6 Things You Never Knew About ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told,’ the 1965 Religious Epic

The 1965 Biblical epic The Greatest Story Ever Told — which airs tonight at 8pm EST on TCM as part of their Easter season programming — was considered one of the most anticipated movies in early ’60s Hollywood. Adapted from a successful 1947 radio series and a 1949 novel that sold over 3 million copies, the film was green-lit for a then-unheard-of $10 million budget, and set to be filled with famous faces, from Robert Loggia to Charlton Heston to Sidney Poitier.

However, this retelling of the life of Jesus Christ suffered from production problems of Biblical proportions – including legal battles that delayed filming by years, on-set deaths, and Arizona snowstorms. A moderate success upon release, it struggled to recoup its massive budget ($20 million, or $203 million in today’s dollars), with some critics believing that it helped end the 1950 and ’60s Bible film trend.