Judah Ben-Hur realising that forgiveness is more important than revenge. Esther becomes his wife and the mother of his children. Five years after the chariot race, Judah learns from Iras that she killed Messala. In approximately AD 64 (being the tenth year of Nero's reign), Judah finds out about the suffering of their fellow Christians. He gives his fortune to help construct the Catacomb of Callixtus and an underground church within the catacombs. In the Ben-Hur was portrayed by Ramon Novarro. In the 1959 film directed by William Wyler, Ben-Hur was played by Charlton Heston who won the Academy Award for Best
Ramon Novarro murder of Novarro. In a 1998 interview, Paul Ferguson finally assumed the blame for Novarro’s death. Ramón Novarro is buried in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles, California. Ramón Novarro's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6350 Hollywood Boulevard. Novarro's murder served as the basis for the short story by Charles Bukowski called "The Murder of Ramon Vasquez", as well as for the song "Tango," by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, recorded by Peggy Lee on her "Mirrors" album. Novarro's murder is among the many epochal events recalled in Joan Didion's meditative 'California zeitgeist' essay "The White Album".