Spartacus (film) eclipse him. Gracchus, having seen Rome fall into tyranny, commits suicide. Before doing so, he bribes his friend Batiatus to rescue Spartacus's family from Crassus and carry them away to freedom. On the way out of Rome, the group passes under Spartacus's cross. Varinia is able to comfort him in his dying moments by showing him his little son, who will grow up free and knowing who his father was. The development of "Spartacus" was partly instigated by Kirk Douglas's failure to win the title role in William Wyler's "Ben-Hur". Douglas had worked with Wyler before on "Detective Story", and
Richard Hart (actor) "Desire Me" (1947) where he appeared alongside Greer Garson and Robert Mitchum. Hart replaced Robert Montgomery in his role after that actor quarrelled with George Cukor. The movie had a troublesome production; after poor previews almost half of it was reshot. In between the original film and the reshoots Hart appeared in "Green Dolphin Street" (1947), where he was loved by two sisters, played by Lana Turner and Donna Reed. Hart's third film for MGM was "B.F.'s Daughter" (1948), as the jilted first love of the title character, played by Barbara Stanwyck. He went over to Eagle-Lion Productions to appear