Actor—and political activist—Charlton Heston passes away at age 84.
He played roles that were larger than life - calling down plagues upon Egypt and parting the Red Sea in one film, surviving slavery and an electrifying chariot race in another, and even making contact with an advanced civilization of talking apes in still another.
Charlton Heston, star of The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, and Planet of the Apes, died Saturday night in his Beverly Hills home at the age of 84.
The actor was "known for his chiseled jaw, broad shoulders and resonating voice, and, of course, for the roles he played," Heston's family said in a statement. "No one could ask for a fuller life than his. No man could have given more to his family, to his profession, and to his country."
Heston was also known for his conservative politics and served as president of the National Rifle Association, an outspoken advocate of gun rights.
President Bush hailed him as a "strong advocate for liberty," while John McCain called Heston a devotee for civil and constitutional rights. Heston was one of Hollywood's first actors to speak out against racism and was actively involved in the civil rights movement.
As an actor, Heston was perhaps best known for his role as Moses in The Ten Commandments, the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille epic that is better known for its Technicolor spectacle than for its biblical accuracy. (The real Moses had a stuttering problem, but in the '56 film, Heston's marvelous voice is as eloquent as it comes.) Heston also played John the Baptist in 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told.
But his best role came in 1959's Ben-Hur, for which he won an Oscar for Best Actor in the role of a fictional Jewish slave who would - after a face-to-face meeting with Christ - eventually rise above his circumstances and win a legendary chariot race that still ranks as one of the most incredible scenes in movie history.
In 1968's Planet of the Apes, Heston played an astronaut who crash-lands on a planet in the distant future - a planet where humans are the lesser race and apes have learned speech and technology. (Three years later, Heston would play another sci-fi role in The Omega Man, as one of few survivors of a biological holocaust; the film, based on a novel by Richard Matheson, was remade last year into I Am Legend with Will Smith.)
In 1997, Heston returned to a "biblical role" as host of Charlton Heston Presents the Bible, a video series shot in the Middle East which also comes with a companion coffee table book. (Peter T. Chattaway, a critic for CT Movies, wrote about the projects here.)
Variety magazine has a comprehensive obit/bio, while Entertainment Weekly put together a photo montage of Heston's best movie roles.
share thisPosted by Mark Moring on April 7, 2008 1:14AM
Comments
As we pause to remember Charlton Heston -- the actor, let us pause to remember Charlton Heston -- the man.
Charlton Heston was pro-life, pro-family and pro-American ... he spoke out against racial discrimination and criticized violence and obscenity in "the arts." Of paramount importance, Charlton Heston encouraged Americans not to be ashamed of our Judeo-Christian heritage.
Posted by: Diana at April 7, 2008
As a European, my views of Heston are marred by the Columbine movie - If Heston was really pro-life, he should have been anti-gun. Gun-free Europe looks on at the rampant violence in the USA and we think "Are you mad?"
Posted by: Bob at April 8, 2008
Heston is truly an American staple! He is the personification of strength, confidence, and commitment to the high ideals of the Highest in all the land. One of the greatest characters of all times. I mean this with the highest of compliments: your movies are the best!
I will give you my prayers, faithful brother in Christ.
Posted by: New Will at April 9, 2008
This may not be the time to make this comment. Mr. Heston is not available..so I will.
I met yesterday my brother who took a shell in the Battle of the Bulge. His abdomen resembles a roadmap. There are other shell wound marks on his head... For two weeks...he lay in a Hospital with his guts on a tray beside his bed...as the doctors put them back together...and waited to let them heal before hiding them in his stomach/abdomen cavity.
As an American...I have this answer to the Europeans. His kind saved Europe ....twice.
You say you have no guns..... Who are you going to call on...the next time you need to have your behind saved?
Charlton Heston was a great American. For you to try to stain his memory because of what he believed is as one grain of sand on the beach on the coast of France and Italy. All the other grains leave you in a minority...hard to find....and understand.
What did you say when Hitler died?
Weapons are not all not all "guns". Actions and harsh words can be as cannon balls. They can do even more damage...rolling around and when they are projected.
Heston would laugh and cast aside your words. He was a better man. You only make us remember and respect him more. One's enemies tell us much of who and what they are. Just as one's friends reveal who they are.
Do you dislike him for what you think? Would you deny him to think as he did? Reminds me of the early 1940s.
All who object to Heston and what he stood for....should be made to find the bodies of each American who died and are buried in Europe....and shipped to their hometown for a proper burial...at your expense. As I recall many countries...were saved by such as these...and monies were given (lent) to Europe ,,,,money that has never been repaid.
Mr. Heston, I salute you and look forward to seeing you when my name is called.
Posted by: Douglas Bell at April 11, 2008
Charlton Heston was my favorite actor, an inspiration to me to pursue my dreams and later to love life, liberty and the arts.
How ironic is that he championed these causes all his life, but only the left praises his civil rights work and the right his 2nd Amendment work. His life was one of no contradiction.
Posted by: Jim Pruitt at April 11, 2008
Every time my wife and I watch Ben Hur which is a great deal since we hace it on dvd I cry. That movie is so stiring, even though you never see Christ, you get the picture of what it must have been like to gaze upon His eyes. Just to look into His eyes changed or challenged you.That movie beats in my opion all other Biblical flicks made past and present ! The Ten Commands. as well, EL Cid too.
Posted by: Rev. William J. Sandstedt at April 11, 2008
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