Cleopatra (1963)
Cleopatra (1963)
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently Cleopatra is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Google Play Movies, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, History Vault, Vudu, AMC on Demand
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
Cast & Crew.
Elizabeth Taylor
Cleopatra
Richard Burton
Marcus Antonius
Rex Harrison
Julius Caesar
Pamela Brown
High Priestess
George Cole
Flavius
Hume Cronyn
Sosigenes
Cesare Danova
Apollodorus
Kenneth Haigh
Brutus
Andrew Keir
Agrippa
Martin Landau
Rufio
Roddy McDowall
Octavian - Caesar Augustus
Robert Stephens
Germanicus
Francesca Annis
Eiras
Grégoire Aslan
Pothinus
Martin Benson
Ramos
John Doucette
Achillas
Michael Hordern
Cicero
John Hoyt
Cassius
Carroll O'Connor
Casca
Andrew Faulds
Canidius
Michael Gwynn
Cimber
Peter Grant
Palace Guard (uncredited)
Marne Maitland
Euphranor
Richard O'Sullivan
Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII
Gwen Watford
Calpurnia
Douglas Wilmer
Decimus
Marie Devereux
Bacchanal Reveler
Herbert Berghof
Theodotos
Jacqueline Chan
Lotos
Isabel Cooley
Charmian
Mike Steen
Minor Role
Finlay Currie
Titus
Jean Marsh
Octavia
Meri Welles
Cleopatra's Handmaiden
Peter Forster
Officer
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Screenplay / Director
Leon Shamroy
Director of Photography
Vittorio Nino Novarese
Costume Design
Boris Juraga
Art Direction
Elven Webb
Art Direction
Maurice Pelling
Art Direction
Alex North
Original Music Composer
Dorothy Spencer
Editor
Herman A. Blumenthal
Art Direction
Walter Wanger
Producer
Ranald MacDougall
Screenplay
Hilyard M. Brown
Art Direction
Jack Martin Smith
Art Direction
Sidney Buchman
Screenplay
Peter Levathes
Executive Producer
John DeCuir
Production Design
Alberto De Rossi
Makeup Artist
Paul S. Fox
Set Decoration
Giovanni Natalucci
Set Designer
Walter M. Scott
Set Decoration
Ray Moyer
Set Decoration
Renié
Costume Design
Gerry Fisher
Camera Operator
Elaine Schreyeck
Script Supervisor
Bob Penn
Still Photographer
Forrest E. Johnston
Production Manager
Hermes Pan
Choreographer
Fred R. Simpson
Assistant Director
C.O. Erickson
Production Manager
Media.
Details.
Release DateJune 12, 1963
StatusReleased
Running Time4h 8m
Content RatingG
Budget$44,000,000
Box Office$71,000,000
Filming LocationsMalibu, United States · Almería, Spain
Genres
Wiki.
Cleopatra is a 1963 American epic historical drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, with a screenplay adapted by Mankiewicz, Ranald MacDougall and Sidney Buchman from the 1957 book The Life and Times of Cleopatra by Carlo Maria Franzero, and from histories by Plutarch, Suetonius, and Appian. The film stars Elizabeth Taylor in the eponymous role. Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall, and Martin Landau also appear in major roles. It chronicles the struggles of Cleopatra, the young queen of Egypt, to resist the imperial ambitions of Rome.
Walter Wanger had long contemplated producing a biographical film about Cleopatra. In 1958, his production company partnered with Twentieth Century Fox to produce the film. Following an extensive casting search, Elizabeth Taylor signed on to portray the title role for a record-setting salary of $1 million. Rouben Mamoulian was hired as director, and the script underwent numerous revisions from Nigel Balchin, Dale Wasserman, Lawrence Durrell, and Nunnally Johnson. Principal photography began at Pinewood Studios on September 28, 1960, but Taylor's health problems delayed further filming. Production was suspended in November after it had gone overbudget with only ten minutes of usable footage.
Mamoulian resigned as director and was replaced by Mankiewicz, who had directed Taylor in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). Production was re-located to Cinecittà, where filming resumed on September 25, 1961, without a finished shooting script. During filming, a personal scandal made worldwide headlines when it was reported that co-stars Taylor and Richard Burton had an adulterous affair. Filming wrapped on July 28, 1962, and further reshoots were made from February to March 1963.
With the estimated production costs totaling $31 million (not counting the $5 million spent on the aborted British shoot), the film became the most expensive film ever made up to that point and nearly bankrupted the studio. The cost of distribution, print and advertising expenses added a further $13 million to Fox's costs.
Cleopatra premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on June 12, 1963. It received a generally favorable response from film critics, and became the highest-grossing film of 1963, earning box-office receipts of $57.7 million in the United States and Canada, and one of the highest-grossing films of the decade at a worldwide level. However, the film initially lost money because of its exorbitant production and marketing costs totaling $44 million ($421 million in 2022).
It received nine nominations at the 36th Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, and won four: Best Art Direction (Color), Best Cinematography (Color), Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design (Color).