Died of a heart attack while playing golf, shortly after completing a guest-starring role on "Hawaii Five-O" (1968).
He blamed the massive commercial failure of The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) for ruining his movie career.
In 1976, in what would be his final interview, Boyd expressed regret at concentrating so heavily on movies and said he wished he had acted more on stage and on television.
In 1995, Charlton Heston denied a claim by screenwriter Gore Vidal that there was a gay subtext to the film Ben-Hur (1959). Vidal claims he wrote the script with such an implication and mentioned the subtext to director William Wyler. Boyd, who played Ben-Hur's friend (and later nemesis) Messala, supposedly was in on this subtext and played his scenes as if he had been spurned by his gay lover. Heston was not informed of this as they thought he would not like it. Heston went on to state that after writing one scene, Vidal was dismissed from the project. Vidal responded by producing extracts from Heston's 1978 journal "The Actor's Life", in which he admitted Vidal had written most of the finished screenplay.
Nearly died during the great flu epidemic in London in 1952.
Shortly before his death he was seriously considered for the role of the Regimental Sergeant Major in The Wild Geese (1978), which was subsequently played by Jack Watson.
Was associated with the lead role in a film version of Mary Renault's novel of ancient Crete, "The King Must Die." The film was never made.
Was initially cast as Marc Antony in Cleopatra (1963). When numerous delays in production eventually brought about his departure, Richard Burton took over the role.
Was the original choice to play James Bond 007 in Dr. No (1962).
While working as a doorman in 1955, Boyd was discovered by Sir Michael Redgrave, who got him his first film role.