I’ve always been into knowing background stuff about this or that significant film, but until this morning I’d never absorbed a truly fascinating Ben-Hur anecdote.
I’d never known the name of the unbilled guy who played the gruff and blustery Roman decurion** who denies water to a parched Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston), but who drops the tough-guy posture when Jesus of Nazareth (Claude Heater) gives Ben-Hur a gourd full of water. He starts to admonish the Nazarene but loses his nerve — something tells him to chill down.
It’s arguably the most emotionally complex and emotionally affecting moment in the entire 212-minute film.
The actor’s name was Remington Olmsted (1912-2002), an American-born performer, dancer, singer, college football player and Roman restaurateur. In the mid ’50s Olmstead founded the iconic Da Meo Patacca, a popular restaurant in Rome’s Trastevere district. It’s still operating today.
Here’s Olmsted’s Grokipedia bio.
** In ancient Rome, a decurion was a cavalry officer commanding a troop of 10 to 30 soldiers (turma).