Steve Reeves

Steve Reeves
Steve Reeves plays Hercules in 1958.
Born	January 21, 1926(1926-01-21)[1] Glasgow, Montana, USA
Died	May 1, 2000 (aged 74) (complications from lymphoma[1]) Escondido, California, USA[1]
Spouse(s)	Sandra Smith (1955-1956) Aline Czartjarwicz[1] (1963-1989) (her death)

Stephen L. Reeves (January 21, 1926–May 1, 2000^[1]) was an American bodybuilder and actor.

Biography

Childhood

Born in Glasgow, Montana^[2], Steve Reeves moved to California at the age of 10 with his mother Goldie^[1], after his father Lester Dell Reeves died in a farming accident.^[1] Reeves developed an interest in bodybuilding while in high school and trained at Ed Yarick's gym in Oakland. By the time he was 17 he had developed a Herculean build, long before the rise in general interest in bodybuilding. After graduating from high school, he entered the Army during the latter part of World War II, and served in the Pacific.

Acting

Pietro Francisci's Hercules (1958).

After his military service, Reeves invested in an acting career. In 1954 he had a small role in his first major motion picture, the musical Athena^[1] playing Jane Powell's boyfriend. The same year Reeves had a small role as a cop in the Ed Wood film Jail Bait. This is one of the few movies where his voice was not dubbed. In 1957, Reeves went to Italy and played the lead character in Pietro Francisci's Hercules, a shot-on-a-shoestring epic based loosely on the tales of Jason and the Argonauts, though inserting Hercules into the lead role.^[1]

From 1959 through 1964, Reeves went on to appear in a string of sword and sandal movies shot on relatively small budgets^[1], and although he is best known for his portrayal of the Greek hero Hercules, he played the character only twice - in the 1958 film Hercules and the sequel Hercules Unchained (released in the U.S. in 1960). He played a number of other characters on screen, including Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's Glaucus of Pompeii; Goliath (also called Emiliano); Tatar hero Hadji Murad; Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome (opposite Gordon Scott as his twin brother Remus); the famous Olympian and war-time messenger of the Battle of Marathon, Pheidippides (The Giant of Marathon); pirate and self-proclaimed governor of Jamaica Captain Henry Morgan; and Karim, the Thief of Baghdad. Twice he played Aeneas of Troy and twice he played Emilio Salgari's Malaysian hero, Sandokan.

After the box office success of Hercules, Reeves turned down the role that finally went to Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964) because he couldn't believe that "Italians could make a western".^[2] He also claimed to have turned down James Bond's role in Dr. No (1962).^[2]

During the filming of The Last Days of Pompeii, Reeves dislocated his shoulder when his chariot slammed into a tree.^[1][2] Swimming in a subsequent underwater escape scene, he re-injured his shoulder. The injury would be aggravated by his stunt work in each successive film, ultimately leading him to retire from filmmaking and weightlifting.^[1]

In 1968 Reeves appeared in his final film, a spaghetti western that imitated the Sergio Leone epics, which he also co-wrote, titled A Long Ride From Hell.^[1]. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe.^[2] His last screen appearance was in 2000 when he appeared as himself in the made-for-television A&E Biography: Arnold Schwarzenegger - Flex Appeal.

Death

Later in his life, Reeves promoted drug-free bodybuilding and bred horses.^[1][2] The last two decades of his life were spent in Valley Center (Escondido), California. He bought a ranch with his savings and lived there with his second wife Aline until her death in 1989.^[1][2] On May 1, 2000, Reeves died from complications of lymphoma.^[1][2]

Filmography

• Jail Bait (1954)
• Athena (1954)
• Hercules (1958)
• Hercules Unchained (1959)
• The Last Days of Pompeii (1959)
• Goliath and the Barbarians (1959)
• The Giant of Marathon (1959)
• The White Warrior (1959)
• Duel of the Titans (1961)
• Romulus and Remus (1961)
• Morgan, the Pirate (1961)
• The Thief of Bagdad (1961)
• The Trojan Horse (1961)
• The Last Glory of Troy (1962)
• The Shortest Day (1962)
• The Son of Spartacus (1963)
• Sandokan the Great (1963)
• The Pirates of Malaysia (1964)
• A Long Ride from Hell (1968)

See also

• List of male professional bodybuilders

References

• Chapman, David, "On The Cover: Steve Reeves", Hardgainer, November, 1992.

External links

• An Interview with Steve Reeves by Roy Frumkes, from The Perfect Vision Magazine Volume 6 Issue #22 July 1994
• How Steve Reeves Trained by John Grimek, Muscular Development November 1964--Account of how Reeves trained to prepare for the 1950 Mr. Universe competition at the York Barbell Club gym.
• Steve Reeves at the Internet Movie Database
• Steve Reeves at the Internet Broadway Database
• Steve Reeves at Find a Grave
• Feature Films: Hercules
• Feature Films: Hercules Unchained
• Steve Reeves Gallery