Charlton Heston: Encyclopedia - Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter on October 4, 1923, although the year is usually given as 1924), is an American film actor noted for heroic roles, and his long involvement in political issues.

Charlton Heston - Early career

Heston was born in Evanston, Illinois to Lilla Charlton and Russell Whitford Carter. Before he was 10 his parents divorced. Some years later, his mother married Chester Heston. The new family moved to well-off Wilmette, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, Illinois, where young Heston (his new name) attended New Trier High School. He enrolled in the school's drama program, where he performed with such outstanding results that he earned a scholarship to Northwestern University for drama in 1942. There he played in the 16mm amateur film adaptation of Peer Gynt made by a fellow student. Several years later the same team produced Julius Caesar, in which Heston played Marc Antony.

In 1944, Heston left college and enlisted in the United States Army Air Force. He served for three years as a B-25 radio operater/gunner stationed in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands with the Eleventh Air Force, rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant.

When he returned from service in World War II he moved to New York City, where he met actress Lydia Marie Clarke, whom he married in 1944. The two lived in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, where they worked as models. Seeking a way to make it in theater, they decided to manage a playhouse in Asheville, North Carolina. In 1947, they went back to New York where Heston was offered a role in the Broadway play Antony and Cleopatra, for which he earned acclaim. He also had success in television, playing a number of roles in CBS's Studio One, one of the most popular anthology dramas of the 1950s.

Charlton Heston - Film career

Heston felt the time had come to move to Hollywood and break into film. In 1950, he earned recognition for his appearance in his first professional movie, Dark City. His breakthrough came in 1952 with his role of a ringmaster in The Greatest Show on Earth. But the muscular, 6'3", square jawed Heston became a megastar by portraying Moses in The Ten Commandments, a part he was chosen for reportedly because director Cecil B. DeMille thought that he bore an uncanny resemblance to the statue of Moses by Michaelangelo. He has played leading roles in a number of fictional and historical epics—such as Ben-Hur, El Cid, 55 Days at Peking, and Khartoum—during his long career. He once quipped, "They seem to think I have a Medieval face!" He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his 1959 performance in the title role of Ben-Hur, one of a record-setting 11 earned by that film.

His portrayal of Buffalo Bill in Pony Express inspired the Bills, a Congolese youth cult who idolized Western movies.

Heston also starred in various science fiction films and disaster movies, some of which, like Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Earthquake, and The Omega Man, which were hugely successful at the time of their release, and have since become cult classics.

Heston fought at times for his artistic choices. In 1958, he maneuvered Universal International into allowing Orson Welles to direct him in Touch of Evil, and in 1965 he fought the studio in support of Sam Peckinpah, when an attempt was made to interfere with his direction of Major Dundee. Heston was also president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1966 to 1971.

In 1971 he made his directorial debut with Antony and Cleopatra, an adaptation of the William Shakespeare play that he had performed during his earlier theater career.

Starting with 1973's The Three Musketeers, Heston began playing an increasing number of supporting roles and cameos. Despite this, his immense popularity has never died, and he has seen a steady stream of film and television roles ever since. Heston has an instantly recognizable voice, and is often heard as a narrator.

Charlton Heston - Off screen

Heston was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998, and it went into remission the next year following a course of radiation treatment. In August 2002, Heston publicly announced that he was diagnosed as suffering from symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. In July 2003, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, from President George W. Bush at the White House. In March 2005, various newspapers reported that family and friends of Heston were apparently shocked by the rapid progression of his illness, and that he is sometimes unable to get out of bed.

Charlton Heston - Political beliefs

In his earlier years, Heston was a Democrat, campaiging for Presidential candidates Adlai Stevenson in 1956 and John F. Kennedy in 1960. He was also a civil rights activist long before it became fashionable for other celebrities to do so, accompanying Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights march held in Washington, D.C. in 1963. In 1969 Heston was asked by some Democrats to run for the California State Senate, a move that would have likely had bipartisan support in the state. He declined because he wanted to continue acting.

In the 1980s, however, Heston began to support more conservative positions on such issues as affirmative action and gun rights. He has campaigned for Republican candidates and Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

He is an honorary life member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), and was its president and spokesman from 1998 until his resignation in 2003. As NRA president he is perhaps best known, while raising an antique rifle over his head at the 2000 NRA convention, for saying that Al Gore would take away his Second Amendment rights "from my cold, dead hands". (In announcing his resignation in 2003, he would again raise a semi-automatic rifle over his head, this time repeating only the famous five words of his 2000 speech.) Heston has been harshly criticized by opponents of gun rights, but those who know him have defended him and his right to express his beliefs, insisting that he is actually a very friendly and generous man who cares deeply for his family and believes in "freedom in the truest sense." Michael Moore interviewed Heston in his home in the 2002 documentary film Bowling for Columbine which involved questions regarding an NRA meeting held in Littleton, Colorado shortly after the Columbine shootings. Although many of the festivities and activities of the convention were cancelled, an annual meeting was still held in compliance with NRA bylaws [1].

Heston also served on the National Advisory Board of Accuracy in Media (AIM), a conservative media watchdog group founded by the late Reed Irvine.

According to his autobiography In the Arena, Heston also recognised the freedom of speech of others and the First Amendment. He is also an opponent of McCarthyism and racial segregation, which he sees as only helping the cause of Communism worldwide.

Charlton Heston - Trivia

• Charlton Heston is a popular actor in Greece where his name is written as "Charlton Easton" due to Heston having scatological connotations in the Greek language.
• Went to British Columbia to promote gun ownership rights, arguing it is man's "God-given right" to own guns.
• Ranked #28 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
• Father of director Fraser Clarke Heston and Holly Heston Rochell.
• Co-chairman of the American Air Museum in Britain.
• Was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1966-1971.
• Attended Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) prior to serving in WWII.
• Has stated that he sees no contradiction with his work as a Civil Rights activist in the 1960s and his advocacy for gun ownership rights in the 1990s, insisting that he is simply promoting "freedom in the truest sense."
• Volunteered his time and effort to the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, and even marched alongside the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on a number of occasions, including the 1963 March on Washington. In the original (uncut) version of King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970), he appears as a narrator.
• He and his wife, Lydia, both battled cancer. He battled prostate cancer and she battled breast cancer.
• He was considered, along with English actor Ronnie Barker, for the role of Claudius in the British series I, Claudius (1976), but the role went to the less famous Derek Jacobi instead.
• Was Billy Wilder's first choice for the role of Sefton in Stalag 17 (1953). The role was eventually given to William Holden.
• On August 9, 2002, he issued a statement in which he advised his physicians have recently told him he may have a neurological disorder whose symptoms are consistent with Alzheimer's disease.
• After his starring role in the 1968 version of Planet of the Apes, he had an uncredited cameo in the 2001 remake, as General Thade's dying father.
• His professional name of Charlton Heston came from a combination of his mother's maiden name (Lila Charlton) and his stepfather's last name (Chester Heston).
• Prior to starring in The Omega Man, a remake of Vincent Price's film The Last Man On Earth, Heston and Price appeared together in Cecil B. Demille's The Ten Commandments.
• Said that The Planet of the Apes was the most physically demanding film he'd ever done.
• Along with Linda Harrison, he is one of only two actors to appear in both the 1968 and 2001 versions of Planet of the Apes.
• After their son was born, Heston and his wife decided to adopt their next child so that they could be sure it would be a girl. They both felt that one son and one daughter made the perfect family.
• His wife calls him Charlie, but everyone else calls him Chuck.
• Two grandsons: John (Jack) Alexander Clarke Heston & Ridley Charlton Rochell
• His favorite food is peanut butter, and he takes it with him everywhere, even overseas.
• He was voted the 52nd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
• Played Ben Hur in both the big-screen Ben-Hur (1959) and the animated TV version Ben Hur (2003).
• Took the role of Ben-Hur in the 1959 film after Burt Lancaster turned it down.
• A frail-looking Heston was presented with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, at the White House by George W. Bush in July 2003.
• Was considered for the role of Police Chief Brody in Jaws (1975), but both he and Oliver Reed turned it down. The part eventually went to Roy Scheider.
• Was the original choice to star in Alexander the Great (1956), but declined so he could play Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956). The part eventually went to Richard Burton.
• Was asked by some Democrats to run for the California Senate in 1969, but declined because he wanted to continue acting.
• First recipient of the American Film Institute's Charlton Heston Award, created in 2003. The second recipient was his close friend Jack Valenti in 2004.
• He turned down the role of General Stillwell in Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979), because he felt the film was an insult to World War II veterans. John Wayne also turned the role down on the grounds that the film insulted the World War II veterans and due to his own poor health.
• While they were starring in a play together in 1960, Laurence Olivier told Heston that he had the potential to become the greatest American actor of the century. Although the play received unfavorable notices, Olivier told Heston that he must to learn to forget good notices in order to do better next time.
• In 1999, he joined Karl Malden in pressing for an honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement to be awarded to veteran director Elia Kazan. Marlon Brando, who never made public appearances, refused to present the award, so Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese ultimately did.
• While studying acting early in his career, he made ends meet by posing as a model in New York at The Art Students League, across from Carnegie Hall. The lure to Hollywood and a contract soon ended his modeling days.
• When his TV series The Colby's was canceled, both he and fellow cast members John James and Emma Samms were offered contracts to continue playing their characters on Dynasty, the series from which The Colby's was spun off. Heston ultimately declined because his salary demands could not be met. James and Samms, on the other hand, accepted contracts.
• Is a Civil War buff who had spent most of his career up to his casting in Major Dundee looking for such a film to star in.
• Was unable to use his real name, John (Charles) Carter as an actor because it bore too close a resemblance to the name of the hero in Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel Princess of Mars.
• Offered to return his entire paycheck to the producers of Major Dundee (1965) so that director Sam Peckinpah could film some crucial scenes that were cut due to time and budget constraints. The producers took back Heston's pay check but still refused to let the scenes be filmed anyway. Heston wrote in his autobiography In The Arena that the main problem with Major Dundee was that everyone had a different idea of what the film was - Heston saw it as a film about life after the U.S. Civil War, the producers just wanted a standard cavalry vs. Indians film while Peckinpah, according to Heston, really had his next film, The Wild Bunch, in mind.
• Heston was long-reputed as one of Hollywood's most even-keeled leading men, but his own patience was tested when he worked with director Sam Peckinpah on Major Dundee (1965). Peckinpah was known to have a mean streak, and the heat and his drug abuse only made him worse to work with. At one point Peckinpah's abusiveness towards his actors enraged Heston so much that it provoked the normally even-keeled Heston to threaten to hit Peckinpah with a cavalry saber if he did not relent and show more courtesy to his cast. Ironically, Heston later found himself lobbying to keep Peckinpah from being fired. Heston later remarked that this was the only time this ever happened on any of the films he worked on.
• Heston was offered the part of Pike Bishop in The Wild Bunch by Peckinpah, but turned it down, largely due to his experiences on Dundee. Heston remained an acquaintance of Peckinpah's and is on record as a fan of The Wild Bunch.
• Was considering remaking Peckinpah's Ride the High Country in the late '80s with himself as one of the leads, but the project fell through.
• Referred to the adaptation of Call of the Wild (1973) that he starred in as the worst movie he ever did in his autobiography In The Arena. He has also cited Will Penny as his favorite of all of his performances and films.
• He was asked to travel to Beijing, China in 1988 to direct a stage production of Mutiny on the Bounty. There he conflicted with Chinese officials, insisting that he will have full control of the production, and that his actors be paid a fair wage.

Charlton Heston - Quotes

Charlton Heston - Books

Heston has written several books, including autobiographies and religious books:

• The Actor's Life (ISBN 0671830163)
• In the Arena: An Autobiography (ISBN 157297267X)
• Beijing Diary (ISBN 0671687069)
• To Be a Man: Letters to My Grandson (ISBN 0743213114)
• Charlton Heston Presents the Bible (ISBN 1577192702)
• Charlton Heston's Hollywood: 50 Years in American Film (with Jean-Pierre Isbouts, ISBN 1577193571)

Charlton Heston - Filmography

• Bowling for Columbine (2002), selective footage of Heston shown
• Papa Rua Alguem 5555 (2002)
• The Order (2001)
• Town & Country (2001)
• Planet of the Apes (2001)
• Any Given Sunday (1999)
• Gideon (1999)
• Armageddon (film) (1998)
• Hamlet (1996)
• Alaska (1996)
• In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
• True Lies (1994) (uncredited)
• Tombstone (1993)
• Wayne's World 2 (1993)
• Symphony for the Spire (1992)
• Solar Crisis (1990)
• The Little Kidnappers (1990) (TV)
• Call from Space (1989) (voice)
• Treasure Island (1989)
• A Man for All Seasons (1988)
• Mother Lode (1982)
• The Awakening (1980)
• The Mountain Men (1980)
• Gray Lady Down (1978)
• Crossed Swords (1978)
• Midway (1976)
• Two Minute Warning (1976)
• The Last Hard Men (1976)
• The Four Musketeers (1974)
• Earthquake (1974)
• Airport 1975 (1974)
• The Three Musketeers (1973)
• Soylent Green (1973)
• Antony and Cleopatra (1973)
• Call of the Wild (1972)
• Skyjacked (1972)
• The London Brige Special (1972)
• The Omega Man (1971)
• Julius Caesar (1970)
• The Hawaiians (1970)
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
• Number One (1969)
• Will Penny (1968)
• Planet of the Apes (1968)
• Counterpoint (1968)
• Khartoum (1966)
• The War Lord (1965)
• The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
• Major Dundee (1965)
• The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
• 55 Days at Peking (1963)
• Diamond Head (1963)
• The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)
• El Cid (1961)
• Ben-Hur (1959)
• The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
• The Buccaneer (1958)
• The Big Country (1958)
• Touch of Evil (1958)
• Three Violent People (1957)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• Lucy Gallant (1955)
• The Private War of Major Benson (1955)
• The Far Horizons (1955)
• The Secret of the Incas (1954)
• The Naked Jungle (1954)
• Bad for Each Other (1953)
• Arrowhead (1953)
• Pony Express (1953)
• The President's Lady (1953)
• Ruby Gentry (1952)
• The Savage (1952)
• The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
• Dark City (1950)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Charlton Heston", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki