the panic that ensues, Ben Yusuf is thrown from his horse and is crushed beneath Babieca's hooves, leaving his scattered army to be annihilated. King Alfonso leads Christians and Moors alike in a prayer for God to receive the soul "of the purest knight of all". Cast Charlton Heston as Don Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid Sophia Loren as Chimene Herbert Lom as Ben Yusuf Raf Vallone as García Ordóñez Geneviève Page as Doña Urraca (sister of Alfonso VI) John Fraser as Alfonso VI (King of Castile) Douglas Wilmer as al-Mu'tamin (Emir of Zaragoza) Frank Thring as al-Kadir (Emir of Valencia) Michael Hordern as Don Diego (father of Rodrigo) Andrew Cruickshank as Count Gormaz (father of Chimene) Gary Raymond as Prince Sancho, the 1st born of King Ferdinand Ralph Truman as King Ferdinand Massimo Serato as Fañez (nephew of Rodrigo) Hurd Hatfield, as Arias Tullio Carminati as Al-Jarifi Fausto Tozzi as Dolfos Christopher Rhodes as Don Martín Carlo Giustini as Bermúdez Gérard Tichy as King Ramiro Barbara Everest as Mother Superior Nerio Bernardi as Soldier (Credited on film as Nelio Bernardi) Franco Fantasia as Soldier Production Development In 1958, producer Samuel Bronston first considered filming El Cid prior to his work on King of Kings (1961), but the production proved to be so troublesome that it would be set aside until King of Kings reached completion. In April 1960, Variety announced that Bronston was independently producing three films in Spain, one of which included El Cid. It was also reported that Bronston had purchased the rights to Fredric M. Frank's 140-page treatment for the film. In July 1960, Anthony Mann had signed on to direct the film. However, principal photography was nearly delayed when Cesáreo González's Aspa Films filed an infringement claim against Bronston over the project's title and theme. Previously, in July 1956, it was reported that two biopics of El Cid were in development: an American-Spanish co-production with Anthony Quinn set to star, and a collaboration between RKO, Milton Sperling, and Marvin Gosch. By August 1960, Bronston reached a deal to have Aspa Films and Robert Haggiag's Dear Film involved in the production making the project an American-Italian-Spanish co-production. Writing The first writer assigned was Fredric M. Frank. He was flown into Spain to begin finalizing the screenplay for the initial start of shooting by July 1960. On that same month, Philip Yordan had been hired to