Famous Stars in "Spartacus" (1960) :The Restored 1991 Version!

Small Role (uncredited)

" Claudia Marius"

Soldier (uncredited)

Legionnaire (uncredited)

"Antoninus"

*During the film Laurence Olivier gave Tony Curtis tips on acting to improve his performance, and Curtis gave Olivier tips on bodybuilding to improve his physique.

"Marcus Publius Glabrus"

"Spartacus"

*Kirk Douglas wanted to play the titular hero in Ben-Hur (1959), but the film's director William Wyler wanted Charlton Heston to play the role. Douglas was then offered the antagonist role of Messala--which was eventually given to Stephen Boyd--but refused to play second banana. In later years Douglas admitted that he made this film as to show Wyler and his company that he could make a Roman epic that could match "Ben-Hur". He once said, "That was what spurred me to do it in a childish way, the 'I'll show them' sort of thing."

* Douglas, as co-producer of the film (through his company, Bryna Productions), insisted on hiring Hollywood Ten blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo to adapt the film. Douglas also hired blacklisted character actor Peter Brocco to play a supporting role.

*Douglas describes this film as a love story: "Love predominates all through the movie: love between Spartacus and Varinia, love among the men; the whole revolt was based on a love of freedom, a love of humanity."

*In order to get so many big stars to play supporting roles, Kirk Douglas showed each a different script in which their character was emphasized.

Salt Mine Slave / Gladiator / Slave General/ Stunts (uncredited)

*Farnsworth and the five other stuntmen who worked for the entire filming also doubled as actors, including playing salt mine slaves, gladiators, and generals in the slave army.

"Helena Glabrus"

Extra (uncredited)

"Julius Caesar"

*Julius Caesar's subplot (defecting from Gracchus to Crassus) was far more prominent in Stanley Kubrick's original cut.

"Otho" (uncredited)

Petitioner (uncredited)

"Crassus" (voice only)

*The original version included a scene where Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier) attempts to seduce Antoninus (Tony Curtis). The Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency both objected. At one point Geoffrey Shurlock, representing the censors, suggested it would help if the reference in the scene to a preference for oysters or snails was changed to truffles and artichokes. In the end the scene was cut, but it was put back in for the 1991 restoration. However, the soundtrack had been lost in the meantime and the dialogue had to be dubbed. Curtis was able to redo his lines, but Olivier had died. Joan Plowright, his widow, remembered that Anthony Hopkins had done a dead-on impression of Olivier and she mentioned this to the restoration team. They approached Hopkins and he agreed to voice Olivier's lines in that scene. Hopkins is thanked in the credits for the restored version.

"Caius"

"Crixus"

*In reality, Spartacus' chief lieutenant Crixus broke from him and led a large faction of his army on a desultory march against Rome. Dalton Trumbo's original script depicted this, but either Kirk Douglas or Stanley Kubrick removed it from the final film, where Crixus is a loyal follower.

Salt Mine Slave / Gladiator / Slave General (uncredited)

"Gracchus"

*Laughton's prima donna behavior aggravated everyone. It included such things as storming off the set and threatening to sue Kirk Douglas for trimming his part.

*Laughton and Olivier much like their characters, were longtime rivals and barely on speaking terms.

*Some four minutes of the film are lost, because of Universal's mishandling of its film prints in the 1970s. These scenes relate to the character of Gracchus, including a scene where he commits suicide. The audio tracks of these scenes have survived.

"Tigranes Levantus"

*Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo originally wanted Universal to get Orson Welles to play the character of the pirate, Tigranes Levantus. It was eventually played by Herbert Lom.

"Marcellus"

*According to producer Edward Lewis, Charles McGraw (Marcellus) had his jaw broken in the scene where Kirk Douglas viciously jams his head into a large vat of soup. In spite of the pain of the injury, McGraw finished the scene.

Gladiator (uncredited)

"Crassus"

*David Lean was considered to direct, but declined. Laurence Olivier was then asked to direct, but he had relinquished the directing assignment, as he felt the dual role of actor-director would prove too demanding.

*Olivier, while researching on the Romans for his role, learned that the Romans rode without a saddle, so he followed likewise and rode saddleless in his horseback scenes. This proved a great hindrance, as there was no saddle to keep him steady while the horse was in even the slightest motion, and he kept wobbling throughout his horseback scenes. Eventually Kubrick forced Olivier to film his horseback scenes on a ladder.

Guard (uncredited)

Little Girl in Slave Camp (uncredited)

"Varinia"

*Kirk Douglas was unsure about casting Jean Simmons as Varinia, as she was a British actress; American actors had been cast as the slaves and British actors had been cast as the Romans. Douglas actually wanted a German actress to play Varinia (her actual portrayal in the Howard Fast novel), but since none were pretty enough he decided to go with Simmons.

Legionnaire (uncredited)

"David"

"Draba"

*Draba, played by Woody Strode, is killed in the ring after attacking one of the senators. His body is hung upside down in the gladiators' quarters as a warning. Originally this was going to be a replica of Strode, but when the effect wasn't satisfactory, he himself hung upside-down, ropes tied around his ankles. As the gladiators slowly file past his dangling body, Strode doesn't flinch or twitch. According to his son Kalai Strode, the unused replica hung inside the entrance to Universal Studios' prop room for several years.

In order to put Woody Strode in the right mood for the scene where he and Kirk Douglas wait to do combat, director Stanley Kubrick had the actor listen to a Sergei Prokofiev concerto during the filming and got the visual response he wanted.

"Batiatus"

*Winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Lentulus Batiatus, Peter Ustinov stands as the only actor to win an Oscar for a Stanley Kubrick film.

*A number of scenes featuring Peter Ustinov and Charles Laughton were rewritten by Ustinov after Laughton rejected the original script. He is uncredited for Writing Credits.

*Ustinov wrote Gracchus' dialogue about corpulence making a man pleasant. Ustinov couldn't understand how a sleazy low-class character like Batiatus could be friends with a high-ranking politician like Gracchus, until he reasoned that their stoutness gave them a common bond.

* Ustinov joked about his daughter, born at the beginning of production, being in kindergarten by the time the film was finished. When asked what her father did for a living she would answer, "Spartacus."

Child (uncredited)

Guard Captain

Herald (uncredited)

(Directed By)

*The intimate scenes were filmed in Hollywood, but Stanley Kubrick insisted that all battle scenes be filmed on a vast plain outside Madrid. Eight thousand trained troops from the Spanish were used to double as the Roman infantry. Kubrick directed the armies from the top of specially constructed towers. However, he eventually had to cut all but one of the gory battle scenes, due to negative audience reactions at preview screenings. So precise was Kubrick that even in arranging the bodies of the slaughtered slaves he had each "corpse" assigned with a number and instructions.

*Steven Spielberg gave his backing to the restoration effort, and recommended that Stanley Kubrick be informed of the project. Kubrick, who had disowned the film, had nothing to do with the actual physical restoration of the film, though he gave his approval to the effort, and the producers wanted his final approval of their work.

*The filming was plagued by the conflicting visions of Stanley Kubrick and Dalton Trumbo. Kubrick complained that the character of Spartacus had no faults or quirks, and he later distanced himself from the film.

*Despite the film being a huge box-office success, gaining four Oscars and being considered to rank among the very best of historical epics, Stanley Kubrick disowned the movie and did not include it as part of his canon. Although his personal mark is a distinct part of the final picture, his contract did not give him complete control over the filming, the only occasion on which he did not exercise such control over one of his films.

*Kubrick spent $40,000 on the over-ten-acre gladiator camp set. On the side of the set that bordered the freeway, a 125-foot asbestos curtain was erected in order to film the burning of the camp, which was organized with collaboration from the Los Angeles Fire and Police Departments. Studio press materials state that 5,000 uniforms and seven tons of armor were borrowed from Italian museums, and that every one of Hollywood's 187 stunt men was trained in the gladiatorial rituals of combat to the death. Modern sources note that production utilized approximately 10,500 people.

* Kubrick was brought in as director after Kirk Douglas had a major falling out with the original director, Anthony Mann. According to Sir Peter Ustinov, the salt mines sequence was the only footage shot by Mann.

*Kubrick was not given control of the script, which he felt was full of stupid moralizing. After he finished this film he always kept full control over all aspects of his films.

"Dionysius" (as Nicholas Dennis)

Roman Businessman (uncredited)

Soldier (uncredited)

Gladiator / Soldier (uncredited)

Soldier (uncredited)

Soldier (uncredited)

Galeno (uncredited)

*One of the warrior-slaves who shouts "I'm Spartacus!" towards the end of the film, is stuntman/actor Bob Morgan, who strongly resembles actor George Kennedy. This film is often mistakenly credited as the film debut (uncredited) of George Kennedy. Kennedy had no association with the film.

(Music Composed by)

*After extensive research of music of the period, Alex North gathered a collection of antique instruments that, while not authentically Roman, provided a strong dramatic effect. These instruments included a sarrusophone, Israeli recorder, Chinese oboe, lute, mandolin, Yugoslav flute, kythara, dulcimer, and bagpipes. North's prize instrument was the ondioline, similar to an earlier version of the electronic synthesizer, which had never been used in film before.

*The soundtrack album runs less than 45 minutes and is not very representative of the score. There were plans to re-record a significant amount of the music with Alex North's friend and fellow film composer Jerry Goldsmith, but the project kept getting delayed. Goldsmith died in 2004. Numerous bootleg recordings have been made, but none has good sound quality.

Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Soldier Whose Arm is Hacked Off (uncredited)

*Several scenes in the battle drew the ire of the Legion of Decency and were therefore cut. These include shots of men being dismembered (dwarfs with false torsos and an actor with only one arm [Bill Raisch, the "One-Armed Man" of The Fugitive (1963) fame] with a phony breakaway limb as a Roman soldier who has his arm cut off in battle were used to give authenticity).

*Kirk Douglas was very hesitant to perform the shot of Spartacus lopping off a Roman soldier's arm. Although the arm was fake (attached to an amputee), the sword blade was real and Douglas had to hit exactly the right mark. After successfully performing the stunt once, Douglas refused a second take.

Gladiator (uncredited)