Thursday, March 14, 2019

Who's your favourite Ursus?

Ursus was a character in the novel QUO VADIS? written by Henryk Sienkiewicz. That novel was adapted several times at the movies, including the major Hollywood film in 1951. The character's name would symbolize strong man, and later films with the name Ursus had little to do with the original character. Though not always, the character would often have blond or sandy hair, and is often associated with fighting with a bull (as it was in QUO VADIS). Note: I didn't include the actors who played Ursus for the two European mini-series.

So, who's your favourite Ursus?

Buddy Baer in QUO VADIS (1951)

Ed Fury in THE MIGHTY URSUS (1960). Fury would star in two other Ursus films and was basically the main star for the whole series. For many, Ed is Ursus.


The following titles have nothing to do with the Ed Fury / Ursus series.

Samson Burke played Ursus in VENGEANCE OF URSUS (1961)

Joe Robinson was Ursus in URSUS AND THE TARTAR PRINCESS (1961)

Alan Steel and Dan Vadis, as Ursus, in URSUS - THE REBEL GLADIATOR (1962)

Alan Steel finally played Ursus in THE 3 AVENGERS (1964)

Yann Larvor was a mean Ursus in SAMSON & THE MIGHTY CHALLENGE (1964)

Reg Park played Ursus. The original title was URSUS & THE TERROR OF THE KIRGHIZ but was re-titled HERCULES - PRISONER OF EVIL (1964) for the English market.


10 comments:

Richard Svensson said...

Actually, I'll go with the original Ursus, Buddy Baer. He looked like I giant when I first saw the movie as a kid, and that made a big impression on me.

lina esposito said...

Ed Fury

Anonymous said...

Nothing to do with this Ursus post but I was wondering why I can no longer access Peplum.ca
I've had the site bookmarked for years and now when I click on it, I am sent to some Time/Warner
site.

PEPLUM TV said...

I'm making major updates to the peplum.ca link.

PEPLUM TV said...

PEPLUM.ca should work now

Anonymous said...

It does work now. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Buddy played his character with enough pathos to make his scenes a significant part of the movie.

Alec Semicognito said...

"Dan Vadis" playing a character from Quo Vadis? That's great.

Nardobbuilder said...

If we are talking about URSUS made for the novel QUO VADIS and sticking true to the character, I must vote for RAFAL KUBACKI of the QUO VADIS released in 2001. RAFAL is Judo champion and Polish just like most of the cast and crew. He embodies Ursus - beefy, strongman, wrestler.


Here is a link of what he looks like:

https://sport.tvp.pl/36865386/zycie-po-karierze-parafianie-kubaccy

TC said...

I don't really have a favorite actor, but I suppose Ed Fury could be considered the "official" Ursus, since he did a series.

My favorite movie with Ursus in it, although it is not part of a series, is Samson and His Mighty Challenge, since it was tongue-in-cheek and did not take itself too seriously.

I will always think of Samson Burke as Hercules in The Three Stooges Meet...

It's a shame that (AFAIK) Buddy Baer never played Hercules in a peplum series.