Spartacus (film) Spartacus (film) Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Dalton Trumbo, and based on the novel of the same title by Howard Fast. It is inspired by the life story of Spartacus, the leader of a slave revolt in antiquity, and the events of the Third Servile War, and stars Kirk Douglas in the title role, Laurence Olivier as Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus, Peter Ustinov, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as slave trader Lentulus Batiatus, John Gavin as Julius Caesar, Jean Simmons as Varinia, Charles
Kirk Douglas his "richest, most impressive collaborations" with Douglas, and for Minnelli, no other actor portrayed his level of "cool": "A robust, athletic, sometimes explosive player, Douglas loved stagy rhetoric, and he did everything passionately." That level of passion in Douglas's persona was also used effectively by Minnelli in "The Bad and the Beautiful", four years earlier, for which Douglas was nominated for Best Actor, with the film winning five Oscars. In 1960 Douglas played the lead role in what many consider his career defining role of the Thracian slave rebel Spartacus with an all-star cast in "Spartacus" (1960). He was the