Stephen Boyd only lived to see 45, but the guy had the kind of life that could fill several others, what with starring in epics like Ben-Hur, nearly drowned in the Ardèche river and shared a camp with cannibals for the movie The Big Gamble, was censored for his near-nudity in GIna Lollobigida’s dream project Imperial Venus and traveled the world to be in movies like Genghis Khan (Yugoslavia), The Bible (Egypt), Assignment K (Germany), Shalako (Spain), Slaves (the supposedly haunted Buena Vista plantation near Shreveport, Louisiana),  The Hands of Cormac Joyce (Australia) and The Manipulator (South Africa). He was also in wild movies like The Oscar and Fantastic Voyage; was one of the first celebrities to be involved in Scientology with a status of OT 6, a position above that of Clear; was spoken of by many to be incredibly friendly and spent much of his time on sets with the crew and oh yeah, he was so close with Brigitte Bardot that one of her husbands left her. He was also married in a gypsy blood ritual to Marisa Mell, a relationship so intense that they had an exorcism to stop their passion. Boyd was also the only actor to have a relationship on set with Dolores Hart before she became a nun; they remained in contact for the rest of his life. He finally married Elizabeth Mills, who had been his personal assistant for over twenty years, in 1974. Sadly, he died of a heart attack in 1977 while golfing with his wife. He would have been in The Wild Geese had he lived.

Stephen Boyd stars in this movie as Hugo Graham, who is asked by Zappy (she’s in the credits as Cheryl Stoppelmoor, but the world would soon know her as Cheryl Ladd) to join her and her friend Victor Spivak (Chuck Woolery, before he hosted game shows) to explore a wrecked ship. She even has a boat, captained by Asper (Roosevelt “Rosey” Grier).

Ladd married her husband David — also in this movie — before it was released in the U.S. And yes, that is Darby Hinton in there. And Commandant Mauser himself, Art Metrano.

This was directed by Virginia Lively Stone and written by John Walker and J.A.S. McCrombie, who also wrote Stone’s other two movies, Money to Burn and Run If You Can.

Twelve months later, Jaws was a big deal. So the filmmakers brought back Boyd, added some gore, some skin and a new title, Evil In the Deep. They took what was a G-rated movie and made it R-rated and I love them for it.

Don’t have the box set? You can watch this on YouTube.