May 24, 1964 - Sir Laurence Olivier has been hired to portray Mohammed Ahmed, also known as the Mahdi, in “Khartoum,” to be produced early next year by Julian Blaustein for United Artists Release. Lewis Gilbert will direct from a screenplay by Robert Ardrey.
Burt Lancaster had been signed previously to play General Charles Gordon, whose British and Egyptian forces were defeated at Khartoum, the stronghold on the Nile, in the 1880s by Arab and Sudanese troops headed by their military and religious leader, the Mahdi.
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