10 Directors Who Nearly Killed Their Actors

6. Fred Niblo Dared The Cast Of Ben Hur To Die Horribly...For $100

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7WZWjoSlKM The less-famous 1925 version of Ben Hur - recreated so well in 1959 with Chuck Heston - is heralded for its ambitious chariot race scene, which if enacted under the same conditions today would result in about a hundred different lawsuits regarding just about health and safety regulation you could possibly violate while on a film set. Urban legends persist about quite how many people died during the filming of the scene, and at least one can definitely be accounted for, but director Fred Niblo noticed that in wake of this, the chariot riders were being too safe and conservative. So, he instructed the drivers to race for real, with the winner receiving $100 (whch, I don't have to tell you, was worth a lot more in 1925...) The resulting footage was the glorious race we see in the film, but it also resulted in an insane pile-up which killed several horses and almost the actors riding the chariots. Given Niblo's other instances of reckless abandon - setting a prop ship on fire because it looked cool, but not telling the extras aboard it first - it's been suggested that other deaths may have occurred on set but been covered up or not accounted for. Still, good film.