The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic religious film that retells the Biblical account of Jesus of Nazareth, from the Nativity through to the Ascension. Produced and directed by George Stevens, the film features an ensemble cast and includes the final film performances of Claude Rains and Joseph Schildkraut.

The origins of The Greatest Story Ever Told trace back to a half-hour radio series in 1947, inspired by the four canonical Gospels. The series was later adapted into a 1949 novel by Fulton Oursler. In 1954, Twentieth Century Fox acquired the film rights to Oursler's novel, but development stalled for several years. In November 1958, Stevens joined the project, agreeing to write and direct. However, in September 1961, Fox withdrew due to concerns over the film's projected cost and its thematic similarities to King of Kings (1961), another religious biopic about Jesus.

A few months later, Stevens moved the project to United Artists. He opted to film in the Southwestern United States rather than the Middle East, and principal photography began on October 29, 1962. Filming fell behind schedule due to Stevens' meticulous shooting techniques, prompting David Lean and Jean Negulesco to assist with some sequences. Production concluded on August 1, 1963.

The film premiered at the Warner Cinerama Theatre in New York City on February 15, 1965, receiving a polarized response from critics. It was also a box office disappointment, earning $15.5 million against a $20 million budget. Despite this, it received five Academy Award nominations.

Plot Act I The film opens with Three Wise Men following a celestial star to Jerusalem, seeking the prophesied newborn King of the Jews. Summoned by the paranoid King Herod, they reveal the Messiah’s birth, foretold to occur in Bethlehem. Herod secretly dispatches spies to track the child. The Magi find Mary and Joseph in a humble stable, and they present gifts to their infant son, Jesus. Warned by an angel, the family flees to Egypt just before Herod orders the slaughter of Bethlehem’s male infants. Herod dies shortly after, and the family returns to Nazareth.

Years later, Judea chafes under Roman rule. Herod Antipas, now tetrarch of Galilee, dismisses messianic hopes while the prophet John the Baptist preaches repentance at the Jordan River. Jesus, now an adult, arrives to be baptized by John, then retreats to the wilderness. There, he resists three temptations by a mysterious Dark Hermit, embodying spiritual evil. Returning to Galilee, Jesus gathers disciples—including fishermen Peter, Andrew, John, and the skeptical Judas Iscariot—promising to make them “fishers of men.”

As Jesus teaches through parables and performs miracles like healing a crippled man, crowds grow. In Capernaum, he recruits the tax collector Matthew, while Pharisees and priests grow alarmed. Herodias, wife of Herod Antipas, manipulates her husband into arresting John the Baptist for denouncing her marriage as adulterous. Meanwhile, Jesus’s fame spreads: he spares Mary Magdalene from stoning, heals a hemorrhaging woman, and feeds 5,000 with scant loaves.

In Nazareth, Jesus faces rejection when locals demand proof of his divinity. Later, he resurrects his friend Lazarus in Bethany, stunning onlookers and confirming fears among Jerusalem’s leaders. Herod, learning Jesus survived his father’s massacre, executes John and orders Jesus’s arrest.

Act II Preparing for death, Jesus accepts anointing by Mary Magdalene, then rides into Jerusalem hailed as a king. Enraged by commercial desecration of the Temple, he drives out merchants, further alienating the Pharisees. At the Last Supper, Jesus predicts Judas’s betrayal and Peter’s denials, instituting the Eucharist. Judas flees to conspire with priests for thirty pieces of silver.

Arrested in Gethsemane after Judas’s kiss, Jesus endures a biased trial before the Sanhedrin, where false witnesses, including the healed Aram, testify. Pontius Pilate, pressured by mobs, sends Jesus to Herod Antipas, who mocks him. Returned to Pilate, Jesus is condemned when crowds demand Barabbas’s release. Crucified alongside thieves Dimas and Gestas, Jesus forgives his executioners, entrusts Mary to John, and dies as darkness shrouds Golgotha.

A guilt-ridden Judas dies by suicide (in this movie, burns himself alive by stepping into a blazing sacrificial pyre in the Temple courtyard as opposed to more common, Biblical method of his suicide, which is hanging on a tree), while Jesus’s body is entombed by Joseph of Arimathea. Guards seal the tomb, but on the third day, Jesus rises, appearing to disciples and Mary Magdalene. Though Thomas doubts, Jesus’s ascension to heaven culminates in the Great Commission, charging followers to spread his teachings. The film closes with the Hallelujah Chorus as Jesus’s image merges into celestial light.

Cast

Smaller credited roles (some appearing for only a few seconds) were played by Michael Ansara, Carroll Baker, Ina Balin, Robert Blake, Pat Boone, Victor Buono, John Considine, Richard Conte, John Crawford, Cyril Delevanti, Jamie Farr, David Hedison, Russell Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Mark Lenard, Robert Loggia, John Lupton, Janet Margolin, Nehemiah Persoff, Marian Seldes, David Sheiner, Abraham Sofaer, Paul Stewart, Harold J. Stone, Michael Tolan, John Wayne, and Shelley Winters. Richard Bakalyan and Marc Cavell, in uncredited roles, played the thieves crucified with Jesus.

Production Development The Greatest Story Ever Told originated in 1947 as a U.S. radio series of half-hour episodes, written by Henry Denker and inspired by the four canonical Gospels. In 1949, the series was adapted into a novel by Fulton Oursler, a senior editor at Reader's Digest. In May 1954, Darryl F. Zanuck, chairman of 20th Century Fox, acquired the film rights to Oursler's novel for a down payment of $110,000, plus a percentage of the gross. Denker wrote a draft of the script, but the studio did not move the project into production. When Zanuck left the studio in 1956, the project was abandoned. In September 1958, Philip Dunne briefly became involved with the project, after signing on as a producer.

In November 1958, while George Stevens was filming The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) at 20th Century Fox, he became aware that the studio owned the rights to the Oursler property. Stevens then founded a company, "The Greatest Story Productions", to film the novel. The studio set an initial production budget of $10 million, twice the previous largest figure. That same month, another religious biopic titled King of Kings (1961) was in development, helmed by producer Samuel Bronston. Spyros Skouras, the studio president of 20th Century Fox, had tried and failed to purchase the project from Bronston and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which had agreed to distribute the film. In June 1960, 20th Century Fox resigned from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), partly because of the similarity between the two films.

In June 1960, Denker sued Fox to reclaim the film rights and for $2.5 million of damages, claiming the studio had failed to release the film before the end of 1959. When Denker and Oursler's estate sold the rights to Fox, Denker had placed a clause in the contract dictating the agreement. In September 1961, 20th Century Fox announced it had "indefinitely postponed" the project. Skouras refused to explain the reasons for canceling the project, but the decision was made after the studio had posted a $13 million loss in the previous year. Variety also reported that in the wake of the not-yet-released King of Kings (1961), starring Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus, several studio board members expressed concern about the eventual production costs. More than $1 million had already been spent on script preparation and there was no established filming date. The studio agreed to hand over the film rights to Stevens, and was contracted to recoup the costs should the film earn $5 million in profits. That same month, four American film studios—including Magna Theatre Corporation—and two in Europe made offers to finance the film. By November 1961, Stevens had moved the project to United Artists.

Writing Before writing the screenplay, Stevens reviewed 36 different translations of the New Testament and compiled an extensive reference book with various clippings of scripture. Stevens and David Brown, a Fox executive, considered numerous screenwriters, including Ray Bradbury, Reginald Rose, William Saroyan, Joel Sayre, and Ivan Moffat. Stevens then met with Moffat at the Brown Derby, where Stevens told him his vision for the film would be reverent and universal. Stevens collaborated with him and then with James Lee Barrett. It was the only time Stevens received screenplay credit for a film he directed. It took two years to write the screenplay.

By July 1960, Carl Sandburg had been hired for completion work on the screenplay. Sandburg remained with the project for the next thirteen months, before returning to his residence in Flat Rock, North Carolina. In September 1961, Sandburg told Variety that he would continue to consult on the project "until George Stevens tells me to stop". The contributions Sandburg made included a brief conversation between Judas Iscariot and Mary Magdalene discussing her use of expensive perfume to anoint Jesus. He received screen credit for "creative association." Sandburg also had an uncredited appearance as a Roman citizen who glares at Pilate when he gives in to the crowd's demand that he crucify Jesus. By November 1961, Stevens had finished writing the script.

Financial excesses grew during pre-production. Stevens commissioned French artist André Girard to prepare 352 oil paintings of Biblical scenes to use as storyboards. Stevens traveled to the Vatican to see Pope John XXIII for advice.

Casting

For the role of Jesus, Stevens wanted an actor unknown to international audiences, free of secular and unseemly associations in the mind of the public. In February 1961, Stevens cast Swedish actor Max von Sydow as Jesus. Von Sydow had never appeared in an English-language film and was best known for his performances in Ingmar Bergman's dramatic films. Von Sydow said, "I thought with horror of Cecil B. DeMille and such things as Samson and Delilah and The Ten Commandments. But when I saw the script, I decided that the role of Jesus is absolutely not a religious cliché." It was reported that Elizabeth Taylor would portray Mary Magdalene, while Marlon Brando and Spencer Tracy were considered for the roles of Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate, respectively.

In major supporting roles, Dorothy McGuire was cast as Mary, the mother of Jesus; Robert Loggia as Joseph, the (adoptive) father of Jesus; Charlton Heston as John the Baptist, and Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate. Stevens asked Savalas to shave his head for the role; Savalas did so, and continued shaving his head for the rest of his life. The Greatest Story Ever Told features an ensemble of well-known actors, many in brief, sometimes cameo, appearances; these included Pat Boone, Carroll Baker, David McCallum, Sidney Poitier, Angela Lansbury, Jose Ferrer, Martin Landau, Ed Wynn, and John Wayne as a Roman centurion.

An urban legend states of Wayne delivering his only spoken line in the film, "Truly this man was the Son of God" three times, none of which worked to Stevens's satisfaction. Stevens advised, "Can you give it a little more awe, Duke?" Wayne then repeated: "Aw, truly this man was the Son of God." In 1984, film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry playfully noted: "It is impossible for those watching the film to avoid the merry game of 'Spot the Star', and the road to Calvary in particular comes to resemble the Hollywood Boulevard 'Walk of Fame'."

Filming