Sunday, April 13, 2008
Charlton Heston
American actor and Oscar winner Charlton Heston joins civil rights protesters picketing a whites-only restaurant in Oklahoma City, Okl., on May 27, 1961. Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing 'Ben-Hur' and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, died Saturday April 5, 2008 according to a statement from the actor's family. He was 84. (AP Photo, FILE)
An actor who was the epitome of the "involved artist" off the screen - a real man, a leader, an example of moral rectitude and more. Charlton Heston (seen at the top holding one of his rifles at his home in Los Angeles, Calif. in September 1984) more than willingly and actively joined civil rights movements (Moses would have been proud!) fought for what was right in the "on-the-job conflicts" he'd encounter in his field (Screen Actors Guild strikes and Actors' union divergences of opinion, with Ed Asner most notably; Lou Grant never stood a chance up against Ben Hur!) and he also championed a man's right to own a gun - Omega Man would have been proud! Alas, not every one is as morally right as a Charlton Heston...! But that is another story.
Mr. Heston was one-of-a-kind; not even his contemporaries truly matched him (imagine the new crop of "untalent" Tinseltown has unveiled since...!) He was a mixture of Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Gary Cooper - but still above all of them. No one else could have played the parts that he played so well (evidence enough: Lancaster tried to be Moses too. His version truly paled in comparison... On the other hand, when Heston portrayed John The Baptist, it improved "The Grestest Story Ever Told" to such a point that, because of his presence, we cannot say that movie is the lamest adaptation of the Bible ever seen! That says A LOT right there...)
Charlton Heston truly did belong in another era: he had said that about his face, but truly it applied to the whole man. Such a believing thespian, who kept the faith AND the same wife all-throughout his career...?!? Unseen before and never-to-be-seen again in Hollywood, I say! A man who dared say to the then-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (Bill Clinton) "we don't trust you with our daughters and we don't trust you with our guns either"... WOW! Others put the lamest prezzes (Dubya) up on a pedestal instead...! Not Charlton Heston! He took no bull - he was as hard-as-nails as Charles Bronson, just not into sick things such as "stealing thy neighbor's wife" as Bronson did...! The NRA's gain, basically... Plus: Heston uttered such unforgettable cinematic lines in his GENRE movies ("they really did it - damn you to hell"... "take your filthy paws off me you dirty ape"... "it's people - people"... "LET MY PEOPLE GO!") as any ONE of his peers has NEVER uttered in their BEST FILMS...!
Charlton Heston was... and is... the man!
Labels: Omega Man - yeah
