Steve Reeves

Steve Reeves (1926–2000, United States) was an American actor and bodybuilder renowned for his roles in peplum films during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He rose to international stardom as Hercules in the 1958 Italian film Hercules and its 1959 sequel Hercules Unchained, which popularized the sword-and-sandal genre and influenced subsequent muscleman epics. After starring in over a dozen such films, including The Giant of Marathon (1959) and Morgan the Pirate (1961), he retired from acting in the mid-1960s to focus on equestrian pursuits and remained an enduring icon of physical fitness.