Charlton Heston- True Movie Star Was True To Himself
BY EDWARD J. URBANOWSKI

Photo Public Domain Photo of Charlton Heston taken in 1963.

What can you say about Charlton Heston that hasn't been said already?

Heston died on April 5 at the age of 84. He had appeared in numerous movies as well as television.

He is remarkable in our day and age for being true to himself. He married once, raised a family and stood for his causes. He seems quite the conservative, but to a degree, that is not entirely true. Heston was, indeed, president of the National Rifle Association. However, at the height of his popularity he threw his support, in a very public way, to Martin Luther King, Jr. Heston participated in the 1963 March on Washington. From 1966 to 1971 he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. Heston seemed to be a man driven by a strong sense of morals. Maybe that's what happens when you play Moses, John the Baptist and Michelangelo.

Considering some of the epics in which Heston found himself, it is remarkable how well his performances hold up. Moses in "The Ten Commandments" (1956) was Heston's first big role and he not only had big sandals to fill, he was acting opposite some of Hollywood's best (Edward G. Robinson, Yul Brynner, Vincent Price, Martha Scott, Sir Cedric Hardwicke). He was answering to the film's director, Cecil B. DeMille, a master showman. He more than held his own, standing tall amid the plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea and the receiving of the Laws.

Heston next worked opposite Orson Welles in "Touch Of Evil" (1958) which has come to be regarded a classic in the film noir genre.

With "Ben Hur" (1959) Heston would win his only Best Actor Academy Award. The film would take home 11 such trophies that year, a record equaled by "Titanic" in 1997 and "Return Of The King" in 2003, but never surpassed. Heston brought an intensity to the part that provided gravitas to the epic. Under the helm of director William Wyler, it stands as the best of Hollywood. The chariot race, done in an era before computers, is gripping and mesmerizing.

In the years that followed, Heston would give life to "El Cid" (1961) and Michelangelo in "The Agony And The Ecstasy" (1965). He was a booming John the Baptist in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965).

Heston would help create a new movie franchise with "Planet Of The Apes" in 1968. He would survive a plague and kill zombies in "The Omega Man" (1971). He would discover a terrifying secret in the future with "Soylent Green" (1973).

In later years he worked mostly in television, but now and then he made his way back to his first love. He was Arnold Schwarzenegger's boss in "True Lies" (1994). He played an ape in Tim Burton's remake of his science fiction classic in 2001.

Some of the lines from his films remain memorable. Do you know in what movies "So shall it be written, so shall it be done" or "Damn you all- Damn you all to hell!" can be heard? If so, you were probably glued to your set as a kid (or your parents made you watch the movies).

During the painting of the Sistine Chapel in "The Agony And The Ecstasy", Rex Harrison's Pope Julius II bellowed "When will you make an end?" Heston's Michelangelo responded with a touch of sarcasm, "When I am finished." Now that he is, indeed, finished, what wonderful work he has left.