Stephen Boyd

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Stephen Boyd (1961)

Stephen Boyd (born July 4, 1931 in Glengormley, Northern Ireland as William Millar , † June 2, 1977 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor . Boyd's best-known role was that of the Roman tribune “Messala”, the opponent of the title hero “Ben Hur” in the eleven Oscar-winning film of the same name from 1959. For this he received the Golden Globe in 1960 for best supporting actor, while the Oscar in the same category was surprising went to fellow actor Hugh Griffith for his role as "Sheikh Ilderim" in the same film. Boyd was one of the most sought-after character actors of the then popular monumental film in the 1960s . Towards the end of his career he made various films in Europe.

Life

Boyd grew up with eight siblings in Belfast . After graduating from high school, he worked as an insurance broker in Ireland. In his spare time he gained acting experience in a small theater group, which he later became director for three years. Eventually he went to London and made his living with minor roles and doing odd jobs. There he was discovered at the Odeon Theater by Sir Michael Redgrave , with whose help he became director of the prestigious Arts Council Midland Theater Company . Boyd then worked for British television and was seen in almost all major BBC productions during this time.

In 1956 he received a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox . In 1958 he was in the film adaptation Bravados of Henry King with Gregory Peck and Joan Collins to see. Through his role of Irish Nazi spy Patrick O'Reilly in The Man Who Never Was was William Wyler noticed him. Wyler managed to release him from the contract with the Fox in order to be able to cast him in Ben Hur . Originally, Boyd was also intended for the role of " Mark Antony " in Cleopatra on the side of Elizabeth Taylor . However, this fell ill immediately before the planned start of shooting, so that production was delayed by months. Stephen Boyd then withdrew his commitment to other film projects. At the side of Doris Day and Jimmy Durante he was seen in 1962 in the MGM- produced musical Spiel mit mir . In Anthony Mann's The Fall of the Roman Empire (1963) he played with Sophia Loren , and in the Hollywood melodrama … Because Nobody Is Without Guilt (1965) by director Russell Rouse with Eleanor Parker and Elke Sommer .
Another highlight of his career was Richard Fleischer's science fiction drama The Fantastic Journey (1966) with Raquel Welch and the three-hour opus The Bible by John Huston (1966). In the late 1960s, his star began to decline in Hollywood. As a result, Boyd played increasingly in European films, especially in Westerns and Gialli . His last internationally acclaimed role was as a porn parlor owner in Michael Apted's English gangster thriller The Came From Hell (1977) with Stacy Keach . Boyd's last film was the German horror comedy Lady Dracula (shot in 1975), in which he played Count Dracula in the opening sequence.

Boyd was married twice; however, his marriage to the Italian Mariella di Sarzana only lasted seven months and was divorced in 1958. After a long bachelor life, he entered into a second marriage with his assistant Elizabeth Mills, whom he had known since 1955, ten months before his death.

Stephen Boyd, who was an avid golfer , suffered a serious heart attack during a golf tournament at Porter Valley Country Club in Northridge , a borough of Los Angeles, on June 2, 1977 and died the same day. His grave is in the Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Boyd, Stephen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Millar, William (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Glengormley , Northern Ireland , UK
DATE OF DEATH June 2nd 1977
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States