Steve Reeves| The one Who Brought Greek Mythology to Cinema | 

Steve Reeves| The one Who Brought Greek Mythology to Cinema |
Steve Reeves made his cinematic breakthrough in 1958, with the movie Hercules. By the late 1950s, the sword and sandals genre was already becoming popular, but Reeves was the first performer to fully embody the physique of ancient Greek heroes on screen.
The immense popularity of Hercules and the other sword and sandals films set the stage for further silver-screen adaptations of Greek mythology and history. The genre continued to be popular throughout the 1960s and experienced a revival in the 2000s with blockbuster hits like Troy and 300.
Reeves also set a new standard for male action stars. As the first bodybuilder to enjoy mainstream cinematic success, he established new physical expectations for what an on-screen action star is supposed to look like.
Steve Reeves’ early life
Steve Reeves was born on January 21, 1926 in Glasgow, Montana in the United States. His father was killed in a work accident when he was young, and his mother relocated the family to Oakland, California.
Reeves’ strength training and bodybuilding journey began at the age of about fifteen after losing an arm wrestling match to a smaller classmate. After discovering that this classmate acquired his strength from weight training, Reeves started attending a nearby gym.
The future bodybuilding hall of fame athlete trained under gym owner Ed Yarrick in California. However, his athletic ambitions were interrupted by the Second World War. He enlisted in 1944 and was deployed to the Philippines.
After the war was over, Reeves studied at the California Chiropractic College in San Francisco.
Bodybuilding
What set Reeves apart from other stars of the sword and sandals genre was his towering physique. This was built during his bodybuilding career before his first major breakthrough in cinema.
In the sport of bodybuilding, Reeves is considered to be one of the all-time greats and is easily the most recognizable figure of the “silver era” of bodybuilding.
Reeves was competing before the now-iconic Mr. Olympia competition was founded in 1965. However, he won every other major accolade, including Mr. America in 1947, Mr. World in 1948, and Mr. Universe in 1950.
When Reeves won Mr. America, a columnist in Your Physique magazine wrote: “I, personally, proclaim him to be the finest specimen of American manhood I have ever seen in a kid of his years. He hasn’t a single weak spot in his make-up…He seemed from out of this world, just as though a Superman had suddenly appeared on a pedestal.”
Reeves becomes Hercules
The successful bodybuilder had been appearing in small television and movie roles since the late 1940s. However, the film that put Reeves on the map was Hercules, directed by Italian director Pietro Francisci and released in 1958.
Francisci flew Reeves out to Italy to shoot the film on a relatively low budget. The movie’s plot was a mixture of Greek mythological stories. Reeves starred as Hercules (Herakles), the impossibly strong demigod and son of Zeus. However, the plot more closely followed the story of Jason and the Argonauts.
Hercules was popular upon its release in Europe. The film became a major box-office success after American film distributor and producer Joseph E. Levine bought the rights for the movie’s distribution in the US. American audiences loved the film, and it grossed five million dollars in the US.