Watch Stephen Boyd Videos

Stephen Boyd (4 July 1931 – 2 June 1977) was an Irish actor, from Glengormley, Northern Ireland, who appeared in around 60 films, most notably in the role of Messala in Ben-Hur. One of nine siblings from a Protestant family from County Antrim, 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. It was his role in a 1957 French film, The Night Heaven Fell opposite Brigitte Bardot that got him... MORE

Stephen Boyd (4 July 1931 – 2 June 1977) was an Irish actor, from Glengormley, Northern Ireland, who appeared in around 60 films, most notably in the role of Messala in Ben-Hur. One of nine siblings from a Protestant family from County Antrim, 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. It was his role in a 1957 French film, The Night Heaven Fell opposite Brigitte Bardot that got him noticed. He went to Hollywood and appeared as leads in a variety of films, including The Bravados (1958) and The Best of Everything (1959). His role as Messala in Ben-Hur (1959) propelled him to international fame. He later played another Roman leader in Samuel Bronston's The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), in which he co-starred with Sophia Loren. He received a Golden Globe for his performance in Ben-Hur. In 1962 Boyd appeared in the film The Inspector opposite starlet Dolores Hart, who later left Hollywood to join a Roman Catholic convent in Connecticut, of which she later became Prioress. The two LESS