Biographic - Sunday June 29, 2014 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Biographic Steve McGarry Hercules Adapted from Heracles, the divine hero of ancient Greek Myth, he is called Hercules in Roman mythology, famed for his strength and his epic adventures, his legend has been brought to the screen many times in the 20th and 21st centuries. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, American bodybuilder Steve Reeves, a former "Mr. America" and "Mr. Universe," became Europe's highest-paid actor by starring in such Italian movies as "Hercules" and "Hercules Unchained." Other actors who portrayed Hercules in Italian films of the period included "Tarzan" star Gordon Scott and Mickey Hargitay. Billed as Arnold Strong, Arnold Schwarzenegger made his movie debut playing the lead in 1969's low-budget "Hercules in New York." His accent was so thick that all his lines were dubbed. Arnold's bodybuilding rival, "The Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno, played Hercules in two Italian movies in the 1980s. Kevin Sorbo was a regular on TV screens in the late 1990s playing Hercules in a number of TV movies and the series "Hercules: the Legendary Journeys." In 1997, Disney's animated release "Hercules" grossed more than $250 million worldwide! A young Ryan Gosling gained early attention as the star of the TV series "Young Hercules," and more recently, "Game of Thrones" star Mark Addy played Hercules on the BBC series "Atlantis." Hercules has also been featured in such movies as "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Immortals." This summer, Dwayne Johnson stars in the title role of the big-budget Brett Ratner epic "Hercules."

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