Has any actor shaped our sense of history more with his varied portrayals of world figures? Much to discuss. (I will say that his non-historical role as Taylor in PLANET OF THE APES was I thought his best, tough, unsentimental, and self-mocking, chipping away at that granite exterior, and that I'm a fan of the unsung KHARTOUM as well. And where would the Seventies disaster cycle have been without him co-piloting the plane, rescuing earthquake survivors, clearing the fear-maddened stadium, and figuring out that we are what we eat in SOYLENT GREEN?)

Definitely a controversial figure off-screen, antagonizing conservative Southerners, and others, with his involvement in the civil rights movement in the 60s, and antagonizing liberals with his pro NRA stance in later years.

As an actor however, I thoroughly enjoyed him in such diverse films as TOUCH OF EVIL, PLANET OF THE APES, THE OMEGA MAN, WILL PENNY, MAJOR DUNDEE, SOYLENT GREEN, DARK CITY, and my favorite as a little boy THE NAKED JUNGLE.

I met him once when he was promoting his autobiography IN THE ARENA. Some of his obits are claiming he was 6' 2" -- no way; he was shorter than I (I am 6' 2"), but he had the aura of a colossus. He was my mother's favorite actor -- she called him "Charleston Heston" -- and we took her to the bookstore to meet him. Everyone was cautioned to have their book open to the title page for signing, not to ask for other items to be signed, and not to engage him in too much talk, so that everyone could be accomodated. When she got to his signing table, my mother pushed her book forward to be signed... and, when he finished signing, she humbly asked, "Could I touch you?" With a warm chuckle, he said "Certainly, madam!", put down his pen, and took both her hands in his.

For my part, I thanked him for helping Orson Welles to find work and he said "I'm very proud of that." "Rightly so," I said. I also asked him if there would be another volume of his Journals, as was promised by his first such collection AN ACTOR'S LIFE, and he said very surely, "Yes." The second volume hasn't appeared yet, but perhaps it will now.

I still have my copy of IN THE ARENA -- signed with a flourish that looks downright presidential. I too was opposed to his politics, but I liked him -- as an actor, as an activist (for speaking out on behalf of what he believed in), and as a writer also. I also liked him for the way he handled my mother.

I was lucky to have seen BEN-HUR, EL CID, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, and PLANET OF THE APES on the big screen as a youngster in the 1960s. The last starring roles I saw of Heston on the big screen were AIRPORT 1975 and EARTHQUAKE. I enjoyed catching up on his 1950s films on TV, esp. THE SECRET OF THE INCAS, where he’s in full Indiana Jones regalia a full 27 years ahead of Lucas/Spielberg/Ford. And several good westerns, THE SAVAGE, ARROWHEAD, PONY EXPRESS (where he played Buffalo Bill), and THE FAR HORIZONS, where he played Clark to Fred MacMurray’s Lewis. I’ve still never seen THE PRESIDENT’S LADY, where he played Pres. Andrew Jackson for the first time. I enjoyed his later turn as Jackson, not yet president at the Battle of New Orleans, in Cecil B. DeMille’s THE BUCCANEER (1958, produced by DeMille but directed by Anthony Quinn). Heston’s very good in his Hollywood debut, the film noir gambling/crime drama, DARK CITY (1950). It’s hard to tell from watching it to predict the direction Heston would go in just a few short years later (Andrew Jackson in three years, Moses in six). I imagine that the last thing many of us saw him in was BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE.

Heston was one of that group of actors born in the 1920s who emerged as stars in the 1950s. Of that group, Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Jerry Lewis, Doris Day, and Tony Curtis are still with us, as is James Garner, who became a TV star before becoming a movie star, while Jack Lemmon and Rock Hudson (and Walter Matthau, who, technically, didn’t become a “star” until the 1960s) have left us.

Heston is very funny as the "Good Actor" in WAYNE'S WORLD 2.

Surely there must be a few other Fifties stars left (may as well add Joanne Woodward, too)... :unsure:

Too many passings these days.

. . . many of his good performances have alredy been mentioned; to these I would add his roles in THE BIG COUNTRY (1958) and THE WAR LORD (1965) - but, to me it was his work in a piece of great trash like King Vidor's RUBY GENTRY (1952) that I will always fondly remember; he could bring his own level of intense sincerity to a film such as this that was beyond the reach (and probably the desire) of most other actors . . .

There are a great many Heston films that rope me in when ever I happen upon them on TCM. I'm glad to see mention of THE NAKED JUNGLE and SECRET OF THE INCAS. I'm very fond of both. I even enjoy the high cheese of THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. But Heston was also capable of subtler work. He was quite good in WILL PENNY.

I was waiting for someone to mention the genuinely moving WILL PENNY, which is generally considered his finest role and one of the best films he ever made (those with a low tolerance for grandiosity and camp consider it one of the few GOOD films he made, but my own opinion of his career is more generous than that). THE WAR LORD is excellent, too, and he was very fine in it. I think it's a much better movie than EL CID, although it's probably unfair to compare them, as despite the broadswords and catapults and besieging Frisians (Viking-like Nordic barbarians), it's a much more intimate film.

There's also the gritty TV version of TREASURE ISLAND, directed by his son Fraser. Heston wasn't the greatest Long Silver ever, but he's good in the role and avoids being hammy. And the film itself is both faithful to Stevenson and tough-minded and exciting, with Christian Bale excellent as Jim Hawkins and Christopher Lee as a really scary Blind Pew.

Then there's his Cardinal Richelieu in Lester's THREE and FOUR MUSKETEERS. He doesn't play the Cardinal as a villain, the way that Vincent Price did in the Gene Kelly version, but is sly and charismatic.

I think he's pretty bad in both THE OMEGA MAN and SOYLENT GREEN, although one could argue that his bluster adds to the "charm" of those films. OTOH, I think his over-the-top, clenched-teeth style adds a lot to the fun of PLANET OF THE APES

And as much I like Burton's ED WOOD, it really does do Heston a grave disservice. In real life, Welles wouldn't have griped about being "forced" to cast Heston as a Mexican, since it was Heston who got Welles the directing gig to begin with (the studio just wanted him to play the villain, and was very much against having him direct it), and who kept the suits away from him long enough to give him time to rewrite the script. It would almost certainly have been a better film with, say, Ricardo Montalban, as the hero, but it wouldn't have been made if not for Heston.

In AN ACTOR'S LIFE, he talks about his admiration for Vanessa Redgrave and how despite their political disagreements he supported her when there were protests over some theatrical project she was doing in the states. I gather they became friends, and she played his wife in a TV version of A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS.

An astonishing screen presence. Heston never gave a bad performance. His atypical performances as the Cardinal in THE THREE and FOUR MUSKETEERS and the King in CROSSED SWORDS/THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER are interesting experimentations.

It was always great to see him pop up in cameos and dominate the screen in later films like WAYNE'S WORLD 2, TOMBSTONE, Kenneth Branagh's HAMLET, and TRUE LIES. His unbilled role in the PLANET OF THE APES remake ranks with Vincent Price's EDWARD SCISSORHANDS as one of the best final farewells in movie history.

Heston's extraordinary physique was also a brilliant example of the importance of physical fitness and clean living. In the climactic scene of BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, it is impossible to believe that Heston (then 77) is older than Michael Moore (then 47.)

He absolutely killed as The Player King in Branagh's HAMLET.

On the dvd commentary, Branagh mentions that Heston told him that he received some of this best notices of his career for that performance. No kidding.

I would love to have seen him do more Shakespeare.

I also would have liked to have seen him play "Boss" in an adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein's "Friday." Of course, he did pretty much play that role in James Cameron's TRUE LIES.

I'm sympathetic to Moore's causes, moreso than to most of Heston's, but I don't think Heston would have blindsided or embarrassed Moore to score points or to drive nails into the opposition the way Moore abused Heston's courtesy. That scene left a bad taste in my mouth.

Agreed. Especially since Heston was already sick with Alzheimer's at that point.

I think it's important to remember, though, that Heston didn't go public with his suffering from the symptoms of Alzheimer's until well after the film's release, if I'm remembering correctly. Moore wasn't aware of it at the time of the interview, at any rate.

True, Moore was unaware of Heston's illness then, as were we all. I still think it's the worst scene in the otherwise great film.

Heston was also an hilarious SNL host. I thought he was a scream as a scary, elderly supermarket pricer whom everyone in management is afraid to fire and also as a false prophet who shows up at a Biblical era high school for career day.

Rosie O'Donnell's ambush of Tom Selleck was out of line (for the record, I'm pretty far left and no lover of the NRA), but Moore's cheap stunt left a bad taste in so many viewers' mouths because they knew while they were watching it that Heston was sick at the time. Heston made his announcement in early August of '02. BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE was released a few months later. If the roadkill jocks could be cut so quickly from THE PROGRAM while it was still in general release, surely Moore could've snipped Heston from his movie while it was still a month or two from release -- but no, he apparently didn't care that the whole world would see him bullying a sick, elderly man. So I may still watch his movies, and agree with him politically from time to time, but as a person I've filed him away with George Clooney under "asshole."

Charlton Heston was the actor for whom I held my first recognition of "movie star". I suppose my early exposure to the PLANET OF THE APES films was my gateway to his work, but growing up in the early 1970s many of my initial movie going experiences involved Heston's films and are irrevocably associated with family. My Mom took me to see THE CALL OF THE WILD, a buddy at school invited me along to AIRPORT 1975 when his Dad was taking him, and my entire family attended EARTHQUAKE at our town cinema. My sister and I sat together to watch THE TEN COMMANDMENTS on TV and my Dad had me watching THE OMEGA MAN as well as the first two APES films alongside him.

Over the years I have enjoyed a good number of his other films; later in his career I had fun with the various projects Heston did with son Fraser. When I finally watched the extended version of MAJOR DUNDEE during a recent TCM broadcast I thought that troubled collaboration between its director & star still yielded a great performance. Heston's gritted-teeth acting at times did welcome parody (wonderfully done by Joe Flaherty on SCTV) but he always gave it everything and on many occasions achieved magnificence. Stars of his magnitude do not happen very often.

Hell, Patrick, if you supported me financially and agreed with me I'd let you call me worse than that!

I'm gonna miss that Mr. Heston. He was a great actor with a great filmography.

Yet he wasn't too "sick and elderly" at the time to have stopped shilling for the NRA, or his other reactionary causes?

I'll always remember him on CNN during the Gulf War, when they had him debating Christopher Hitchens... :blink:

And, FWIW, Moore has a photo of Heston on his home page.

I doubt the ugly thing he said about race in Moore's film had anything to do with Alzheimers.

Funny too, 'cause he was the first white guy I ever saw naked (in PLANET OF THE APES).

I agree that he was a great movie star though. RIP

Charlton Heston didn't shill for the NRA. To shill is to pretend. He didn't pretend. He was their president. He fronted them, led them, commanded them, inspired them. Agree or disagree (and I disagreed with him on just about everything), he had the courage of his convictions.

Just out of curiosity, what did Clooney do to earn that?

Not to get into a debate about semantics, but my dictionary doesn't mention the word "pretend" in its definition of "shill". It does say "spokesperson", and that term seems appropriate.

...he had the courage of his convictions.

That may be true, but the same thing could be said about a lot of people through history, and that trait isn't (in my eyes) necessarily a good thing, depending on what someone's convictions are.

Clooney first made a joke about Heston's illness, and when called on it, said this.

What's this all about? Heston was one of the first in Hollywood to speak out about racism, and if I remember correctly, even marched with MLK?

Thanks, Mike. I hadn't been aware of that.

This isn't an issue of semantics but one of wilful misrepresentation on your part. Charlton Heston wasn't a mere spokesperson for the NRA, he was its president. Now whether that was a mostly honorary title I don't know but president he was, which hardly makes him a shill... a word dating back to illegal gambling parlors which used cronies pretending to place bets, or shilling, to lure unsuspecting customers.

Re: "courage of his convictions"

The issue on the table isn't whether Charlton Heston was a good man or a bad man, whether he was right or wrong... in your post you allege that he was shilling for the NRA, which is to say he was duping people into joining the NRA, that he was being false and in that regard you are 100% wrong.

This thread has unsurprisingly drifted from being primarily focused on Heston's films with a passing mention of his politics to being mostly about his politics. I realize that it can be difficult to discuss his life without at least touching on politics, but could we please try to keep the focus on film before the mods are compelled to close the thread?

If you want to show me a definition of the word "shill" that references "duping", then I'll concede your point.

My understanding of the word doesn't imply such a thing, and neither have the definitions I've found. As I said earlier, "spokesperson" is an appropriate term.

And since you don't know whether or not his title as President was anything more than "honorary", the only one making a "willful misrepresentation" is you -- about my use of the word.

Webstetr's New World Dictionary:

primary definition:

shill (shil) n. [contr.< shillaber<?} Slang. The confederate of a gambler, pitchman, auctioneer, etc. who pretends to buy, bet or bid so as to lure onlookers into participating. vi. To act or work as a shill.

The Free Dictionary:

1. To act as a shill for (a deceitful enterprise).
2. To lure (a person) into a swindle.

Wikipedka, The Online Encyclopedia:

A shill is an associate of a person selling goods or services or a political group, who pretends no association to the seller/group and assumes the air of an enthusiastic customer. The intention of the shill is, using crowd psychology, to encourage others unaware of the set-up to purchase said goods or services or support the political group's ideological claims. Shills are often employed by confidence artists.

Merriam-Webster:

1 : to act as a shill 2 : to act as a spokesperson or promoter <the eminent Shakespearean producer…is now shilling for a brokerage house — Andy Rooney>

Here's an article about his acting and support of two of my favortite directors, Welles and Peckinpah.

I hated Heston's politics later in his life, but he appears to have been very supportive of his fellow talent in his artistic collaborations, even with a lefty like Welles, and with Peckinpah, probably a Libertarian. :blink:

My name is Michael Blanton and I support this disclaimor.

Anyways back to the movies! ...anyone? :unsure:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/movies/0...ies&oref=slogin

The fact that you refuse to make good on your promise, Mike, says it all.

Yes, I concede.

And if you weren't a ****, you'd recognize that my understanding of the word is backed-up by a reputable dictionary, and that my use of the word was based upon how I've experienced it being used through the course of my life.

"Language is a virus from outer space."

William Burroughs

It would be nice if TCM used his passing as an opportunity to show the 1950 noir Dark City, also with Ed Begley, Dean Jagger, and future Dragnet co-stars Jack Webb and Harry Morgan. I've wanted to see this one for a while.

How much genre work (Sci-fi/horror) films did he make? I can name four off the top of my head or there any others that might qualify?

SOYLENT GREEN
PLANET OF THE APES (should one count BEANEATH?)
OMEGA MAN
THE NAKED JUNGLE (it's a monster movie after all)

Hmmm, he would have made an interesting Adama for BSG

For one thing, "prick" is spelled with five asterixes.

And for the other, if you called someone a "faggot," would you really be allowed to fall back on the excuse that it means "bundle of sticks" in a reputable dictionary?