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Charlton HestonAdd to My CelebsAge 84 (passed away Apr. 5th, 2008) Birthday Oct. 4th, 1923 Born in Evanston, Illinois, USA Height 6' 2" |
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at IMDB
With features chiseled in stone, who else but Charlton Heston could you picture as Michelangelo, as Ben-Hur, as Moses? Heston's movie career took off with The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and reached light speed with Ben-Hur (1959). Although he has played a pantheon of larger-than-life roles, he usually prefers to talk about the day-to-day daily grind of the movie business, and especially credits the writers and directors he has worked for much of his success.
TRIVIA:
- Broke his nose in high school playing football. He later commented that this was ultimately to his advantage as an actor because it gave him "the profile of an Eagle.".
- Heston has often been compared with his friend 'Ronald Reagan (I)' (qv). Both actors started out as liberal Democrats but gradually converted to conservative Republicans, both served as Presidents of the Screen Actors Guild, both went into politics (Reagan as President of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and Heston as President of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003), and both suffered from Alzheimer's disease in later life. Heston attended Reagan's state funeral on 11 June 2004.
- Reports at the time suggested that Heston badly wanted to play Sir Thomas More in _A Man for All Seasons (1966)_ (qv). The part went to 'Paul Scofield (I)' (qv) instead.
- Volunteered his time and effort to the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, and even marched alongside the Rev. Dr. 'Martin Luther King' (qv) Jr. on a number of occasions, including the 1963 March on Washington. In the original (uncut) version of _King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)_ (qv), he was narrator.
- Campaigned for fifty Republican candidates in the 1996 presidential election.
- In 1996 Heston attended the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative movement organizations. There he agreed to pose for a group photo that included Gordon Lee Baumm, the founder of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) and former White Citizens Council organizer. Virginia's conservative Republican Senator 'George Allen (III)' (qv) also appears in the photo which was published in the Summer 1996 issue of the CCC's newsletter, the Citizens Informer.
- After his starring role in the 1968 version of _Planet of the Apes (1968)_ (qv), he had an uncredited cameo in the 2001 remake, _Planet of the Apes (2001)_ (qv), as Gen. Thade's dying father.
- 'John Wayne (I)' (qv) offered Heston the role of Jim Bowie in _The Alamo (1960)_ (qv), but he declined due to the political implications of the film.
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