Charlton Heston passes on at age 84
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An amazing man who called it like he saw it. He marched on Washington with MLK, but thanks to Michael Moore and others, will most likely be remembered for the NRA. Married to his wife for over 60 years. Ana amazing accomplishment.
RIP
RIP
JCOSTER
ONE love, blood, life
Married over 60 years what a wonder!
May sound strange but as a little girl, I loved planet of the apes.
Rest in peace.
May sound strange but as a little girl, I loved planet of the apes.
Rest in peace.
OP
OP
the iron horse
Rock n' Roll Doggie
I agree, a most remarkable man with an amazing career and life.
A more detailed report from Yahoo.News:
Film legend Charlton Heston dead at 84 By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer
33 minutes ago
Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.
The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said. He declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.
"Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life. He 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 revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying, "I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure."
With his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice, Heston proved the ideal star during the period when Hollywood was filling movie screens with panoramas depicting the religious and historical past.
"I have a face that belongs in another century," he often remarked.
Publicist Michael Levine, who represented Heston for about 20 years, said the actor's passing represented the end of an iconic era for cinema. "If Hollywood had a Mt. Rushmore, Heston's face would be on it," Levine said.
The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s.
With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates. In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the National Rifle Association, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle.
He delivered a jab at then-President Clinton, saying, "America doesn't trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don't trust you with our guns." Heston stepped down as NRA president in April 2003, telling members his five years in office were "quite a ride. ... I loved every minute of it."
Later that year, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. "The largeness of character that comes across the screen has also been seen throughout his life," President Bush said at the time.
"America has lost a great patriot. The Second Amendment has lost a faithful friend," said Wayne LaPierre, of the National Rifle Association of America, in a statement. "So have I, and so have four million NRA members and eighty million gun owners. And so has every American who cares about the Bill of Rights, individual liberty, and Freedom.
Heston engaged in a lengthy feud with liberal Ed Asner during the latter's tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild. His latter-day activism almost overshadowed his achievements as an actor, which were considerable.
Heston lent his strong presence to some of the most acclaimed and successful films of the midcentury. "Ben-Hur" won 11 Academy Awards, tying it for the record with the more recent "Titanic" (1997) and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003). Heston's other hits include: "The Ten Commandments," "El Cid," "55 Days at Peking," "Planet of the Apes" and "Earthquake."
He liked to cite the number of historical figures he had portrayed:
Andrew Jackson ("The President's Lady," "The Buccaneer"), Moses ("The Ten Commandments"), title role of "El Cid," John the Baptist ("The Greatest Story Ever Told"), Michelangelo ("The Agony and the Ecstasy"), General Gordon ("Khartoum"), Marc Antony ("Julius Caesar," "Antony and Cleopatra"), Cardinal Richelieu ("The Three Musketeers"), Henry VIII ("The Prince and the Pauper").
Heston made his movie debut in the 1940s in two independent films by a college classmate, David Bradley, who later became a noted film archivist. He had the title role in "Peer Gynt" in 1942 and was Marc Antony in Bradley's 1949 version of "Julius Caesar," for which Heston was paid $50 a week.
Film producer Hal B. Wallis ("Casablanca") spotted Heston in a 1950 television production of "Wuthering Heights" and offered him a contract. When his wife reminded him that they had decided to pursue theater and television, he replied, "Well, maybe just for one film to see what it's like."
Heston earned star billing from his first Hollywood movie, "Dark City," a 1950 film noir. Cecil B. DeMille next cast him as the circus manager in the all-star "The Greatest Show On Earth," named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952. More movies followed.
Most were forgettable low-budget films, and Heston seemed destined to remain an undistinguished action star. His old boss DeMille rescued him.
The director had long planned a new version of "The Ten Commandments," which he had made as a silent in 1923 with a radically different approach that combined biblical and modern stories. He was struck by Heston's facial resemblance to Michelangelo's sculpture of Moses, especially the similar broken nose, and put the actor through a long series of tests before giving him the role.
The Hestons' newborn, Fraser Clarke Heston, played the role of the infant Moses in the film.
More films followed: the eccentric thriller "Touch of Evil," directed by Orson Welles; William Wyler's "The Big Country," costarring with Gregory Peck; a sea saga, "The Wreck of the Mary Deare" with Gary Cooper.
Then his greatest role: "Ben-Hur."
Heston wasn't the first to be considered for the remake of 1925 biblical epic. Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson had declined the film. Heston plunged into the role, rehearsing two months for the furious chariot race.
He railed at suggestions the race had been shot with a double: "I couldn't drive it well, but that wasn't necessary. All I had to do was stay on board so they could shoot me there. I didn't have to worry; MGM guaranteed I would win the race."
The huge success of "Ben-Hur" and Heston's Oscar made him one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. He combined big-screen epics like "El Cid" and "55 Days at Peking" with lesser ones such as "Diamond Head," "Will Penny" and "Airport 1975." In his later years he played cameos in such films as "Wayne's World 2" and "Tombstone."
He often returned to the theater, appearing in such plays as "A Long Day's Journey into Night" and "A Man for All Seasons." He starred as a tycoon in the prime-time soap opera, "The Colbys," a two-season spinoff of "Dynasty."
At his birth in a Chicago suburb on Oct. 4, 1923, his name was Charles Carter. His parents moved to St. Helen, Mich., where his father, Russell Carter, operated a lumber mill. Growing up in the Michigan woods with almost no playmates, young Charles read books of adventure and devised his own games while wandering the countryside with his rifle.
Charles's parents divorced, and she married Chester Heston, a factory plant superintendent in Wilmette, Ill., an upscale north Chicago suburb. Shy and feeling displaced in the big city, the boy had trouble adjusting to the new high school. He took refuge in the drama department.
"What acting offered me was the chance to be many other people," he said in a 1986 interview. "In those days I wasn't satisfied with being me."
Calling himself Charlton Heston from his mother's maiden name and his stepfather's last name, he won an acting scholarship to Northwestern University in 1941. He excelled in campus plays and appeared on Chicago radio. In 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Force and served as a radio-gunner in the Aleutians.
In 1944 he married another Northwestern drama student, Lydia Clarke, and after his army discharge in 1947, they moved to New York to seek acting jobs. Finding none, they hired on as codirectors and principal actors at a summer theater in Asheville, N.C.
Back in New York, both Hestons began finding work. With his strong 6-feet-2 build and craggily handsome face, Heston won roles in TV soap operas, plays ("Antony and Cleopatra" with Katherine Cornell) and live TV dramas such as "Julius Caesar," "Macbeth," "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Of Human Bondage."
Heston wrote several books: "The Actor's Life: Journals 1956-1976," published in 1978; "Beijing Diary: 1990," concerning his direction of the play "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" in Chinese; "In the Arena: An Autobiography," 1995; and "Charlton Heston's Hollywood: 50 Years of American Filmmaking," 1998.
Besides Fraser, the Hestons had a daughter, Holly Ann, born Aug. 2, 1961. The couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1994 at a party with Hollywood and political friends. They had been married 64 years when he died.
In late years, Heston drew as much publicity for his crusades as for his performances. In addition to his NRA work, he campaigned for Republican presidential and congressional candidates and against affirmative action.
He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in "Miss Saigon" was "obscenely racist." He attacked CNN's telecasts from Baghdad as "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War.
At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album that purportedly encouraged cop killing.
Heston wrote in "In the Arena" that he was proud of what he did "though now I'll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time. On the other hand, I doubt I'll get a traffic ticket very soon."
__
Associated Press writer Thomas Watkins contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080406/ap_on_en_mo/obit_heston
A more detailed report from Yahoo.News:
Film legend Charlton Heston dead at 84 By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer
33 minutes ago
Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.
The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said. He declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.
"Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life. He 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 revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying, "I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure."
With his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice, Heston proved the ideal star during the period when Hollywood was filling movie screens with panoramas depicting the religious and historical past.
"I have a face that belongs in another century," he often remarked.
Publicist Michael Levine, who represented Heston for about 20 years, said the actor's passing represented the end of an iconic era for cinema. "If Hollywood had a Mt. Rushmore, Heston's face would be on it," Levine said.
The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s.
With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates. In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the National Rifle Association, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle.
He delivered a jab at then-President Clinton, saying, "America doesn't trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don't trust you with our guns." Heston stepped down as NRA president in April 2003, telling members his five years in office were "quite a ride. ... I loved every minute of it."
Later that year, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. "The largeness of character that comes across the screen has also been seen throughout his life," President Bush said at the time.
"America has lost a great patriot. The Second Amendment has lost a faithful friend," said Wayne LaPierre, of the National Rifle Association of America, in a statement. "So have I, and so have four million NRA members and eighty million gun owners. And so has every American who cares about the Bill of Rights, individual liberty, and Freedom.
Heston engaged in a lengthy feud with liberal Ed Asner during the latter's tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild. His latter-day activism almost overshadowed his achievements as an actor, which were considerable.
Heston lent his strong presence to some of the most acclaimed and successful films of the midcentury. "Ben-Hur" won 11 Academy Awards, tying it for the record with the more recent "Titanic" (1997) and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003). Heston's other hits include: "The Ten Commandments," "El Cid," "55 Days at Peking," "Planet of the Apes" and "Earthquake."
He liked to cite the number of historical figures he had portrayed:
Andrew Jackson ("The President's Lady," "The Buccaneer"), Moses ("The Ten Commandments"), title role of "El Cid," John the Baptist ("The Greatest Story Ever Told"), Michelangelo ("The Agony and the Ecstasy"), General Gordon ("Khartoum"), Marc Antony ("Julius Caesar," "Antony and Cleopatra"), Cardinal Richelieu ("The Three Musketeers"), Henry VIII ("The Prince and the Pauper").
Heston made his movie debut in the 1940s in two independent films by a college classmate, David Bradley, who later became a noted film archivist. He had the title role in "Peer Gynt" in 1942 and was Marc Antony in Bradley's 1949 version of "Julius Caesar," for which Heston was paid $50 a week.
Film producer Hal B. Wallis ("Casablanca") spotted Heston in a 1950 television production of "Wuthering Heights" and offered him a contract. When his wife reminded him that they had decided to pursue theater and television, he replied, "Well, maybe just for one film to see what it's like."
Heston earned star billing from his first Hollywood movie, "Dark City," a 1950 film noir. Cecil B. DeMille next cast him as the circus manager in the all-star "The Greatest Show On Earth," named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952. More movies followed.
Most were forgettable low-budget films, and Heston seemed destined to remain an undistinguished action star. His old boss DeMille rescued him.
The director had long planned a new version of "The Ten Commandments," which he had made as a silent in 1923 with a radically different approach that combined biblical and modern stories. He was struck by Heston's facial resemblance to Michelangelo's sculpture of Moses, especially the similar broken nose, and put the actor through a long series of tests before giving him the role.
The Hestons' newborn, Fraser Clarke Heston, played the role of the infant Moses in the film.
More films followed: the eccentric thriller "Touch of Evil," directed by Orson Welles; William Wyler's "The Big Country," costarring with Gregory Peck; a sea saga, "The Wreck of the Mary Deare" with Gary Cooper.
Then his greatest role: "Ben-Hur."
Heston wasn't the first to be considered for the remake of 1925 biblical epic. Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson had declined the film. Heston plunged into the role, rehearsing two months for the furious chariot race.
He railed at suggestions the race had been shot with a double: "I couldn't drive it well, but that wasn't necessary. All I had to do was stay on board so they could shoot me there. I didn't have to worry; MGM guaranteed I would win the race."
The huge success of "Ben-Hur" and Heston's Oscar made him one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. He combined big-screen epics like "El Cid" and "55 Days at Peking" with lesser ones such as "Diamond Head," "Will Penny" and "Airport 1975." In his later years he played cameos in such films as "Wayne's World 2" and "Tombstone."
He often returned to the theater, appearing in such plays as "A Long Day's Journey into Night" and "A Man for All Seasons." He starred as a tycoon in the prime-time soap opera, "The Colbys," a two-season spinoff of "Dynasty."
At his birth in a Chicago suburb on Oct. 4, 1923, his name was Charles Carter. His parents moved to St. Helen, Mich., where his father, Russell Carter, operated a lumber mill. Growing up in the Michigan woods with almost no playmates, young Charles read books of adventure and devised his own games while wandering the countryside with his rifle.
Charles's parents divorced, and she married Chester Heston, a factory plant superintendent in Wilmette, Ill., an upscale north Chicago suburb. Shy and feeling displaced in the big city, the boy had trouble adjusting to the new high school. He took refuge in the drama department.
"What acting offered me was the chance to be many other people," he said in a 1986 interview. "In those days I wasn't satisfied with being me."
Calling himself Charlton Heston from his mother's maiden name and his stepfather's last name, he won an acting scholarship to Northwestern University in 1941. He excelled in campus plays and appeared on Chicago radio. In 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Force and served as a radio-gunner in the Aleutians.
In 1944 he married another Northwestern drama student, Lydia Clarke, and after his army discharge in 1947, they moved to New York to seek acting jobs. Finding none, they hired on as codirectors and principal actors at a summer theater in Asheville, N.C.
Back in New York, both Hestons began finding work. With his strong 6-feet-2 build and craggily handsome face, Heston won roles in TV soap operas, plays ("Antony and Cleopatra" with Katherine Cornell) and live TV dramas such as "Julius Caesar," "Macbeth," "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Of Human Bondage."
Heston wrote several books: "The Actor's Life: Journals 1956-1976," published in 1978; "Beijing Diary: 1990," concerning his direction of the play "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" in Chinese; "In the Arena: An Autobiography," 1995; and "Charlton Heston's Hollywood: 50 Years of American Filmmaking," 1998.
Besides Fraser, the Hestons had a daughter, Holly Ann, born Aug. 2, 1961. The couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1994 at a party with Hollywood and political friends. They had been married 64 years when he died.
In late years, Heston drew as much publicity for his crusades as for his performances. In addition to his NRA work, he campaigned for Republican presidential and congressional candidates and against affirmative action.
He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in "Miss Saigon" was "obscenely racist." He attacked CNN's telecasts from Baghdad as "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War.
At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album that purportedly encouraged cop killing.
Heston wrote in "In the Arena" that he was proud of what he did "though now I'll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time. On the other hand, I doubt I'll get a traffic ticket very soon."
__
Associated Press writer Thomas Watkins contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080406/ap_on_en_mo/obit_heston
Last edited:
vaz02
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I seen Ben Hur a few weeks ago, was the first time i seen it and it was great.
He lived to such a ripe old age and enjoyed 60 years of wedded bliss. A life lived to the max.
He lived to such a ripe old age and enjoyed 60 years of wedded bliss. A life lived to the max.
toscano
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Dreadsox said:
'others' includes the likes of, oh, U2....
financeguy
ONE love, blood, life
An idiotic pro-gun fanatic with stubborn views and, disgracefully, a love of canvassing at towns where shootings had taken place.
From his cold dead hands.....it is finally a reality.
From his cold dead hands.....it is finally a reality.
vaz02
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
financeguy said:
He was a cinematic legend, lets remember him as that just for one day.
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
He was a terrible actor.
I respect his sense of principle, in spite of not always agreeing with it or his methods, and his films, while not generally high brow, were iconic in their own right. I'll probably remember his acting best for his leading role in Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" (1958).
angelordevil
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
financeguy said:
It's sad that I immediately thought of guns when I heard the news this morning. He was obviously much more than that to his family, and it's easy to demonise anyone, but he made a royal mistake in making the love of weapons his legacy--at least for my generation.
swizzlestick
The Fly
RIP Chuck. You were a great man and unlike what some people's view of you is, being a part of "our generation" I remember you not only as a tremendous actor, and great human being, but also as someone who stood up for what you believed in. And that deserves respect from anyone.
toscano
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angelordevil said:
You know, "your generation", whatever that may be, can go rent Ben-Hur any time.........
Earnie Shavers
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Well, if this thread was meant to be about Heston as 'just' the actor, it wouldn't be in FYM, would it?
toscano
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Earnie Shavers said:
Is there an FYM rule that says that we must limit analysis and judgement of him only to his wack-job NRA nut persona ?
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
toscano said:
And Soylent Green, and Earthquake, and Planet of the Apes, and The Greatest Show on Earth, and The Omega Man, and any other movie where his limited acting talent was only overshadowed by his love of his own hairy chest.
He was a bad actor, a NRA whack-job, and a stubborn old fool. I'm not happy that he's dead, but he was over-rated in every aspect of all his careers.
MadelynIris
Refugee
I thoroughly enjoyed his movies, and I love my gun.
I loved Planet of the Apes. His acting in some of these movies was not the best, however, he chose some politically relevant movies to participate in. I do get sad that the gun issue has overshadowed his involvement in the Civil Rights movement.
diamond
ONE love, blood, life
Dreadsox said:
" Oh my God look what you've done"
Angela Harlem
Jesus Online
His acting aside, he chose the legacy he was left with. Respect does not come anywhere near it.
I find it really disappointing that a person who was so progressive can become such a dogmatic, stubborn fool for a destructive issue and choose to deliberately do things which are harmful and divisive. The man who went to Columbine is miles apart from the one that picketed a movie theatre in '61 - were his guns really worth this legacy, one has to wonder.
diamond
ONE love, blood, life
I do know Mr Heston always had good things to say about Canada in sickness and in health.
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yolland
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There's no way to know without having known him personally, but I don't think it's outside the question that some of the same character traits that motivated Heston to publically support the Civil Rights Movement also motivated him to support the NRA. In any kind of broad-based justice or rights campaign, there are always going to be a certain number of (often very active) people who, realistically, fit the definitions of bullheaded, impulsive, and 'black-and-white thinker' as much as they do the more positive ones of determined, courageous, and principled. They may not be the best choice for top-level leadership positions in such groups, as they're often not the best judges of interpersonal/intergroup dynamics nor the full complexity of the issue at hand, but the relentless energy and focus they usually have can sometimes be what holds everything together and keeps everyone else going when things look bleak.
That's not intended as a 'justification' of anything, just one stab at explaining the discrepancy some would see between his two best-known commitments outside his acting work (which I'd agree was not particularly impressive--then again, to be fair, I'm not sure I can think of any actors who could've saved Planet of the Apes or Soylent Green from being giggle-inducing schlockfests). I doubt that he was especially anomalous in being a strong supporter of both the Civil Rights Movement and gun ownership rights.
That's not intended as a 'justification' of anything, just one stab at explaining the discrepancy some would see between his two best-known commitments outside his acting work (which I'd agree was not particularly impressive--then again, to be fair, I'm not sure I can think of any actors who could've saved Planet of the Apes or Soylent Green from being giggle-inducing schlockfests). I doubt that he was especially anomalous in being a strong supporter of both the Civil Rights Movement and gun ownership rights.
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yolland said:
But that's not really my point. It's that his behaviour at the end of his life, in supporting gun rights, was purposely provocative, unhelpful and contributed to little more but escalation. He seemingly had no interest in dialogue and preferred to shock, in often offensive ways.
That's something entirely different than "strongly supporting" an issue. At least to me.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
anitram said:
Exactly, there is where lies the difference...
nathan1977
Rock n' Roll Doggie
anitram said:
Examples?
hiphop
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
anitram said:
Agreed, couldn´t have said it any better.
A_Wanderer
ONE love, blood, life
Why shouldn't civil rights and liberties be mutually exclusive?anitram said:
I found one such website with a quick google, http://progunprogressive.com/
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