The Legendary...

The biggest earning movie star of 1959 wasn't John Wayne, Burt Lancaster or Marlon Brando, it was, in fact, the man above, the impossibly handsome and wholesome Steve Reeves. Already crowned Mr America, Mr Universe, Mr Solar System, Mr 3 Dimensions etc, it was a given that 'the movies' would be Steve's next challenge. Now call me a cynic, but Steve was never going to be offered 'Death of a Salesman' or 'The Glass Menagerie', so his choice of Method devotee Stella Adler as acting coach was probably his first mistake. His second mistake was initially passing on 'Hercules', to be made in Italy and clearly far more suited to Reeve's particular talents.Finally he agreed to take the role, grew a beard and the rest is, literally, history. Steve became a huge star in Europe over the susequent years playing variations of the Hecules hero-type. In some ways the story ends there but it would be amiss of me not to mention two more of Reeves' questionable decision-making skills. His first blooper was to turn down the role of James Bond in Dr No when offered the role in 1961 and secondly Clint Eastwood only became the 'Man with no Name' when Steve decided to spend more time with his family and Lat machine.