Charlton Heston - Los Angeles Times Obituary
Bob Feigel
From the Los Angeles Times
Charlton Heston, 84; actor played epic figures
By Robert W. Welkos and Susan King
Special to The Times
9:48 PM PDT, April 5, 2008
Charlton Heston, the Oscar-winning actor who achieved stardom playing
larger-than-life figures including Moses, Michelangelo and Andrew
Jackson in historical epics and went on to become a best-selling
author, a contentious Hollywood labor leader, an unapologetic gun
advocate and darling of conservative causes, has died. He was 84.
Heston died Saturday at his Beverly Hills home, his family said in a
statement. In 2002, he had been diagnosed with symptoms similar to
those of Alzheimer's disease.
With a booming baritone voice, the tall, ruggedly handsome actor
delivered his signature role as the prophet Moses in Cecil B.
DeMille's 1956 Biblical extravaganza "The Ten Commandments," raising a
rod over his head as God miraculously parts the Red Sea.
Heston won the Academy Award for best actor in another religious
blockbuster in 1959's "Ben-Hur," racing four white horses at top speed
in one of the cinema's legendary action sequences -- the 15-minute
chariot race in which his character, a proud and noble Jew, competes
against his childhood Roman friend, played by Stephen Boyd.
"I don't seem to fit really into the 20th century," Heston said in a
1965 interview. "Pretty soon, though, I've got to get a part where I
wear pants with pleats and pockets."
Heston stunned the entertainment world in August 2002 when he made a
poignant and moving videotaped address announcing his illness.
A few days after his dramatic announcement, Heston would sit down for
an interview in his beloved Coldwater Canyon home, which he always
said "Ben-Hur" had built, and faced the uncertain future with brave
resolve and a sense of humor.
"The world is a tough place," he said with a chuckle. "You're never
going to get out of it alive."
Late in life, Heston's stature as a political firebrand overshadowed
his acting. He became demonized by gun control advocates and liberal
Hollywood when he became president of the National Rifle Assn. in
1998.
Heston answered his critics in a now-famous pose that mimicked Moses'
parting of the Red Sea. But instead of a rod, Heston raised a
flintlock over his head and challenged his detractors to pry the rifle
"from my cold, dead hands."
Like the chariot race and the bearded prophet Moses, Heston will be
best remembered for several indelible cinematic moments: playing a
deadly game of cat and mouse with Orson Welles in the oil fields in
"Touch of Evil," his rant at the end of "Planet of the Apes" when he
sees the destruction of the Statue of Liberty, his discovery that
"Soylent Green is people!" in the sci-fi hit "Soylent Green" and the
dead Spanish hero on his steed in "El Cid."
The New Yorker's film critic Pauline Kael, in her review of 1968's
"Planet of the Apes," wrote: "All this wouldn't be so forceful or so
funny if it weren't for the use of Charlton Heston in the [leading]
role. With his perfect, lean-hipped, powerful body, Heston is a
god-like hero; built for strength, he is an archetype of what makes
Americans win. He represents American power -- and he has the profile
of an eagle."
For decades, Heston was a towering figure in the world of movies,
television and the stage. He liked to say that he had performed
Shakespeare on film more than any other actor, and he once lamented
that modern-day movie stars didn't attempt the Bard to hone their
acting skills.
"He was the screen hero of the 1950s and 1960s, a proven stayer in
epics, and a pleasing combination of piercing blue eyes and tanned
beefcake," David Thomson wrote in his book "The New Biographical
Dictionary of Film."
Heston also was blessed by working with legendary directors like
DeMille in "The Greatest Show on Earth" and again in "The Ten
Commandments," Welles in "Touch of Evil," Sam Peckinpah in "Major
Dundee," William Wyler in "The Big Country" and "Ben-Hur," George
Stevens in "The Greatest Story Ever Told," Franklin Schaffner in "The
War Lord" and "Planet of the Apes" and Anthony Mann in "El Cid."
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
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