stephen boyd: the man who never was
directed by davy kilpatrick

documentary
run time: 30 minutes

born billy millar in 1931, stephen boyd became a reputable actor on stage and radio in northern ireland, appearing in bbc plays and with the group theatre, alongside the likes of james ellis. in the 1950s the bright lights of the west end lured stephen to london where he hoped to find fame and fortune. the success he craved eluded him, however, and stephen scraped together a living busking on the streets of london and would even spend some evenings sleeping on park benches.

his fortune changed when working in the odeon in leicester square, where, at an awards evening, acclaimed actor michael redgrave spotted him and within weeks billy millar changed his name to stephen boyd and started to make his mark on the west end.

with his northern ireland brogue being seen as a hindrance to his progression in the acting world, stephen pretended to be from canada and adopted a transatlantic accent. in 1955 he landed his breakthrough film role as an irish spy in the man who never was, which helped to make him a major player in hollywood.

his most famous role came when he beat off stiff competition to win the part of messala in the epic blockbuster ben hur opposite charlton heston.
from there he went on to score more big roles in movies such as the fall of the roman empire and fantasy voyage and appeared alongside such leading ladies as sophia loren, brigitte bardot, doris day and raquel welch.
stephen boyd: the man who never was charts the actor's rise to fame and examines how this private man's reluctance to play hollywood's star-making game saw him fall out of favour with the movie world elite, leading him to star in a string of low budget movies.

east coast premiere

 

 

 

stephen boyd: the man who never was

 

 

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