Quintus Arrius (Ben-Hur) Ray Winstone. In the 2016 film Arrius was played by James Cosmo. Arrius has a much smaller role in this adaptation. He shows little regard for Judah in the galley, and is killed in the naval battle. Quintus Arrius (Ben-Hur) Quintus Arrius is a fictional character from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel "". He is a Roman warship commander whom Judah Ben-Hur saves from drowning. After they are rescued, Arrius is informed that his fleet won the battle, and is lauded for his victory. Arrius subsequently adopts Judah as his son, making him a freedman, a Roman citizen, and Arrius’s heir.
Ben Hur (1907 film) on the publicity of the case and the film, Harper & Brothers published a lavishly designed and illustrated book, "The Chariot Race from Ben-Hur", which excerpted only the race from Lew Wallace's novel. Accompanying the text were color illustrations by Sigismond Ivanowski. Actor William S. Hart, soon after to became a famous silent film cowboy, reprises his role as Messala from the 1899 Broadway premiere and 1900 season Broadway play. Herman Rottger is Ben-Hur against Hart's Messala (in the 1900 play William Farnum, another soon to be famous silent cowboy, portrayed the character). The film is noteworthy as a precedent