Stephen Boyd
Encyclopedia
Stephen Boyd was an Irish actor, from Glengormley
Glengormley
Glengormley or Glengormly is the name of a townland and electoral ward in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Glengormley is within the urban area called Newtownabbey and the wider Newtownabbey Borough.-Location:...

, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, who appeared in around 60 films, most notably in the role of Messala in Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur (1959 film)
Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The score was composed by...

.

Biography

One of nine siblings from a Protestant family from County Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

, Boyd was originally named William Millar. He starred in a radio play in Belfast and worked as a commissionare at a cinema in London. He began acting in British films, notably as an edgy Irish spy in the 1955 World War II film The Man Who Never Was
The Man Who Never Was
The Man Who Never Was is a nonfiction 1953 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 Second World War war film, based on the book and dramatising actual events...

. It was his role in a 1957 French film, The Night Heaven Fell
The Night Heaven Fell
The Night Heaven Fell is a 1958 French-Italian film directed by Roger Vadim. Vadim had already acquired international fame with his daring debut And God Created Woman...

opposite Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...

 that got him noticed.

He went to Hollywood and appeared as leads in a variety of films, including The Bravados
The Bravados
The Bravados is a 1958 western film , directed by Henry King starring Gregory Peck and Joan Collins. The CinemaScope film was based on a novel of the same name written by Frank O'Rourke.-Plot:...

(1958) and The Best of Everything
The Best of Everything (1959 film)
The Best of Everything is a 20th Century-Fox film starring Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker, Stephen Boyd, Louis Jourdan, Robert Evans, and Joan Crawford...

(1959
1959 in film
The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....

). His role as Messala in Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur (1959 film)
Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The score was composed by...

(1959
1959 in film
The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....

) propelled him to international fame. He later played another Roman leader in Samuel Bronston
Samuel Bronston
Samuel Bronston was a Bessarabian-born American film producer, film director, and a nephew of socialist revolutionary figure, Leon Trotsky. He was also the petitioner in a U.S...

's The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....

), in which he co-starred with Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...

. He received a Golden Globe for his performance in Ben-Hur. In 1962 Boyd appeared in the film The Inspector
The Inspector (1962 film)
The Inspector, is a 1962 British-American drama film directed by Philip Dunne, starring Stephen Boyd & Dolores Hart. Dolores Hart plays Lisa Held, a Dutch Jewish girl who has survived the horror of Auschwitz.-Plot:...

opposite starlet Dolores Hart
Dolores Hart
Dolores Hart is an American Roman Catholic nun and former actress. She made 10 films in 5 years, playing opposite Stephen Boyd, Montgomery Clift, George Hamilton and Robert Wagner, having made her movie debut with Elvis Presley in Loving You .-Background:Dolores Hicks was the only child of the...

, who later left Hollywood to join a Roman Catholic convent in Connecticut, of which she later became Prioress. The two remained friends until Millar's death.

Boyd was originally chosen to play Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...

 opposite Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...

 in 20th Century-Fox's epic production of Cleopatra
Cleopatra (1963 film)
Cleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...

(1963
1963 in film
The year 1963 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* June 12 - Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City....

) under the direction of Rouben Mamoulian
Rouben Mamoulian
Rouben Mamoulian was an Armenian-American film and theatre director.-Biography:Born in Tbilisi, Georgia to an Armenian family, Rouben relocated to England and started directing plays in London in 1922...

, but eventually withdrew from the problem-plagued production when he committed to star in The Fall of the Roman Empire (Cleopatra was later directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career and is best known as the writer-director of All About Eve , which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six. He was brother to screenwriter and drama critic Herman J...

, and the role of Mark Antony went to Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...

).
Boyd also appeared in John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...

's Biblical epic The Bible...in the Beginning (1966) and was top-billed in another epic, Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan (1965 film)
Genghis Khan is a 1965 film depicting the life and conquests of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan. It was released in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1965 by Columbia Pictures, and was directed by Henry Levin, and starred Omar Sharif, who that same year starred in another epic, Doctor...

(1965), filmed in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

. He appeared in the French-produced Napoleonic epic Imperial Venus (1962).

His non-epic roles included the musical Billy Rose's Jumbo
Billy Rose's Jumbo (film)
Billy Rose's Jumbo is an American musical film produced by MGM in Panavision and Metrocolor, and starring Jimmy Durante, Doris Day, Martha Raye, and Stephen Boyd. The film was directed by Charles Walters and featured Busby Berkeley's choreography...

(1962) the melodrama The Oscar
The Oscar (film)
The Oscar is a 1966 American drama film, written by Harlan Ellison, Clarence Greene, Russell Rouse and Richard Sale, directed by Rouse and starring Stephen Boyd, singer Tony Bennett , comedian Milton Berle , Elke Sommer, Ernest Borgnine, Jill St. John, and Eleanor Parker...

(1966), the sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby.Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it....

(1966), the spy thriller Assignment K
Assignment K
Assignment K is a 1968 British thriller film directed by Val Guest, and starring Stephen Boyd, Camilla Sparv, Michael Redgrave and Leo McKern...

(1969) and the international Western Shalako
Shalako (film)
Shalako is a 1968 British western film directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot. Stephen Boyd portrayed a classic western villain. Jack Hawkins played an upper class Englishman abroad in the "new" country...

(1969), shot in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. His career declined in the 1970s and he appeared in several European potboiler
Potboiler
Potboiler or pot-boiler is a term used to describe a poor quality novel, play, opera, or film, or other creative work that was created quickly to make money to pay for the creator's daily expenses . Authors who create potboiler novels or screenplays are sometimes called hack writers...

s before making a comeback in Michael Apted
Michael Apted
Michael David Apted, CMG is an English director, producer, writer and actor. He is one of the most prolific British film directors of his generation but is best known for his work on the Up Series of documentaries and the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.On 29 June 2003 he was elected...

's British gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....

 thriller The Squeeze
The Squeeze
For other films called "The Squeeze" see The Squeeze )The Squeeze is a 1977 British gangster thriller, directed by Michael Apted, based on a novel by Bill James...

(1977).

Death

Boyd died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

 at the age of 45 while playing golf at the Porter Valley Country Club in Northridge, California. He was in talks to play the role of the Regimental Sergeant Major
Regimental Sergeant Major
Regimental Sergeant Major is an appointment held by warrant officers class 1 in the British Army, the British Royal Marines and in the armies of many Commonwealth nations, including Australia and New Zealand; and by chief warrant officers in the Canadian Forces...

 in Euan Lloyd
Euan Lloyd
Euan Lloyd is a British film producer.He began his career directing short travelogue documentaries, starting with April in Portugal in 1954...

's The Wild Geese
The Wild Geese
The Wild Geese is a British 1978 film about a group of mercenaries in Africa. It stars Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Hardy Krüger...

before his death. Boyd was interred in Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery
Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery
The Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 22601 Lassen Street, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California. It has been used as a cemetery since 1924, and there was a Native American graveyard next to the cemetery before a fire destroyed the old wooden crosses that marked the site. The Old...

 in Chatsworth, California.

Personal life

Boyd was married twice: for three weeks in 1958 to Italian-born MCA executive Mariella di Sarzana, and subsequently to Elizabeth Mills, a secretary at the British Arts Council, whom he had known since 1955. Mills followed Boyd to the USA in the late fifties and was his personal assistant and secretary for many years before marrying him about 10 months before his death.

Religion

Boyd was allegedly a member of the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...

 and rose to Grade IV within the organization. He utilized Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...

 techniques while filming a movie in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

. However, his funeral was conducted according to the Protestant religion in which he was raised.

Partial filmography

  • An Alligator Named Daisy
    An Alligator Named Daisy
    An Alligator Named Daisy is a 1955 British comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Donald Sinden, Jeannie Carson, James Robertson Justice, Diana Dors, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway.-Plot:...

    (1955)
  • The Man Who Never Was
    The Man Who Never Was
    The Man Who Never Was is a nonfiction 1953 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 Second World War war film, based on the book and dramatising actual events...

    (1956)
  • A Hill in Korea
    A Hill in Korea
    A Hill in Korea is a 1956 British war film based on Max Catto's 1953 novel of the same name. The original name was Hell in Korea, but was changed for distribution reasons, except in the U.S. It was directed by Julian Amyes and the producer was Anthony Squire...

    (1956)
  • Seven Waves Away
    Seven Waves Away
    Seven Waves Away is a 1957 British drama film starring Tyrone Power, Mai Zetterling, Lloyd Nolan, and Stephen Boyd. When his ship goes down, an officer has to make an agonizing decision on his overcrowded lifeboat...

    (1957)
  • Island in the Sun
    Island in the Sun (film)
    Island in the Sun is a 1957 film that stars an ensemble cast including James Mason, Joan Fontaine, Dorothy Dandridge, Joan Collins, Michael Rennie and Harry Belafonte. The cast includes also Diana Wynyard, Patricia Owens and Stephen Boyd. The film is about race relations and interracial romance...

    (1957)
  • Seven Thunders
    Seven Thunders (film)
    Seven Thunders is a 1957 World War II film about two British escaped prisoners of war.-Plot:...

    (1957)
  • Les Bijoutiers du clair de lune, also known as The Night Heaven Fell
    The Night Heaven Fell
    The Night Heaven Fell is a 1958 French-Italian film directed by Roger Vadim. Vadim had already acquired international fame with his daring debut And God Created Woman...

    (1958)
  • The Bravados
    The Bravados
    The Bravados is a 1958 western film , directed by Henry King starring Gregory Peck and Joan Collins. The CinemaScope film was based on a novel of the same name written by Frank O'Rourke.-Plot:...

    (1958)
  • Woman Obsessed
    Woman Obsessed
    Woman Obsessed is a 1959 romantic drama film about the hardships faced by a widow and her eight-year-old son on a rugged Canadian ranch.The film stars Susan Hayward and Stephen Boyd with Barbara Nichols, Theodore Bikel, and James Philbrook. It was made in CinemaScope with DeLuxe Color.- Plot...

    (1959)
  • The Best of Everything
    The Best of Everything (1959 film)
    The Best of Everything is a 20th Century-Fox film starring Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker, Stephen Boyd, Louis Jourdan, Robert Evans, and Joan Crawford...

    (1959)
  • Ben-Hur
    Ben-Hur (1959 film)
    Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The score was composed by...

    (1959)
  • Billy Rose's Jumbo
    Billy Rose's Jumbo (film)
    Billy Rose's Jumbo is an American musical film produced by MGM in Panavision and Metrocolor, and starring Jimmy Durante, Doris Day, Martha Raye, and Stephen Boyd. The film was directed by Charles Walters and featured Busby Berkeley's choreography...

    (1962)
  • The Inspector
    The Inspector (1962 film)
    The Inspector, is a 1962 British-American drama film directed by Philip Dunne, starring Stephen Boyd & Dolores Hart. Dolores Hart plays Lisa Held, a Dutch Jewish girl who has survived the horror of Auschwitz.-Plot:...

    (1962)
  • The Third Secret
    The Third Secret (film)
    The Third Secret is a 1964 British drama film directed by Charles Crichton. The screenplay by Robert L. Joseph focuses on an American newscaster who investigates the mysterious death of his psychoanalyst...

    (1964)

  • The Fall of the Roman Empire
    The Fall of the Roman Empire (film)
    The Fall of the Roman Empire is a 1964 English-language epic film produced by Samuel Bronston Productions and the Rank Organisation, and released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Samuel Bronston with Jaime Prades and Michal Waszynski as associate producers. The...

    (1964)
  • Genghis Khan
    Genghis Khan (1965 film)
    Genghis Khan is a 1965 film depicting the life and conquests of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan. It was released in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1965 by Columbia Pictures, and was directed by Henry Levin, and starred Omar Sharif, who that same year starred in another epic, Doctor...

    (1965)
  • Poppies Are Also Flowers
    The Poppy Is Also a Flower
    The Poppy Is Also a Flower is an ABC made-for-television spy and anti-drug film. The film was directed by Terence Young and stars Senta Berger, Stephen Boyd, Trevor Howard, Rita Hayworth, Angie Dickinson, Yul Brynner, and Marcello Mastroianni...

    (1966)
  • The Oscar
    The Oscar (film)
    The Oscar is a 1966 American drama film, written by Harlan Ellison, Clarence Greene, Russell Rouse and Richard Sale, directed by Rouse and starring Stephen Boyd, singer Tony Bennett , comedian Milton Berle , Elke Sommer, Ernest Borgnine, Jill St. John, and Eleanor Parker...

    (1966)
  • Fantastic Voyage
    Fantastic Voyage
    Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby.Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it....

    (1966)
  • The Bible: In the Beginning
    The Bible: In The Beginning
    The Bible: In the Beginning is a 1966 Biblical epic film recounting the first 22 chapters of the Book of Genesis. It was a joint American/Italian production conceived by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by John Huston. The music score is by Toshirô Mayuzumi. The production was photographed by...

    (1966)
  • The Caper Of The Golden Bulls (1967)
  • Assignment K
    Assignment K
    Assignment K is a 1968 British thriller film directed by Val Guest, and starring Stephen Boyd, Camilla Sparv, Michael Redgrave and Leo McKern...

    (1968)
  • Shalako
    Shalako (film)
    Shalako is a 1968 British western film directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot. Stephen Boyd portrayed a classic western villain. Jack Hawkins played an upper class Englishman abroad in the "new" country...

    (1968)
  • Slaves
    Slaves (film)
    Slaves is a 1969 drama film directed by Herbert Biberman. It was entered into the 1969 Cannes Film Festival. The film stars Dionne Warwick , Ossie Davis, and Stephen Boyd.-Plot:...

    (1969)
  • Carter's Army
    Black Brigade (film)
    Black Brigade is the DVD release title of the television movie Carter's Army, which aired as an ABC Movie of the Week on January 27, 1970...

    (1970) (TV)
  • Marta
    Marta (film)
    Marta is a 1971 Spanish thriller film directed by José Antonio Nieves Conde. The film was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 44th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.-Cast:* Marisa Mell as Marta & Pilar...

    (1971)
  • Hannie Caulder
    Hannie Caulder
    Hannie Caulder is a 1971 British Western film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring Raquel Welch, Robert Culp and Ernest Borgnine.-Plot:Hannie Caulder is a frontier wife whose husband is murdered by the Clemens brothers, a trio of rather inept outlaw brothers .After a disastrous bank raid, the...

    (1971) (uncredited)
  • The Squeeze (1977)


External links

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