From 1957 to 1968, Steve Reeves was able to parlay his bodybuilding success and classical good looks into a film career which, for a brief time, made him the highest paid screen performer in the world. Most of his films were "sword and sandal" spectaculars, made in Italy, but they provided entertainment for his millions of fans around the world and served as an inspiration for later stars of action films, such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Reeves was born on a ranch outside the small town of Glasgow, Montana, and was not quite two when his father was killed in a farming accident. When Reeves was ten, he and his mother moved to Oakland, California, where the active youngster soon had a paper route and was developing his legendary calves by pedaling the rolling hills of his new hometown. Serendipity brought a teenage Reeves...