Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Queen of Sheba - Through the years

Aside from Cleopatra, the Queen of Sheba is probably the second most famous female character in Ancient history. Very little is known about her but in movies she was either referred as Balkis, which is correct, or simply as Sheba, which, technically speaking, is incorrect. The Queen was queen of the land of Sheba, she wasn't known as Sheba.

Betty Blythe was named the "Queen of Sheba" in the silent version of THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

Leonora Ruffo was Balkis in the Italian version of THE QUEEN OF SHEBA, released in 1952

The most famous interpretation was in the form of Gina Lollobrigida in SOLOMON & SHEBA. She was called Sheba in the film.

Halle Berry played Queen of Sheba in SOLOMON & SHEBA TV film.

Two years after the Halle Berry TV film, Vivica A. Fox also played the famous queen in SOLOMON.

Beyonce appeared as the Queen of Sheba in one of her music videos.

4 comments:

  1. S.R.OrsulakSeptember 12, 2012 at 9:46 PM

    Leonora is my favorite, but I think they all were pretty good even Beyonce in her video.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sharon Buchbinder, Romance AuthorSeptember 13, 2012 at 8:02 AM

    The Gina version made me cringe. She was a combination of Delilah and Balkis in that one, only marginally related to Kings 1-13.

    The one with Ben Cross & Vivica Fox (SOLOMON) is the most realistic interpretation I've seen. The Bible movie series is quite good. I recommend DAVID, too. That one has Leonard Nimoy as Samuel.

    Sharon

    ReplyDelete
  3. PEPLUM cinemaSeptember 13, 2012 at 1:35 PM

    Orsulak, that one is my favorite as well. Fun film with a memorable performance by Leonora.

    Thanks Sharon for the info and good luck on your book.

    ReplyDelete
  4. pdhoggardFebruary 16, 2014 at 4:46 PM

    I love Halle Berry's version.

    ReplyDelete