A true story about an Englishman working as a game
warden in Kenya who is disgusted by the ongoing
destruction of African wildlife, and decides to create
a national park to protect them. He acquires more than
1000 square miles of land, but he finds himself up
against ivory poachers and local tribesmen in their
employ.

Clocking in at three hours and 32 minutes, William Wyler’s
Technicolor epic Ben-Hur was the behemoth entry at the
32nd annual Academy Awards ceremony, held on this day
in 1960, at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

Setting an Oscar record, the film sweeps 11 of the 12
categories in which it was nominated, including Best
Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Charlton Heston).

Wyler’s 1959 film was the latest dramatic adaptation of the
mega-bestselling novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ,
published in 1880 by Lew Wallace. Wallace, a former
general in the American Civil War, wrote his most
successful novel after experiencing a new awakening
of his Christian faith.

Then and now location from the 1978 film starring Donald
Sutherland. 

Johnny Cash, backed by an all-star ensemble of talent, stepped
on stage at California State Prison in Folsom on this day in
history, Jan. 13, 1968. 

The concert and the subsequent live album launched him back
into the charts and re-defined his career.

The Man in Black recorded a landmark album that included
a song written by inmate Glen Sherley (right).