This film did not star Tyrone Power – it should have done but after quite a lot of the exterior scenes had been filmed with him in them, he sadly died on the set while filming a duel he was having with George Sanders.

It was a sad and early end to a glittering acting career both on stage and on screen – where he is best known.

Some of the vast outdoor scenes had already been filmed in very cold temperatures with easterly winds – and this weather persisted.

Tyrone Power had been a heavy smoker for years – something that probably contributed to his early death – alongside that physically demanding action he had to do in bitterly cold weather

ABOVE – A Newspaper Headline

ABOVE – Tyrone Power with Noel Purcell as King David – After Tyrone Power died and Yul Brynner took on the role, Noel Purcell for whatever reason was replaced as King David by Finlay Currie

ABOVE – Tyrone Power with Gina Lollobridgida and Director King Vidor demonstrating the whip technique

ABOVE – Tyrone Power in a scene with Marisa Pavan

ABOVE – Tyrone Power with Gina Lollobridgida and King Vidor at the Sevilla Studios

ABOVE – With George Sanders in what looks like a tense scene

ABOVE – One of the massive battle sequences

ABOVE Tyrone Power takes a break between scenes

ABOVE – Tyrone Power again with George Sanders

ABOVE – Tyrone Power has collapsed on the floor of the Studios

Tyrone Power, who had been born in Cincinnati, Ohio, had made his name as an actor on Broadway before turning to Hollywood. He became an overnight star on screen with his performance in Lloyds of London (1936). Subsequent films included The Mark of Zorro (1940, the year in which he was Hollywood’s top box-office draw), Blood and Sand (1941), and The Sun Also Rises (1957).

I liked him in ‘Jesse James’ in Colour in 1939

He made repeated returns to the stage for dramas such as The Devil’s Disciple, by George Bernard Shaw.

The 1956 run of the play took him to Edinburgh and Glasgow; he is photographed here holding onto his hat on a visit to windy Edinburgh Castle.

Tyrone Power died in November 1958, aged 44, having suffered a heart attack during the filming, in Spain, of the epic, Solomon and Sheba.