Quintus Arrius (Ben-Hur) 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. In the Arrius was played by Frank Currier. In the 1959 film Arrius was played by Jack Hawkins. In the 2003 film Arrius was voiced by Richard Newman. In the 2010 television miniseries, Arrius was played by
Production of Ben-Hur (1959 film) character touches to the script, such as Ben-Hur's purchase of a brooch for Tirzah and a horse for Messala. Vidal claimed that he worked on the first half of the script (everything up to the chariot race), and scripted 10 versions of the scene where Ben-Hur confronts Messala and begs for his family's freedom. Vidal's claim about a homoerotic subtext is hotly debated. Vidal first made the claim in an interview in the 1995 documentary film "The Celluloid Closet", and asserted that he persuaded Wyler to direct Stephen Boyd to play the role as if he were a spurned homosexual