Question: What actor in "The Godfather" was once up for a part in the remake of Ben-Hur?

Barry M. Malkin (born October 26, 1938) is an American film editor with about 30 film credits.  He is noted for his extended collaboration with director Francis Ford Coppola, having edited most of Coppola's films from 1969-1997.  In particular, Malkin worked with Coppola on four of the component and compilation films of the "Godfather Trilogy", although he was not involved in the original 1972 film.  Roger Ebert has written of "The Godfather Part II", which Malkin edited, "... why is it a "great movie"?  Because it must be seen as a piece with the unqualified greatness of "The Godfather."  The two can hardly be considered apart ("Part III" is another matter).  When the characters in a film take on a virtual reality for us, when a character in another film made 30 years later can say "The Godfather" contains all the lessons in life you need to know, when an audience understands why that statement could be made, a film has become a cultural bedrock." <SEP> John Holland Cazale ( ; ] ; August 12, 1935 – March 13, 1978) was an American actor.  He appeared in five films over a period of six years, all of which were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: "The Godfather", "The Conversation", "The Godfather Part II", "Dog Day Afternoon", and "The Deer Hunter."  He appeared in archival footage in "The Godfather Part III", also nominated for Best Picture, making him the only actor to have this multi-film distinction.  From his start as a theater actor, he became one of Hollywood's premier character actors, starting with his role as the doomed, weak-minded Fredo Corleone opposite longtime friend Al Pacino in Francis Ford Coppola's film "The Godfather" and its 1974 sequel.  Cazale chose to continue acting despite being diagnosed with lung cancer.  He died in New York City on March 13, 1978, shortly after completing his role in "The Deer Hunter". <SEP> Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor, film director and political activist.  He is widely credited with bringing realism to film acting.  He helped to popularize the Stanislavski system of acting, studying with Stella Adler in the 1940s. " (1952), "Julius Caesar" (1953), "The Wild One" (1953), "Guys and Dolls" (1955), "Sayonara" (1957), "Last Tango in Paris" (1972), and "Apocalypse Now" (1979).  Brando was also an activist for many causes, notably the Civil Rights Movement and various Native American movements.  Brando is widely known for his Academy Award-winning performances as Terry Malloy in "On the Waterfront" (1954) and Vito Corleone in "The Godfather" (1972), as well as his performances in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951), "Viva Zapata! <SEP> Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) originally announced a remake of the 1925 silent film "Ben-Hur" in December 1952, ostensibly as a way to spend its Italian assets.  MGM said Sidney Franklin would direct, that the script by Tunberg was finished, that shooting would occur in Rome and in Spain, and that Marlon Brando was up for the lead.  Stewart Granger and Robert Taylor were reported to be in the running for the lead.  Nine months later, MGM announced it would make the film in CinemaScope, with shooting beginning in 1954.  In November 1953, MGM announced it had assigned producer Sam Zimbalist to the picture and hired screenwriter Karl Tunberg to write it.  Zimbalist was chosen because he had produced MGM's Best Picture-nominated Christians-and-lions epic "Quo Vadis" in 1951.  The studio then announced in July 1954 that production would start in March 1955 with 42 speaking parts and 97 sets.  In September 1955, Zimbalist, who continued to claim that Tunberg's script was complete, announced that a $7 million, six-to-seven month production would begin in April 1956 in either Israel or Egypt in MGM's new 65mm widescreen process.  MGM, however, suspended production in early 1956.