Ben-Hur (1959 film) and the 2nd best American epic film in the AFI's 10 Top 10. In 2004, the National Film Preservation Board selected "Ben-Hur" for preservation by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for being a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" motion picture. In AD 26, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy prince and merchant in Jerusalem, who lives with his mother, Miriam (Martha Scott); his sister, Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell); and their female servant Amrah (Stella Vitelleschi). The family's loyal slave, the merchant Simonides (Sam Jaffe), pays a visit with his daughter, Esther (Haya Harareet). Judah and Esther
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ million copies of the book were sold, and in 1913, Sears Roebuck ordered another one million copies, at that time the largest single-year print edition in American history, and sold them for 39 cents apiece. Within 20 years of its publication, "Ben-Hur" was "second only to the Bible as the best-selling book in America", and remained in second position until Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" (1936) surpassed it. A 1946 edition of "Ben-Hur" published by Grosset and Dunlap boasted that 26 million copies of the novel were in print. With the release of the 1959 film adaptation of the