Charlton Heston
April 17th 2008 01:59
Charlton Heston was born John Charles Carter on October 4,1923, in (or around) Evanston, Illinois. He chose his stage and screen name by combining his mother's and step-father's surnames.
He made his first Broadway appearance in Antony and Cleopatra, in 1947.
A few years later he was Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956). There is (at least) the rumor that Mr. Heston was cast as Moses because of his resemblance to the statue sculpted by Michelangelo. This rumor involves director Cecil B. DeMille, and he was not shy about promoting his films by any means...
Mr. Heston was then on to battling Roman oppressors, figuratively and literally, in Ben Hur (1959), for which he won the Best Actor Oscar.
Subsequent roles included, in part, El Cid (1961) Charles Gordon in Khartoum (1966) (with Laurence Olivier), the tender Will Penny (1967) and the classic sci-fi movie, Planet of the Apes.
He was an individual, not a boxed, pre-fab personality. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in 1963, but contrary to that brave and peaceful position, he also served as president of the U. S. National Rifle Association from 1996 to 2003.
It was in 2002 that Mr. Heston announced publicly that he was suffering from symptoms similar to Alzheimers. One of his last public statements was, “I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure.”
He passed on April 5, 2008, with his wife of 64 years, Lydia, at his side.
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