2nd May 1999

On this day 2nd May 1999, 'Gladiator' star Oliver Reed, died from a heart attack, during a break from filming Gladiator in Valletta, Malta.

Gladiator's stunned cast and crew spent the rest of the shoot in mourning ... but then, there was still the matter of Reed's final scenes, which had not yet been completed......

According to witnesses, he was having a boozy weekend off from filming.

Oliver drank eight pints of German lager, a dozen shots of rum, half a bottle of whisky and a few shots of Hennessy cognac - in a drinking match against a group of sailors on shore leave from HMS Cumberland at a local pub.

After beating five much younger Royal Navy sailors at arm-wrestling, Reed suddenly collapsed, dying while en route to hospital in an ambulance, he was 61 years old.

Reed was cast in Gladiator as Proximo, a former gladiator and trainer who became a friend and mentor to Crowe's Maximus.

As a result of his death, Reed's remaining scenes in 'Gladiator' had to be completed using a body double and computer-generated imagery (CGI) techniques.

Extra footage of Reed was collected, to digitally graft the actor's face onto the stand-in's body.

Gladiator won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and a Best Actor statue for Russell Crowe, and Reed was posthumously nominated for a BAFTA award for his role as Proximo.

The man was a rare breed of actor, and Gladiator, a rare breed of Hollywood epic, is dedicated to his memory.

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https://www.looper.com/.../heres-how-they-finished.../

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https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders