Judah Ben-Hur Actor. Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson turned down the role before Heston accepted it. In this version Ben-Hur becomes a Christian at the Crucifixion of Christ; whereas in the book Ben-Hur becomes a Christian earlier. Ben-Hur is given a more somewhat bitter personality; Balthazar, one of the three wise men having witnessed the birth of Christ begs him to listen to the teachings of Jesus but Judah rebuffs him saying that he has business with Rome. Blaming Rome for destroying the once good Messala (prior to his corruption) and what has happened to his family Judah refuses to
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ Miles Gerald Keon's "Dion and Sibyls" (1898), and J. Breckenridge Ellis's "Adnah" (1902). "Esther" and other unauthorized uses of Wallace's characters led to court cases initiated by Wallace and his son Henry, to protect authors' copyrights. At least eight translations of the book into Hebrew were made between 1959 and 1990. Some of these versions have involved wholesale restructuring of the narrative, including changes to character, dropping of Christian themes, and plot. In 2016, Wallace's great-great-granddaughter, Carol Wallace, published a version of "Ben-Hur" which was released to coincide with the new film version, using prose for 21st century readers. "Ben-Hur"'s