Charlton Heston, Dead at 83

Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet at 6:50 AM on April 6, 2008.

He will perhaps be best known for his politics. Whether one agreed with him or not, he certainly made an indelible mark on Hollywood.

Associated Press:

"The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said.

"Powers declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.

"Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying, 'I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure.'

"With his large, muscular build, 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.

"The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen 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.

"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.'

"He liked to the cite the number of historical figures he had portrayed:

"Andrew Jackson ('The President's Lady,' 'The Buccaneer'), Moses ('The Ten Commandments'), title role of 'El Cid,' John the Baptist ('The Greatest Story Ever Told'), Michelangelo ('The Agony and the Ecstasy'), General Gordon ('Khartoum'), Marc Antony ('Julius Caesar,' 'Antony and Cleopatra'), Cardinal Richelieu ('The Three Musketeers'), Henry VIII ('The Prince and the Pauper').

"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.

"Film producer Hal B. Wallis ('Casablanca') 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.'

"Heston earned star billing from his first Hollywood movie, 'Dark City,' a 1950 film noir. Cecil B. DeMille next cast him as the circus manager in the all-star 'The Greatest Show On Earth,' named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952.

"More films followed: the eccentric thriller 'Touch of Evil,' directed by Orson Welles; William Wyler's 'The Big Country,' costarring with Gregory Peck; a sea saga, 'The Wreck of the Mary Deare' with Gary Cooper.

"Then his greatest role: 'Ben-Hur.'

"Heston wasn't the first to be considered for the remake of 1925 biblical epic. Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Rock Hudson had declined the film. Heston plunged into the role, rehearsing two months for the furious chariot race.

"He railed at suggestions the race had been shot with a double: 'I couldn't drive it well, but that wasn't necessary. All I had to do was stay on board so they could shoot me there. I didn't have to worry; MGM guaranteed I would win the race.'

"Calling himself Charlton Heston from his mother's maiden name and his stepfather's last name, he won an acting scholarship to Northwestern University in 1941. He excelled in campus plays and appeared on Chicago radio. In 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Force and served as a radio-gunner in the Aleutians.

"In 1944 he married another Northwestern drama student, Lydia Clarke, and after his army discharge in 1947, they moved to New York to seek acting jobs. Finding none, they hired on as codirectors and principal actors at a summer theater in Asheville, N.C.

"Back in New York, both Hestons began finding work. With his strong 6-feet-2 build and craggily handsome face, Heston won roles in TV soap operas, plays ('Antony and Cleopatra' with Katherine Cornell) and live TV dramas such as 'Julius Caesar,' 'Macbeth,' 'The Taming of the Shrew' and 'Of Human Bondage.'

"In late years, Heston drew as much publicity for his crusades as for his performances. In addition to his NRA work, he campaigned for Republican presidential and congressional candidates and against affirmative action.

"He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union's refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in 'Miss Saigon' was 'obscenely racist.' He attacked CNN's telecasts from Baghdad as 'sowing doubts' about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War.

"Heston wrote in 'In the Arena' that he was proud of what he did 'though now I'll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time. On the other hand, I doubt I'll get a traffic ticket very soon.'"

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Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.