Ed Fury Dead: Bodybuilder Actor Of Sword & Sandal Epics Was 94

Ed Fury, a 1951 Mr. Muscle Beach winner who became one of the most successful male physique models of the era before launching a swords & sandal film career that rivaled the genre’s leading man Steve Reeves, has died at his California home. He was 94.

His death on February 24 was announced this week by his wife and family friends. A cause of death has not been specified.

Born Edmund Holovchik in New York on June 6, 1928, Fury began lifting weights as a high school wrestler before moving to Southern California in the late 1940s, where he soon found his place among the Santa Monica Muscle Beach bodybuilding set. He began modeling in the 1950s for physique studios like the Athletic Model Guild and Bruce of LA, appearing on many covers of the era’s male physique magazines and in a few physique film loops.

An uncredited Ed Fury (in tweed jacket) with Joan Crawford, Jeff Chandler, Natalie Schafer & Cecil Kellaway in ‘Female on the Beach’ (Everett Collection)

By 1953 Fury was one of the go-to bodybuilders when Hollywood needed a buff type. At first appearing uncredited (he was the King of Venus in Abbott and Costello Go To Mars, Olympic Team Member in Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, Actor In The Play in The Country Girl and Cowboy in the Saloon in Bus Stop) he landed his first featured and credited role in 1960’s Italian release Colossus and the Amazon Queen, a rare comedic take on the sword-and-sandal genre starring Rod Taylor.

The following year Fury found his signature role as the title character in Ursus, a pseudo-mythological fantasy adventure later released to U.S. television as Ursus, Son of Hercules, though the character had no relation to Hercules. Fury reprised the role in 1961’s Ursus in the Valley of the Lions and, in 1963, Ursus in the Land of Fire.

Returning to the U.S. following the final Ursus installment, Fury made frequent television appearances throughout the 1960s and ’70s, often in small roles that played off his good looks and muscular build. Credits include The Doris Day Show, Gilligan’s Island, Columbo, The Brian Keith Show, Medical Center, Shazam! and Fantasy Island.

He retired from acting in the late 1970s, returning to the screen only once for an appearance in the campy Dinosaur Valley Girls (1996), playing a character named Ur-So, a wink to the role that thrilled generations of kids on Saturday afternoons.