How Charlton Heston Prepared for One Of The Most Epic Scenes In Movie History

Plenty of actors learn to ride horses for movie roles, but Charlton Heston famously learned to control a 900-pound Roman Empire chariot to play the lead in Ben-Hur, a 1959 religious epic whose eye-popping chariot race was captured in wide-screen CinemaScope.

The $1 million set was the largest ever built at that time, used 36,000 tons of sand, 78 horses, 18 chariots and thousands of extras. Heston wore special contact lenses to protect his eyes from flying debris.

While no one died during filming, three lifelike dummies got trampled on cue. Even today, the sequence is knuckle-biting!