Nobody Died While Filming the Chariot Race

The record number of Academy Awards won by a single film to date is 11, out of the estimated maximum of 16 (given that certain awards cannot be given to the same film, i.e. Best Documentary Short could not go to the Best Picture, because Best Picture has to be a feature).  At the 31st Academy Awards, MGM was able to claim the fame of the record-holding GIGI (1958), which swept the Oscars, winning all nine of its nominations, beating the previous record of eight Oscars won by a single film.  However, the studio was in financial straits (curiously, this seems to be a regular occurrence in MGM's history).  With the rising popularity of television, and the U.S. Supreme Court's order for the studio system's monopoly of theater chains to be broken up just a decade before, MGM risked bankruptcy if their new film wasn't a major hit.  On the table was the massively-budgeted remake of BEN-HUR, based on the book Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Civil War Union General  Lew Wallace, which had been adapted twice before.  Development began at a proposed budget of $7 million, which soon shot to $15 million (approximately $116.5 million when considered for inflation), making it the most expensive film production to date, with the biggest sets ever built, including the 18-acre sized chariot race arena.  A further $3 million was invested in a colossal marketing campaign for the film including, as weird as it may seem today, a vast array of youth-friendly marketing tie-ins such as candy, toys and chariot-inspired tricycles, as well as perfumes, jewelry and neckties, and a "research department" to build and gauge teen interest in the film by surveying student in over 2,000 high schools across the country.
When finally released in November 1959, the daunting expenses of the production and marketing paid off with a $20.4 million margin of profit, plus another $10.1 million when re-released ten years later, which brought sighs of relief to all involved and saved the studio.  In addition, the film was a major critical hit, receiving rave reviews and nominations for 12 Academy Awards.  At the ceremony for the 32nd Academy Awards, it won a record 11 Oscars, a record that remains unbeaten to this day, and remained unmatched for a full 38 years until TITANIC (1997) won as many out of 14 nominations, and once more another six years later when THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING won a full sweep of its 11 nominations.  Today, BEN-HUR remains the standard of great Bible epics, and is often considered a close second in rankings of the greatest Hollywood epics, edged out by David Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1960).
Summary of Narrative Events

Before people shook hands, there were "secret drinking arm locks"

The story is a lot like a Jewish Count of Monte Cristo, which the book's author cited as an inspiration.  It is the story of one Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston), a highly-regarded prince of Judea, who is reunited with his best childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), who has returned to Judea to command the Roman garrison.  Messala expects his old friend to assist him in tempering Jewish resistance to the Romans and identify influential dissenters, but Judah is loyal to his people and heritage so refuses, and Messala is left seething.  When the new Roman governor enters the city on parade, a loose tile tumbles from Judah's roof, where he and his family watches on, and the falling debris spooks the governor's mount into throwing its rider, injuring the governor.  Although the evidence is incontrovertibly in favor of Judah's innocence, Messala denies any investigation and instead has Judah, Judah's mother, Miriam (Martha Scott), and sister, Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell), all arrested, with Judah condemned to the galleys of Roman warships and his family imprisoned indefinitely.  As Judah stumbles in the chain gain taking him to his fate through Nazareth, he is denied water by his captors, but a stranger (Jesus Christ) offers Judah water anyway.  Judah is perplexed by this kindness from a stranger, and while never forgetting the incident, Judah hardens his heart in his merciless three years of servitude as a galley slave.  In the midst of a battle (complete with makeup effects that border on humorous as men missing limbs grab at their bloody stumps with the bone cartoonishly protruding from the gore), Judah's ship is rammed through by another and sinks, but Judah escapes and saves the life of the Roman Consul (Jack Hawkins).  In return, the Consul petitions before the Roman Emperor for Judah's freedom, with success, and as several years pass in Rome, Judah becomes a famed charioteer and is officially adopted and made a Roman citizen by the Consul.  Still longing for his homeland and promised vengeance, Judah returns to Judea, intending to free his mother and sister and kill Messala.  Upon re-introducing himself to Messala, Judah demands that Messala release Miriam and Tirzah, but when Messala has his men look into the matter, they find the women, unseen since their imprisonment, have developed leprosy.  To spare their pride, Miriam and Tirzah request that their old house servant Esther (Haya Harareet) tell Judah that they've died.  Judah becomes acquainted with an Arab sheik, Ilderim, and agrees to race his stallions in a race to celebrate the new Judean governor, Pontius Pilate (Frank Thring).  In the arena, there is no law, and there he can get his revenge against Messala, who is the standing champion of the Judean race circuit, thanks in part to a penchant for fighting dirty.  Judah wins the race, and in the process, causes Messala to crash his chariot, throwing him into the raceway where he is trampled by the other racers' horses.  On his deathbed, Messala taunts Judah with the news that Miriam and Tirzah have become lepers, and Judah seeks them out in the Valley of the Lepers, despite Esther's protests on their behalf.  When Judah discovers that Tirzah is dying, he takes her and Miriam to see Jesus, whom Esther witnessed preach at the Sermon on the Mount and is said to have healed many others.  As they get to Jerusalem though, they learn that Jesus is to be crucified.  As Jesus is marched through the streets with his cross, he collapses and Judah rushes to his assistance, recognizing him as the stranger who gave him water.  As Judah witnesses the crucifixion and Christ's forgiveness to his executors, he finds his bitterness relinquished, and as the rain washes down the hill Golgotha, the blood of Christ is carried with it to Miriam and Tirzah, who are mourning in a cave with Esther, and they find their leprosy healed.
The Chariot Race- Fake Death Count: 3, real Death Count:0, the Legacy: Extensive
One of the most famous and influential scenes in cinema, and the most incredible sequence in the film, is the nine minutes-long chariot race.  Filmed with a 2.76:1 aspect ratio, one of the widest screens ever used (for reference, traditional "fullscreen" is 1.33:1, and the common U.S. widescreen is 1.85:1), the sequence has it's own "prologue" in the form of a pre-race parade in order to showcase the massive 18-acre arena set, before the actual race begins.  The chariot race is an example of one of the most influential and spectacular action sequences ever filmed, and George Lucas even created a fairly blatant homage to it with the podrace sequence in STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999), complete with an opening parade and competitors introduction and a race villain who doesn't play fair.  In fact, the main racers even share similar color schemes, such as Anakin's blue-and-gold colors, very reminiscent of Judah's, and Sebulba's orange-and-black is like Messala's red-and-black.  However, well over half of Lucas' race sequence is composed of computerized elements, and BEN-HUR has the unique thrill of being all shot on a live set.  I'm not suggesting that CG is automatically less desirable than practical effects, which is a popular sentiment amongst film circles, but one that I disagree with; I think the context of the scene needs to be considered and then the decision can be made accordingly.  But while I think that both are thrilling action sequences, there's definitely something awe-inspiring about knowing that what you're seeing had to actually be done in real life.
One of the most persistent urban legends of Hollywood pertains to the on-set demise of a certain stuntman during the race filming, and that the accident footage was included in the final cut, as indicated in the memoir of a stuntman who had worked on the film, but the story has been debunked given that the only records of an on-set death was that of producer Sam Zimbalist, who died of a heart attack at 57.  However, there was a near-death experience for a stuntman that did wind up onscreen; a stunt was planned for Judah's chariot to jump over another chariot's wreckage, but what was not planned was the stuntman being thrown into the air and out of the chariot.  Fortunately, the man only sustained a minor chin injury, and close-up footage of Heston hanging to the front of the chariot and clambering back in was shot to go along with the accidental footage.  To be fair though, it's understandable that so many have believed it when you see those charioteers trampled under the cutting hooves galloping by (dummies were used).

The spectacular chariot race, another case of a racist viewpoint blemishing something awesome

For Love of the Hollywood Bible Epic
Biblically-inspired epic films are been around since the beginning of the mainstream film industry, the earliest Bible epic of prominence being D.W. Griffith's massive silent production, INTOLERANCE, in 1916, when modern cinematography and intercutting were still being invented.  Besides the obvious scriptural source material, consistent characteristics of the sub-genre include enormous budgets in order to build dauntingly vast set pieces, so-called "cast[s] of thousands", sentimentality and often stronger violence and more revealing outfits than would otherwise be permitted.  BEN-HUR had been made twice before, once in 1907, and more prominently in 1925, but it was in the 1950s, when the Bible epic was making a comeback, that BEN-HUR brought it into a whole new level of respect.
Television had recently become a regular household presence, and it was crippling the film industry, so Hollywood was looking for gimmicks that television couldn't match.  Television couldn't spend as much money on an episode as Hollywood could for a movie, so Hollywood began banking more heavily on major movies.  B-movies toyed with "interactive" gimmickry like red-and-blue-tinted 3-D, buzzers in the seats and live show elements.  More prestigious productions gambled on revolutionary new visual and audio formats, color cinematography and sheer spectacle.  BEN-HUR dove headlong into the more respectable of these new exclusives, stretching the limits of wide scope cinematography, building the biggest sets to date, spending more money than any film prior and inventing the modern action sequence with spectacular stunt-work and destruction.  At a time when the cinema was facing an opposition of unparalleled influence, BEN-HUR re-invigorated the scene by proving what audiences had forgotten was unique to the cinematic experience, and paved the way for the modern blockbuster which, for better or worse, waited a short 16 years into the future.

BEN-HUR (1959)
4 out of 4 stars
Directed by: William Wyler
Starring: Charlton Heston, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Finlay Currie, Frank Thring, Cathy O'Donnell, Martha Scott, Jack Hawkins
Rated G (but would probably merit a PG-13 by today's standards for some sequences of intense violence/action) 
YOU MIGHT ENJOY BEN-HUR (1959) IF YOU LIKED:
QUO VADIS (1951)
SPARTACUS (1960) 
GLADIATOR (2000)
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956)