Casting
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. Stevens wanted an unknown actor free of secular and unseemly associations in the mind of the public.
The Greatest Story Ever Told featured an ensemble of well-known actors, many of them in brief, even cameo, appearances. Some critics would later complain that the large cast distracted from the solemnity, notably in the appearance of John Wayne as the Roman centurion who comments on the Crucifixion by stating: "Truly this man was the son of God."
Beyond von Sydow, the film's primary cast was
- Dorothy McGuire as the Virgin Mary
- Charlton Heston as John the Baptist
- Claude Rains as Herod the Great
- Jose Ferrer as Herod Antipas
- Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate
- Martin Landau as Caiaphas
- David McCallum as Judas Iscariot
- Donald Pleasence as "The Dark Hermit" (a personification of Satan)
- Michael Anderson, Jr. as James the Just
- Roddy McDowall as Matthew
- Joanna Dunham as Mary Magdalene
- Joseph Schildkraut as Nicodemus
- Ed Wynn as "Old Aram"
Smaller roles (some only a few seconds) were played by Michael Ansara, Ina Balin, Carroll Baker, Robert Blake, Pat Boone, Victor Buono, John Considine, Richard Conte, Jamie Farr, David Hedison, Van Heflin, Russell Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Mark Lenard, Robert Loggia, John Lupton, Sal Mineo, Nehemiah Persoff, Sidney Poitier, Gary Raymond, Marian Seldes, David Sheiner, Paul Stewart, John Wayne and Shelley Winters.
Read more about this topic: The Greatest Story Ever Told
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