Sharif was third-billed in Columbia's "Behold a Pale Horse" (1964), playing a priest in the Spanish Civil War alongside Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn. Director Fred Zinnemann said he chose Sharif partly on the suggestion of David Lean. "He said he was an absolutely marvellous actor, 'If you possibly can, take a look at him.'" Film historian Richard Schickel wrote that Sharif gave a "truly wonderful performance", especially noteworthy because of his totally different roles in "Lawrence of Arabia": "It is hard to believe that the priest and the sheik are played by the same man". The film, like "Fall of the Roman Empire", was a commercial disappointment.