Hollywood legend Charlton Heston dies at 84

[Robert 21]

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Charlton Heston , who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.

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.

"Charlton Heston was seen 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."

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.

Publicist Michael Levine, 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."

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Some of Charlton Heston's moivies included Ben Hur, Planet of the Apes, The Ten Commandments, etc.

 

[bond_james_bond]

Great actor. RIP.

In his later years, I didn't care for his NRA fanaticism and right-wing politics, though. His impromptu interview with Michael Moore in Bowling for Columbine was disturbing, granted Michael Moore was also being a jerk.

I would hope that he'd be remembered more for his great acting career.

 

[sinbad]

Great actor. RIP.

I would hope that he'd be remembered more for his great acting career.

There is a common fallacy that a great actor must be a great person. Acting is the art of making the unreal seem real. Hollywood celebs (who are larger than life) are expected to have to have personalities that match their public personas. Often, they do not!

Charlton Heston should be remembered only for the roles he played.

sinbad

 

[korbel]

There is a common fallacy that a great actor must be a great person. Acting is the art of making the unreal seem real. Hollywood celebs (who are larger than life) are expected to have to have personalities that match their public personas. Often, they do not!

Charlton Heston should be remembered only for the roles he played.

sinbad

Hello all,

LOVED the man for his movies, hated his recent politics, which had changed severely from his early Democratic activist days. I will remember him for the fabulous epics he lead: The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, El Cid, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Planet of the Apes, and many, many other notable films. In my most sincere opinion, he was one of the most talented, emotionally striking, and provocative leading men in all of film history.

RIP Chuck.

Somberly,

Korbel
​

 

[EagerBeaver]

I loved Heston as an actor. Although he won an Academy Award for Ben Hur, I personally feel his performance in "Planet of the Apes" was the best of his career. It should be noted that "Planet of the Apes" (the original) is considered by many critics to be one of the two best Sci-Fi films of all time (the other being Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", which is a masterpiece by any measure).

In addition to being a science fiction masterpiece, the original "Planet of the Apes" is very arguably the best film ever made about racism. In that regard, one of the two classic scenes in the movie features an angry Heston, snared in a trap of ropes by his ape captors along with other mute humans, but unlike them finally able to speak after a vocal chord injury has healed. Heston stuns his captors when he bellows at one of them, "get your filthy hands off of me you dirty stinking ape!!!!!" With that memorable line, he stood up for his dignity as a human being, as well as the dignity of others who were the subject of the Civil Rights movement that was in full swing at the time the movie was made and released (1968). Heston was at that time a huge supporter of the Civil Rights movement.

The other classic scene, which makes the movie an all time classic, is the stunning very last scene in which Heston realizes, as a result of seeing the wreckage of an American landmark, that the "Planet of the Apes" is actually his own planet Earth - many thousands of years in the future, post-nuclear war, when evolution has been turned upside down, and apes have enslaved the human race. Heston's pure emotional shock and devastation at this realization still resonates well 40 years later. It's my favorite science fiction movie of all time, followed by "2001: A Space Odyssey", which was also released in 1968, ironically.

Heston would go on to make several other notable science fiction films, including "Soylent Green."

 

[joelcairo]

Heston was also fine in two films noirs from the 50s: Dark City and Touch of Evil.

 

[Dee]

I wonder if they pried anything from his cold dead hands.

 

[Kepler]

A great defender of the Bill of Rights through his work with the Civil Rights movement and the NRA. It is sad to witness his passing.

RIP.

 

[korbel]

I'm glad that this prick's dead, to be honest. I used to be a big fan of his when i was a kid (Ben Hur, Ten Commandments, Earthquake, etc), but i lost all respect for him when he became the president of the NRA. Please don't rest in peace, you gun-hawk cocksucker!

Whoa Doc,

Hold on there partner. The NRA is shit to me too, but that is far from all Heston was.

Have mercy,

Korbel

 

[Guillaume]

Let's remember him as a great actor!

I never supported his position over the last few years but I have great memories of some of his movies when I was a kid. I will not call him a prick even if I'm against guns. I am glad, I live in Canada. Visiting my kids in the US always concerns me when I see how many guns my sons in law own.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Heston was also fine in two films noirs from the 50s: Dark City and Touch of Evil.

While Charlton Heston was a pretty lousy actor, he really outdid himself in Touch of Evil. Easily one of the worst acting performances of all time. He wasn't, however, able to spoil this movie. The studio tried, but the film was eventually restored following Orson Welles' original notes. I hope you've seen the restored version.

A lot of people died because this prick was this organization's poster boy & voice. I won't lose any sleep tonight knowing he's dead. I swear i won't.

HEY CHUCK!! IF YOU'RE READING THIS, I HOPE YOU FRY IN HELL YOU COCKSUCKER!!!!!!

I'm with you 1000% on this one, Doc. He was a fascist bastard.

 

[La Femme]

I wouldn't go as far as throwing insults around but I will not shed any tears for him, that's for sure.

 

[Kepler]

I'm with you 1000% on this one, Doc. He was a fascist bastard.

You're calling the guy fascist because he wanted to be allowed to own guns, as provided for in the US constitution?

Fascists are those who want to take away your rights.

 

[Regular Guy]

Unique

Whoa Doc,

Hold on there partner. The NRA is shit to me too, but that is far from all Heston was.

Have mercy,

Korbel

Yeah I'm with you Korbie. It may be true that the NRA has become dysfunctional and a blight on the American landscape. Still Charleton Heston like many of us had many dimensions to his life. I never knew him personally obviously but his passing will mark a milestone for me. I have always enjoyed his acting. But more than that he brought a power and passion to key roles for which a other actor would have fallen flat. Alec Baldwin as Ben Hur? Ouch!

 

[korbel]

Hello Guys,

If you want to make this a thread about gun control there is nothing I can do about it, but I think it's totally heartless of you. You know I am strongly anti-gun too. My family has suffered from murder by guns. But this is not the time or the place. Why don't you make a thread on that subject. I am sure with the vicious inevitable flame wars that will come of it, it will last about a few seconds. Right now one of the greatest actors of the 20th century has passed away. And despite his faults, in your view, he was also strong civil rights activist once. Remember that too. So, try to have a little human charity...the kind you seem to profess to have. Remember...we in the hobby aren't exactly God's gifts to perfect human character either.

GIVE IT A REST...HUH!!!!!

Korbel

PS

Agreed Regular Guy.

Also...Kevin Costner...one of the flattest lead actors I ever saw.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Right now one of the greatest actors of the 20th century has passed away.

Please! What have you been smoking tonight, Korbie? Chuck Heston one of the greatest actors of the 20th century?? You're kidding, right? Other than his roles in Ben Hur & The Ten Commandments, most people wouldn't have known who he was if not for those movies. He got those roles because of his looks & his acting abilities had nothing to do with his popularity. He was a lousy actor who happened to get the roles in a couple of epics because of his looks. Who else do you consider to be a great actor? Victor Mature? Steve Reeves? Yul Brynner?

I'll admit that Ben Hur & The Ten Commandments were two of the greatest movies ever made & i must have seen them dozens of times each, but Chuck Heston was no Brando.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Victor Mature?

What do you have against Victor Manure?

 

[hungry101]

Heston's speach to Harvard Law School

Enclosed is a link to Heston's speach to Harvard Law School.

http://www.cyberclass.net/heston.htm

I'm with Sinbad and Bond...you can still apreciate the man's movies even if you do not agree with his politics. This way I can enjoy the work of Woody Harlson, Cusack, Clooney and all the other left wing, limosiene liberal do-gooders from Holywood. Those that call Heston a fascist can study his speach.

 

[korbel]

Please! What have you been smoking tonight, Korbie? Chuck Heston one of the greatest actors of the 20th century?? You're kidding, right? Other than his roles in Ben Hur & The Ten Commandments, most people wouldn't have known who he was if not for those movies. He got those roles because of his looks & his acting abilities had nothing to do with his popularity. He was a lousy actor who happened to get the roles in a couple of epics because of his looks. Who else do you consider to be a great actor? Victor Mature? Steve Reeves? Yul Brynner?

I'll admit that Ben Hur & The Ten Commandments were two of the greatest movies ever made & i must have seen them dozens of times each, but Chuck Heston was no Brando.

HEY CHUCK!! IF YOU'RE READING THIS, I HOPE YOU FRY IN HELL YOU COCKSUCKER!!!!!!

Hello Doc,

I don't know why Heston strikes such a nerve in you. But given this statement, whatever it is seems extremely personal and bitter. Sorry his name evokes such emotionalisn for you. Obviously your perspective on his acting abilities, right or wrong, is quite biased. Clearly you would never say he was a good actor in any case. But to say he was lousy and implying he got such major roles only because of his looks just doesn't measure up. There were plenty of others at the time who looked better than him and to have entrusted such huge roles to someone based on looks would have been insane. Obviously he can act quite well even if you disagree with my very high praise. As I have said, I found his NRA stances odious too. But using that part of him to judge him as an actor is misplaced at best. Tom Cruise is quite nuts, but it doesn't mean he can't act.

Actually some of those I consider the great male actors of the 20th century were Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando, Spencer Tracy, Peter O'Toole, James Stewart, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Alec Guinness, Maximilian Schell, Burt Lancaster, Gregory Peck, Gene Hackman, Rod Steiger, Robert Duval, William Holden, Robert De Niro...and even JOHN WAYNE (despite the endless type casting). Then there are Daniel Day Lewis, Russel Crowe, Denzel Washington, Sean Penn, and Johnny Depp today.

Cheers,

Korbel

PS

I find Jack Nicholson...annoying.

 

[JustBob]

Charlon Heston might not have had incredible range or great technical skills as an actor, but he had great charisma and screen presence. I would not consider him a great actor by any means, but his mere presence made a lot of mediocre films watchable.

I also disagree with the argument that Heston almost ruined "Touch of Evil". His performance was fine, and it has nothing to do with the "he's not credibe as a Mexican" argument. In fact Quinlan (Welles) says: "He doesn't look like a Mexican" when he first meets him. ALL the characters in "Touch of Evil" look out of place when you examine them carefully. The characters are parodies of themselves and Heston manages to transcend his usual powerful, furious self. "Touch of Evil" is a 'B' movie in an 'A++' movie dress. And as a side note, it was Heston who pushed the studio to have Welles (who had a horrible reputation) direct the film.

Now one might not agree with Heston's politics but I find some of the comments in this thread rather disturbing if not downright despicable...