Hollywood legend Charlton Heston dead at 84
The two had been married for 64 years.
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.”
consistent with Alzheimer’s disease, saying,
“I must reconcile courage and
surrender in equal measure.”
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.
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.
“He was a heroic figure that I don’t
think exists to the same degree in
Hollywood today.”
leader off screen 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.
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,
telling members his five years in office were
“quite a ride. … I loved every minute of it.”
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.
.
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.”
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.
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.”
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.
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.
in an adventure film,
“Mother Lode,” 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.
.
Hollywood movie star Charlton Heston was the
voice of GOD, perhaps his most enduring role.
Heston lives forever with GOD now,
his deep voice and tall muscled frame
enriching Heaven’s population.
.
We mere earthly mortals will forever
remember Charlton Heston
as a man who fought for the downtrodden,
both on screen and off.
He was a powerful kind man,
and Hollywood has lost one of
it’s brightest and most amazing stars.
.
Heston will always be known as a true star
of the silver screen.
.
More important, Charlton Heston was a star
of the civil rights movement before it was the
“in” thing to do.
When deep thunder bellows in the Heavens,
listen closely and you may hear the sound
of Charlton Heston laughing with the angels.
.
Charlton Heston may have exited this
sound stage for a location shoot in Heaven,
but he will never ever die.
.
Rash Manly 22moon.com
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