In 1958, his production company partnered with Twentieth Century Fox to produce the film. Walter Wanger had long contemplated producing a biographical film about Cleopatra.
It chronicles the struggles of Cleopatra, the young queen of Egypt, to resist the imperial ambitions of Rome. Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall, and Martin Landau are featured in supporting roles. The film stars Elizabeth Taylor in the eponymous role. Mankiewicz, with a screenplay adapted by Mankiewicz, Ranald MacDougall and Sidney Buchman from the 1957 book The Life and Times of Cleopatra by Carlo Maria Franzero, and from histories by Plutarch, Suetonius, and Appian. $40.3 million (worldwide theatrical rental)Ĭleopatra is a 1963 American epic historical drama film directed by Joseph L.
