Note by Celebitchy: Both MSat and I covered this by mistake. MSat’s version follows, and mine is below. RIP Charlton Heston.
Academy Award-winning actor Charlton Heston died over the weekend at age 84. The legendary actor had been battling Alzheimer’s disease for many years.
In a statement, Heston’s family acknowledged that their patriarch was viewed as larger than life and maintained that, offscreen, he was no less imposing.
“We knew him as an adoring husband, a kind and devoted father, and a gentle grandfather, with an infectious sense of humor,” the statement said. “He served these far greater roles with tremendous faith, courage and dignity. He loved deeply, and he was deeply loved.”
In all, Heston worked on screen for more than 50 years, in more than 100 films and TV productions, including The Ten Commandments, in which he played the lawgiver Moses; Ben-Hur, in which he commanded the epic production as the title’s chariot-racing prince; and the original Planet of the Apes, in which he was, simply, the last real man on Earth.
I will always think of Charlton Heston as Moses, all bare chested and brooding in “The Ten Commandments.” “Let my people go!” When I was a kid, I thought that movie was a documentary, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw Charlton in the “Planet of the Apes” movie and exclaimed, “Hey– that’s Moses!”
I lost my grandfather to Alzheimer’s three years ago, and it was probably one of the most difficult things my family has ever gone through. By the end of his life, he couldn’t communicate, could barely move on his own and had forgotten how to eat. I hope Charlton was not in that state. My heart goes out to his family today.
– Written By MSat
Screen legend Charlton Heston has died at the age of 84 from causes that are not yet known to the press. The Oscar winning actor is known for heroic roles in films like The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, and Planet of the Apes, and for his controversial conservative political activism. Heston was a gun rights activist and was president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003. He is known for saying “From my cold, dead hands,” a phrase he popularized in 2000 when he accepted an award at an NRA convention.
Military Service and Acting Start
Heston started acting after he returned from serving two years in the army as a B52 radio operator in WWII. He married Northwestern University student Lydia Marie Clark in 1944, who remained his wife until his death. They have two children, Fraser Clarke Heston, 53, and an adopted daughter, Holly Ann Heston.
Heston’s first role was on Broadway in Antony and Cleopatra. He received his big break in the 1952 film The Greatest Show on Earth by Cecil B. DeMille, in which he played a circus manager. He went on to star in such sweeping epics as The Ten Commandments in 1956, and 1959’s Ben-Hur, which won 11 Oscars including a best actor award for Heston.
Political Activism: Heston used to campaign for civil rights
Heston campaigned for Presidential candidates Adlai Stevenson in 1956 and John F. Kennedy in 1960, both liberal Democrats. He also participated in Martin Luther King’s civil rights march in 1968 along with stars Marlon Brando, James Baldwin and Harry Belafonte, among others. He picketed a segregated theater premiere of one of his films in Oklahoma in 1961.
Contrary to his very vocal stance for gun owner’s rights in the later years of his life, Heston was among the actors who issued a statement after Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 assassination asking for support of the Gun Control Act proposed by President Johnson.
It wasn’t until the 1980s that Heston became a vocal conservative, opposing affirmative action and switching from a Democrat to a Republican.
Heston spoke out against political correctness in the late 90s, and resigned from the Actors Equity union after they refused to let a white actor play an Asian role in “Miss Saigon,” claiming it was “obscenely racist.”
He was famously cornered at home by Michael Moore in a scene from the 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine, in which Moore questioned Heston about an NRA meeting which was held in Denver in 1999 after the Columbine school shootings. Heston looked confused and walked out of the room. (Moore has recently posted a memorial to Heston on his website.)
Heston revealed in August, 2002 that he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. In July, 2003 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush.
In his statement about his Alzheimers, Heston said that he would miss his fans and would not retire from public life entirely:
“For an actor, there is no greater loss than the loss of his audience. I can part the Red Sea, but I can’t part with you, which is why I won’t exclude you from this stage in my life. … For now, I’m not changing anything. I’ll insist on work when I can; the doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see a little less spring to my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you’ll know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway.”
[Details from Wikipedia and AP Article]
Most photos are public domain and from Wikipedia.
He was one of the last of the big-screen Hollywood blockbuster stars.
I saw him as Moses and as Ben-Hur and I thought he must be Jewish. Well, he wasn’t Jewish, but that is okay.
He pretty much stayed out of the spotlight and controversy until he became active politically. I think there are some in Hollywood who would do well to act as he did in his daily life.
Those last two sentences in CB’s article really brought tears to my eyes.
RIP Charlton Heston.
What a wonderful statement about Alzheimers! It is a horrible thing to suffer through for everyone involved. I hope he passed peacefully
Of course we all grew up with Charlton Heston’s movies.
I think I am most impressed by a successful 64 year marriage. In Hollywood. Wow!
i agree that he was one of the few true moviehistory-actors, but he was also a freaky gun fanatic and i always thought that he was a dangerous “idol”. sad he passed, no doubt. all the best to the family.
Anni, I agree, I didn’t like his politics or his fanatical devotion to the NRA.
I didn’t agree with his political views either. I also didn’t think this was the best forum in which to address that.
I was deeply saddened by this news. Charlton Heston is one of my favourite actors and he was truly one of the great ones. It made me doubly sad to read about his passing, because only last year I attended a film festival where they showed a lot of Heston films.
My favourite ones will always be The Agony and The Ecstasy and Ben-Hur. They make me cry and move me so very strongly every time.
However, while I am really distressed to see him go, I believe that it must have been for the best. Finally, his battle against Alzheimer is over. That must be a scary, maddening sickness to have and it’s good to know that now he is relieved of it. I also think that at this point, we can disregard a little his NRA ties. I am absolutely against guns and I am glad, in a weird way, that the NRA has lost him as a spokesperson, but I think all this stuff came in later years and in no way reflects upon his acting career.
My deepest, most heartfelt condolences go out to his family and friends at this time.
Rest in Peace, Charlton, I will never forget you and the legacy of films you have left us. Including Bowling for Columbine.
does this mean we can finally get the gun from his cold dead hands?
R.I.P Charlton…..and all the people who have died at the hands of someone wielding a firearm
I sounded very condescending in my last post, and that is not how I meant that!!
My apologies if anyone took it wrong.
Xiaecho,
HILARIOUS! From everything I have ever seen of Charlton Heston, he seemed like a really bad person.
never like him. thought his movies were boring (a bit before my time) and his nra rhetoric was scary.
I know there are people who really admired his acting. I feel for his family as alzhemier’s is a very difficult thing to deal with. Both the sufferer and those who care for them.
I think it is great when celebrities try to use there voice for causes. I just would like for them to be more informed about what they are speaking about. Mr. Heston needed a little more gun related facts than the adoration of a bunch of people who still, to this day, do not understand the true meaning of the 2nd amendment
Anna – beautifully stated, lovely sentiment, and I agree completely.
Miranda – though I also didn’t agree with his views in later life, I think it is unfair to label him a ‘bad person’. I haven’t looked up anything about him, so maybe you know a lot more than I do, but I think it is unfair to label him that way. In particular, you should say something a bit more specific. Labeling someone a ‘bad person’ is such a blanket statement and really gives no credence to yur opinion. My boss uses that phrase all the time, and it makes me wonder: Does he think I’m a ‘bad person’ because I am not finanically sound like he is? Because I’m a liberal? What might make him see me that way and therefore put me into this ‘unsaveable’ grouping? Not to be so philosophical, but I believe you should back up your opinion with a stronger argument. Not to be nitpicky or give you a hard time, just the way I feel about it.
He was obviously a bad person. I mean, the civil rights movement was a very bad thing for America. Those damn black people should still be at the back of the bus. Fie, shame on you Charlton Heston.
not a heston fan…cheesy actor on screen and a gun toting lunatic in real life. it’s certainly easy to promote guns when you are a wealthy white actor living in a secure mansion in a gated community in the hollywood hills. whatever good he did early on with MLK he undid when he decided to hold his huge NRA rally in columbine just weeks after that shooting, despite the grief stricken families begging him not to. that was unforgivable.
Bitter much? As far as I recall, Heston was not a “gun toting lunatic.” He advocated the right to bear arms legally, as defined in the constitution which quite honestly was not to shoot rabbits or intruders but to protect ourselves should our government decide to get uppity.
But all that aside, the man has died and his family is grief stricken. His stance on gun ownership was a personal belief and did not hinder in any way his ability to be a law abiding citizen who stayed married to the same woman for 64 years in an industry where marriages are lucky to last five years, raise two well adjusted children and forge a career out of a talent incredibly rare in Hollywood today.
To degrade him, mock him or otherwise denigrate his life because of one political belief is shallow and one dimensional.
Nicely put, headache.
And this is coming from a social liberal who likes to spend my Sundays at the gun range, legally shooting at targets with my registered firearm. I’m a damn good shot, too.
Headache………Just because the bloke is dead does not automatically make him a saint
as for the guns being there in case the government get uppity – the fact is, government guns are and will always be bigger than civilian guns – not to mention the tanks, rocket launchers, nuclear and biological weapons
this weapons loving man was not sitting in his house privately savouring his political belief, he was out there publicly promoting a gun culture, and proud of it
I don’t expect his grief stricken family are going to be hanging around CeleBitchy worrying what the commenters are saying about him – It’s a bitchy gossip site, not a church
And just because he endorsed the NRA does not make him the anti-Christ.
Most of the people who use a gun to commit a crime, did not come by the weapon legally.
Not to mention that an NRA member’s household is five times less likely to suffer a firearm accident than a non-member. The NRA has always been safety first, which they don’t get nearly enough credit for.
As the husband of a 95 pound wife with a 2 year old daughter, who’s spent a lot of time overseas – you had better believe it made me feel better to know she had a firearm to protect herself. The fact is that there is no way for a woman her size to fend off an intruder physically. Like a friend of mine used to say, “God made man, but Samuel Colt made them equal.”
you are right headache, he was not the anti-christ; he was a high profile former actor who endorsed and promoted the ownership of weapons
I am posting from near the place where one of the worst massacres of recent times took place. A man opened fire in a restaurant at a tourist park, walked out to the carpark and continued shooting at random. He got into his car and drove out of the park where he saw a mother and her two daughters fleeing the park on foot. He stopped the car and shot the mother; he chased the two little girls, who were 8 and 6
behind a tree where they were trying to hide, and shot them. By the time he was done 45 were dead, more than 50 injured and countless lives ripped apart. The four weapons he used to perpetrate this atrocity were all purchased legally.
The community is still traumatised 12 years on
p.s. I am not shallow – I just have a different take on Hestons legacy
xiaoecho – There’s two views on situations like that. I say that a man crazy enough to gun down nearly 100 people would have gotten a gun if it was legal or not. On the flip side, if a few more of the people he was shooting at had been able to return fire, it may have saved a lot of lives that day. Just something to think about.
Bottom line though – he was a dedicated father, and a loyal husband who touched a lot of lives. Calling someone a bad person due to political differences says more about the person saying it than it says about him.
Scott F……..I take your point but also wonder about the social effects of mass gun ownership – at the very least accidents happen – gun ownership or not is a bit like the sharing thing; if everyone isn’t doing it, someone loses
If you read my posts you will see that nowhere did I say Heston was a bad person – I think you’ll find that was Miranda – in fact I havn’t commented at all on Hestons life other than his NRA association, which, I’m sure even he would say,was a big part of his life….I’m sure he was a thoroughly decent person who wouldn’t hurt a flea
I was really saddened to hear of Heston’s death. I love his films and was raised on them. Also, to view a person’s entire live based on one political belief is a miscarraige of sentiment and an insult to the human legacy. I do not own a firearm but most of my family does and they all have taken hunter and gun safety and keep their guns locked in secure safes and gun cabinets made for the purpose. I have to say that I am with Scott F on this one, as mabey if someone had been able to return fire in that tragic incident xiaoecho discribed the madness would have been stopped. And the incident was the work of a crazed person, not a gun, A gun is only as powerful as the user. That guy would have found another way to ruin peoples lives with violence had guns never been invented. I am also a small woman and if my husband was away for lengths of time, I would appreciate the protection of a firearm in the case of an intruder or rapist. That being said, rest in peace Charlton Heston.
yeah, yeah i know…guns don’tkill people – people kill people. but the guns help, no?
He was a bad person because he took the opportunity to flaunt anti gun control rhetoric in the faces of grieving families who had just lots their children.
I am saying he was an asshole for his actions, not his political beliefs.
Yeah Miranda, and Mikey Moore used their grief as a launching platform for his anti-gun rhetoric, and yet he gets praised for it. Tragedies are always exploited by both sides for political gain.
Heston and the NRA had a very good point following those shootings, if you had bothered to listen. Everyone was blaming the guns those nutjobs used to kill those kids, not the kids themselves. Guns are a tool, while they may make it easier to commit mass carnage, they don’t do it by themselves.
To blame a tool for killing someone is just another way for people to try to shirk responsibility for their own actions. Crazy people who want to kill others will get the job done no matter what. If they couldn’t get their hands on guns they would have used something else. You think it takes a NASA engineer to pour petrol into glass bottles and shove a towel in the spout? 18 men managed to kill 3000 people in one day with nothing but box cutters. Are we going to outlaw gas stations and hardware stores?
Grow up.
Well said Scott F. Malitov coctails and a boxcutter. Violence is the work of an unstable soul and he who feels the need to punish others for his or her ultimate suffering. Those who live their lives with hate will find a way to committ and press the fault on the innocent around them. To say something as trite as “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Is a friggin missinformation of the simplest kind. A person filled with hate and agenda and blame and insecure sensibility will find the way to purge. Yes, grow up. Live in the modern world, take responsibility and think before acting or speaking, for that matter.
thanx 4 not acknowledging that you accused me wrongly Scott F – the fact says more about you than it does about me
I suppose you advocate the proliferation of nuclear and biological weapons – hey, people have to protect themselves from maniacs, right?
After all only bad people want to take your right to kill away from you
You actually BRAG that in your society your wife isn’t safe without a gun
This thread and all the hate that spews forth on this topic, wherever it is discussed, is Hestons ugly legacy – and he would be proud, just like you are proud that you are ‘equal’ because you have a handy tool, enabling you to kill efficiently
pathetic
Xia – I never felt the need to respond, or did you fail to notice that the second half of my post talking about Heston wasn’t addressed at you?
My point is sound, and you’re just further reinforcing them with rants like that. It’s obvious you’re virulently anti-gun, and it’s painfully obvious you’ve never thought about it beyond the slogans you’ve absorbed.
Seriously, how naive do you have to be to compare a gun to a nuke? Now naive do you have to be to think that we wouldn’t have just as many people being killed even if guns were illegal? I just finished spending the better part of three years in a part of the world where people are dying every day, not from gunfire, but from Improvised Explosive Devices that anyone with a connection to the internet and some household cleaning products can make.
I never bragged that I live in a society where my wife needs a gun to protect herself, but I’m glad I live in one that allows her to use a firearm to level the playing field between her and a 200 pound maniac. The problem is that people like you think there will always be someone around to protect you, and that’s just not the truth.
Just look at something like what happened in New Orleans before and after the hurricane. In a large scale crisis, the police are simply far too few to insure order, especially when they’re looting right along side the criminals, or running for their lives (both of which happened a lot in New Orleans).
When you try to call for help some day and get a busy signal, you’ll be wishing you had the ability to protect yourself.
Scott F…..I assumed the post was directed at me because you typed my name at the top of your post and answered my previous post.
As to your point that I am naive because I compare one weapon with another – nukes are already in the hands of civilians and the trend is accelerating. It is only a matter of time before civilians nuke someone somewhere. You are naive if you think the authorities are going to protect you from this.
As for your assertion that just as many people would be killed without the proliferation of weapons in private ownership in the US, well, THAT is naive. Don’t believe me? Think this is just another ‘rant’ here’s the proof
http://www.allcountries.org/gun_deaths_by_country.html
As for New Orleans – The majority of looters were desperate people looking for basic commodities like fresh water or diapers – yes, there were gangs roaming the streets armed to the teeth…..that fact alone mitigates against your argument
You hint in your post that you are or were a member of the military – this explains to me you attitude, in part at least. It is little wonder that you think of weapons in terms of defence rather than offence.
…and before you condescend to me further, calling me ignorant, ranting or virulently anti gun, I would tell you that my father was and my brothers are in the military and all have served in active theatres of war.
My point was and still is that Hestons pro gun rhetoric and actions were abhorrent and his legacy toxic
I have no opinion of the man….I never met him
“My point was and still is that Hestons pro gun rhetoric and actions were abhorrent and his legacy toxic
I have no opinion of the man….I never met him”
Sorry, sweetpea but those two statements are oxymorons. You just passed judgement on the man and in the next breath you say you have no opinion of him.
As for Colombine, there is one more set of people who should be blamed before you even look toward the gun manufacturers and that is their parents. It has been stated before that at least one of the boys kept some of the parts he was modifying atop his bedroom dresser and that his parents saw those parts on at least one occasion.
How is it that the parents were never charged for enabling those kids to do what they did?
“As for New Orleans – The majority of looters were desperate people looking for basic commodities like fresh water or diapers – yes, there were gangs roaming the streets armed to the teeth…..that fact alone mitigates against your argument”
Oh come on, really? Those gangs of looters were criminals before all this happened, and were just taking advantage of the disaster. How many of the guns in their possession do you think they obtained legally?
And who gives a rat’s ass if the looters are just looking for necessities? If you’re holed up in your house and fifteen people show up to ransack it, do you really give a shit what they want to take!? They’re looters!
Nuclear weapons in the hands of civilians? What kind of bud are you smoking exactly? Because that must be some good shit. We’re fighting all over the globe to limit nuclear proliferation, and with the exception of rogue states, all the major powers have destroyed large percentages of their stockpiles. I would REALLY like to hear about this fairyland where I can walk into Walmart and purchase an ICBM.
Before you start tossing numbers at me, check out a book called ‘More Guns, less crime.’ It’s a definitive compilation of data from the CIA factbook over more than 30 years, and including nearly every country in the world. There is a direct correlation between increased civilian gun ownership and a sharp decrease in everything from thefts to rape. You’re a lot less likely to try something like that if the ‘defenseless woman’ you’re going after might have a magnum in her purse.
When I moved out on my own, one of my uncles gave me a giant switchblade & my dad gave me one of my grandpa’s guns. And having those in the house enables both myself & my fiance to sleep at night when he has to work out of town. The 75 lb Rottie mix helps too, but still…
Sorry, but I’m not giving up my .22. Like ever
After reading all this, I can only say that I am eternally grateful that I don’t live in a country that allows me to have a gun for self-defence purposes (and you know I mean no offence whatsoever, bodhi, each to their own, but the idea scares me to death.)
Oh I understand & I’m not offended at all 🙂
I swear I’m not some crazy gun-nut, but having the thing eases the fiance’s mind, plus I inherited it from my grandpa, who was a crazy redneck gun-nut. I pinky swear we don’t shoot squirels in the backyard 🙂
Okay Okay pedantic person
My point was and still is that Hestons pro gun rhetoric and actions were abhorrent and his legacy toxic
I have no opinion of the mans life other than the aforesaid pro gun actions and rhetoric. ….I never met him
Satisfied ?…I have certainly got you all atitter havn’t I? (great word that: atitter – I just wanted to use it)
As for you Scott F: pfft! Tell it to Madeleine and Alanna
Don’t worry baby, no-one’s going to take your long hot throbbing gun off you. Where would you be without it?
p.s. watch out 4 those dirty bombs
LOL, I’m going to take your word for that!
My comment is far more to do with the anger it seems to bring out in people. I stop hearing the opinions and just become aware of the rage in their comments. And that kills the argument stone dead for me.
geronimo, I plead extreme provocation…..at least on this thread
..and I second your comment at 11:08
xiaoecho, I understand. I think we’re probably coming from a similar perspective…
phew!
Again, I am not talking about pro gun or gun control policies or what Heston and the NRA have to say in regards to Columbine.
I didn’t mention gun control, the NRA, my political beliefs on guns, or Heston’s political beliefs, etc.
I said he was a bad person for using someone’s tragedy to launch a political pro gun rally. Either you think that is a bad thing to use someone’s pain for your gain or you don’t care. I think it is a bad thing and makes you “a bad person”.
I have always admired Heston’s work and met him during a book signing. Although I wish he had been as vocal about the Christian faith as he had been about the NRA, I won’t take away certain facts which he defended that those of us in NYC might be unware of. When a dictator or tyrant comes into politcal power in a country outside the USA, the first thing they do is round up all weapons in the hands of the people. That way he is free to use his military to enforce his abuses. That is why we have the freedom to bear arms. To protect us from tyrants. Think about that the next time you want the prez to take away all arms.