Aug 12, 2016 / 10:39 am
For the first time in nearly 55 years, one of the greatest stories ever told will be retold on the big screen starting Aug. 19, as Paramount and MGM's "Ben-Hur" - a remake of the 1959 Academy Award-winning classic with Charlton Heston - will introduce a whole new generation to the epic tale of fictional nobleman-turned-slave Judah Ben-Hur and his life-changing interaction with Jesus Christ.
And one of the key people behind making this introduction a reality is actress/producer Roma Downey, who knows perhaps as well as anyone the power of introducing people to the right message at the right time.
After falling in love with the craft of acting while performing in a high school production of William Shakespeare's "As You Like It" as a teenager, Downey's passion for inspiring audiences through great stories led her to Broadway - and later to Hollywood, where her fruitful career apexed with her starring role on the CBS TV hit "Touched By An Angel." Fans of the show (which ran for nine seasons, from 1994 to 2003) will recall how Downey's Monica, an angel who would go "undercover" as a human being in each episode, would reveal her true identity to people and share a message of God's love at the exact moment the person needed to hear it.
According to Downey, Monica's penchant for instilling hope in others extended far beyond the fictional world of the show by reaching viewers at home.