offered the role of Messala but turned it down, because he didn't want to play a "s [...]	D
The chariot race segment was co-directed by legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt (with veteran second-un [...]	D
William Wyler missed just two days of the lengthy shoot, due to influenza.	D
The costuming of the Roman soldiers in this film has never been surpassed, and establishes the iconi [...]	D
The arena of the chariot race covered 19 acres and at the time was the biggest set ever built for a [...]	D
One thing William Wyler was completely unable to do was get his leading man to cry on-screen. During [...]	D
In the original novel, when Judah Ben-Hur is adopted by Quintus Arrius, his legal name becomes "Sext [...]	D
During a shot of chariots swinging around the large curve, two of the vehicles smashed into the came [...]	D
Both Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston would later go on to work with director Richard Fleischer in a [...]	D
Burt Lancaster, a self-described atheist, claimed he turned down the role of Judah Ben-Hur because h [...]	D
The only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year to be also nominated for Best Art Direction (Color), a [...]	D
The chariot race has a 263-to-1 cutting ratio (263 feet of film for every one foot used), probably t [...]	D
The Roman decurion's line "No water for him!" became the on-set catchphrase for the remainder of the [...]	D
William Wyler selected all the camera angles for the chariot race, but left all the details of its a [...]	D
The city of Jerusalem set took up 10 square blocks. Altogether, the production used about 40,000 cub [...]	D
As Quintus is driving his chariot in his victory procession, he is accompanied by the slave, Ben-Hur [...]	D
More than 300 sets were built on location at the Cinecitta studios in Rome. They were constructed fo [...]	D
During the 18-day auction of MGM props, costumes and memorabilia that took place in May 1970 when ne [...]	D
"Hortator" is not a name but a title. It is a Latin noun meaning "inciter" or "one who arouses" and [...]	D
Charlton Heston made a big blunder early on by composing a lengthy memo outlining his ideas about hi [...]	D
By the time filming had finished, MGM's London laboratories had processed over 1,250,000 feet of 65m [...]	D
In nearly all the main sources the story of the scriptwriting for this movie is told from one of two [...]	D
One of the models of the Roman ships was on display at the amusement park Worlds of Fun in Kansas Ci [...]	D
William Wyler was so impressed with David Lean's work on Il ponte sul fiume Kwai (1957) that he aske [...]	D
Sidney Franklin had initially been courted to direct the film.	D
Sheikh Ilderim's four horses' names are Aldebaran, Altair, Antares and Rigel. Their mother's name is [...]	D
Ben-Hur (1959) is currently, as of 2017, the last Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film to win the Academy Award [...]	D
According to Sir Christopher Frayling's biography of Sergio Leone, Leone apparently recalls William [...]	D
The 300 sets built required five years of research and 14 months of labor.	D
After shooting, the studio ordered the dismantling of all the sets (at a cost of $150,000), partiall [...]	D
Shot over a period of nine months at Rome's Cinecitta studios, the outdoor set of the chariot race c [...]	D
For the initial 35mm release, in order to meet the terms of the exhibition contract, exhibitors had [...]	D
Over 50,000 people were involved in the making of the film, including 365 speaking parts in the main [...]	D
Included among the 25 films on the American Film Institute's 2005 list of AFI's 100 Years of Film Sc [...]	D
Of the three Academy Awards that MiklÃ³s RÃ³zsa won, he cherished the one he won for this film t [...]	D
The film was originally intended to be made in 1956 with Marlon Brando in the lead role.	D
According to text in the film's souvenir program, the film used over one million props.	D
Producer Sam Zimbalist offered William Wyler $1 million to direct this film. This was the highest di [...]	D
Six of the newly developed Camera 65 units, each valued at $100,000 (over $750,000 in 2016 dollars), [...]	D
Producer Sam Zimbalist died two months before production completed. William Wyler handled the remain [...]	D
When Heston exasperated stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt, about the chariot race, Canutt famously tol [...]	D
Paul Newman was offered the role of Judah Ben-Hur but turned it down because he'd already done one B [...]	D
At 2 hours, 1 minute, and 23 seconds, Charlton Heston's performance in this movie is the longest to [...]	D
In his 1995 autobiography "In the Arena" Charlton Heston admitted he probably would not have been ca [...]	D
Included among the American Film Institute's 2001 list of the top 100 Most Heart-Pounding American M [...]	D
When Ben-Hur confronts a dying Messala after the chariot race, William Wyler insisted on multiple ta [...]	D
In the scene where Massala tells Simonides and Esther that Judah has been sentenced and condemned to [...]	D
In 1924 Francis X Bushman appeared in a version which went into film libraries as a classic.	D
Charlton Heston had learned how to handle a two-horse chariot when he was making I dieci comandament [...]	D
Stephen Boyd's contact lenses caused him terrible pain, forcing a rescheduling of scenes so he could [...]	D
According to his autobiography, Heston wasn't the first choice as the studio considered actors "...r [...]	D
Such was the expense of the film that nervous MGM executives flew out to Rome on a weekly basis to c [...]	D
It was estimated that 500 journalists visited the set during production.	D
A talent was a measure of weight, and could have meant either silver or gold, as each metal was meas [...]	D
An infirmary was created especially for the filming of the dangerous chariot race scenes. However, i [...]	D
Although only about 36 horses would ever be seen on screen during the race, 82 animals (to cover for [...]	D
10,000 Italians were employed for the filming, the sculptor shop employed 200 skilled artists to tur [...]	D
Jesus Christ was played by American opera singer Claude Heater, who went uncredited in his only feat [...]	D
The second of two films shot in the MGM Camera 65 process (eight more would be shot after the proces [...]	D
The process of amassing the more than one million props that were needed began in Rome two years bef [...]	D
May McAvoy: Esther from the original Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ (1925) is the only member of the o [...]	D
After a few days of shooting, Andrew Marton discovered the most effective way to shoot in the arena [...]	D
By the end of photography, approximately 1.25 million feet of the expensive 65mm Eastmancolor film h [...]	D
Messala's hesitation to accept Sheik Ilderim's wager on the race would not be out of character. Alth [...]	D
Although William Wyler was Jewish, he was particularly keen to make a film that would appeal to all [...]	D
When the Roman Legion makes a triumphant march through Rome, the band plays the exact same tune that [...]	D
Stephen Boyd had difficulty driving the chariots. His hands and wrists blistered, and rest time had [...]	D
Director William Wyler began his career at Universal Pictures directing one two-reel western per wee [...]	D
Esther tells Judah that the wise old days of Solomon were "long ago". They were in fact almost 1000 [...]	D
Martha Scott was 45 at the time of filming, only ten years older than her screen son, Charlton Hesto [...]	D
In 1880, Lew Wallace, author of the novel on which this film is based, told his wife that they might [...]	D
Charlton Heston noted favorably that William Wyler, who had no experience with such a large-scale mo [...]	D
The chariot scene alone cost about four million dollars, or about a fourth of the entire budget, and [...]	D
For some sequences in the chariot race, some of the chariots had three horses instead of four. This [...]	D
Next to the female lead in "El Cid" (1961) Swiss actress Liselotte Pulver also lost the Esther part [...]	D
William Wyler kept up a 16-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week schedule for the nine months it took to shoo [...]	D
Paul Newman turned down the role of Judah Ben-Hur because he didn't want to have to wear a tunic.	D
When Judah and Quintus are rescued from their raft, Quintus offers the first drink of water to Judah [...]	D
William Wyler coined the famous joke that it took "a Jew to make a good film about Jesus."	D
Several times during the film, Judah touches a box on the door frame of his home. This is a Mezuzah, [...]	D
Charlton Heston wrote in his 1995 autobiography "In the Arena" that he probably would not have been [...]	D
The wardrobe in a vast warehouse contained 11,000 costumes including some 1,000 suits of armour. Sil [...]	D
Richard Hale, who appears as Gaspar, the middle Wiseman, would be cast a year later as Boo Radley's [...]	D
Wyler was so taken with the actor Remington Olmsted, who plays the Decurian soldier who denies Ben-H [...]	D
In preparation for his role in Ben Hur he was told to grow a beard then by the time it was a good le [...]	D
Andrew Marton had three 65mm cameras at his disposal for shooting the race. The larger-format film p [...]	D
Only Best Picture Oscar winner with a hyphen in its title.	D
Ben-Hur generated another $20 million from merchandising, including books, toys, candy, perfume, nec [...]	D
In preparation for his role in Ben Hur Stephen Boyd was told to grow a beard then by the time it was [...]	D
Charlton Heston's Oscar winning performance in this film is his only Academy Award nomination, thoug [...]	D
One of the problems William Wyler and director of photography Robert Surtees encountered was composi [...]	D
It is the first movie remake to win the Oscar for Best Picture. The Departed - Il bene e il male (20 [...]	D
Judah Ben-Hur was called "41" seven times total. The first five were by Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins [...]	D
According to Gore Vidal's interview in Lo schermo velato (1995), Ben-Hur and Messala were former lov [...]	D
Sheik Ilderim's white horses were brought in from Lipica, Slovenia, the original home of the snow-wh [...]	D
When he was cast as Messala, Stephen Boyd grew a bushy beard for the role, only to be told that fash [...]	D
Sergio Leone was an uncredited second-unit director. In later years he claimed that he directed the [...]	D
Final film of actress May McAvoy.	D
Audrey Hepburn visited the set during the filming of the chariot race (she was in the midst of shoot [...]	D
Ben-Hur's house was constructed of wood frame covered with stucco painted to look like stone.	D
In this film, Charlton Heston's assigned oar rower number was "41" on the slave ship. In the 2016 re [...]	D
One of the very few and very expensive 65mm cameras in existence was wrecked during the filming of t [...]	D
Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.	D
Producer Sam Zimbalist, 54, collapsed and died of a heart attack 40 minutes after leaving the set co [...]	D
MiklÃ³s RÃ³zsa wrote the musical score over a period of nearly a year. He was resident in Rome w [...]	D
Although the original 35mm release was in Technicolor (there is no such thing as a 70mm Technicolor [...]	D
The shot where Messala's body is dragged behind his own chariot was tried first with a dummy, but it [...]	D
At one point MGM planned this as a vehicle for three of its most popular contract stars--Robert Tayl [...]	D
William Wyler decided to take Charlton Heston to play Ben-Hur when they both made The Big Country, o [...]	D
According to Charlton Heston, William Wyler was reluctant to change his mind about an approach to a [...]	D
Final film of George Relph, a veteran of London's Old Vic Theatre Company. He died five months after [...]	D
The 65mm cameras were extremely heavy. It took four men with steel bars to move them, so William Wyl [...]	D
In June 2008 this film was ranked #2 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films [...]	D
6 distinguished writers , including Christopher Fry worked on the script which ran to 230 pages. Bas [...]	D
While this film was occupying most of the stages and back lot at Cinecitta, Federico Fellini was sho [...]	D
Martha Scott and Charlton Heston star opposite each other as a Hebrew mother and son both in The Ten [...]	D
According to Andrew Marton, who directed the chariot race, the track was constructed of steamrolled [...]	D
Has the distinction of being the film with the most academy award wins (11) of all time. A record it [...]	D
One of only four MGM films in which the studio's trademark Leo the Lion did not roar at the beginnin [...]	D
Initially there were queries over whether William Wyler was the right director for the job, as he'd [...]	D
According to William Wyler's wife, Margaret Tallichet, as soon as photography was done and he and hi [...]	D
Vittorio Gassman, Montgomery Clift, Tony Curtis, Van Johnson and Edmund Purdom were considered for t [...]	D
The film's budget ballooned to $10 million, nearly fifty percent higher than the original budget. Jo [...]	D
Stephen Boyd wore lifts in his shoes to make his height more on a par with Charlton Heston's.	D
The desert sequences were all set to be filmed in Libya until authorities in the country--a Muslim n [...]	D
Passed by the British Board of Film Censors on 30 October 1959 with an "A" certificate, then premier [...]	D
Desiring as much authenticity as possible, real aristocrats were recruited to play patricians as gue [...]	D
A common practice with low-budget films is to have the same sky backdrop-painting behind all scenes [...]	D
Upon reading Karl Tunberg's original script, William Wyler had written in the margins "awful . . . h [...]	D

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Ben-Hur

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