Ben-Hur

El Cid

The Ten Commandments

He had done very good films.

javipiquero, April 6, 2008; 3:19 PM

It's sad... may he rest in peace!

''Legendary actor, civil rights leader and political activist Charlton Heston passed away today, at the age of 84. He died at his home with Lydia, his wife of 64 years, at his side. Mr. Heston was loved by his two children, Fraser Clarke Heston and Holly Heston Rochell, and his three grandchildren, Jack Alexander Heston, Ridley Rochell and Charlie Rochell.

The Heston family issued the following statement:

"To his loving friends, colleagues and fans, we appreciate your heartfelt prayers and support. 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. Indeed, he committed himself to every role with passion, and pursued every cause with unmatched enthusiasm and integrity.

We knew him as an adoring husband, a kind and devoted father, and a gentle grandfather, with an infectious sense of humor. He served these far greater roles with tremendous faith, courage and dignity. He loved deeply, and he was deeply loved.

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. In his own words, "I have lived such a wonderful life! I've lived enough for two people."

A private memorial service will be held. The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Motion Picture and Television Fund:

MPTF
22212 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 300
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
MPTVFund.org

Heston received an Oscar for Best Actor in 1960's Ben-Hur and starred in such classics as The Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes, Secret of the Incas, The Omega Man, Soylent Green, El Cid, 55 Days at Peking, Earthquake, The Greatest Story Ever Told and Julius Caesar.''

http://tinyurl.com/5nl5nj

serifiot, April 6, 2008; 5:04 PM

When "Planet Of The Apes" was released in 1968, my father, brother and I headed out to the drive-in theatre to see it. When we arrived the traffic was lined up down the entrance to the theatre and along the highway about a mile.

We went to the next drive-in a couple of miles down the road and watched "The Boston Strangler" and "Bloody Mama". I don't remember many people being there as they were all going nuts over the new Charlton Heston film.

"Planet Of The Apes"! A huge hit in its day and one of my favorite Goldsmith scores.

victoravalentine, April 6, 2008; 7:36 PM

I saw PLANET OF THE APES for my 8th Birthday. I got to chose the movie. Fell in love with Jerry Goldsmith's music and learned about Hammer Studios. The opening feature was THE LOST CONTINENT (that was back when they had double bills).

hammon, April 6, 2008; 8:30 PM

I knew him in San Sebastián (Spain) several years ago. He was honored at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. In my childhood he was my absolute hero. I adored his films and always admired his work. I know he was really fond of film music. In fact, some of the greatest soundtracks ever belong to his films: BEN-HUR, PLANET OF THE APES, THE BIG COUNTRY... to name only a few.
Now I'm listening to one of John Scott's greatest scores: ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. A marvellous score for one of the few films Heston directed. I remember the icon, the actor, the man. A movie history legend. Rest in peace.

Angel

angeldibujo, April 8, 2008; 12:19 PM

Funny, nobody mentioned his more than doubtful loudmouthed support for the NRA..?

Too sad, he didn't get shot... ;)))))



coma, April 7, 2008; 1:38 PM

LOL coma, I was thinking the same thing. Often, actors get confused for the characters they played, while the real person stays in the background.
In the news here, they did mention his dubious involvement with the NRA, including soundbites from Bowling For Columbine.

@wwk: that sounds like a very cool double bill you had to watch! I would prefer it over The Planet Of The Apes anytime ;)

rinse_dream, April 7, 2008; 4:05 PM

Hey. coma, the man has passed so let him rest in peace. At least somebody can now pry the rifle from his dead hand.

Anyway, he will always be Ben Hur in my book!

delerue, April 7, 2008; 5:23 PM

People in the USA feel strongly about their right to own firearms. I own a hand gun myself and was all in favor of Charlton Heston speaking proudly in favor of it. The scum with the media are the ones who gave the impression it was the words of a crazy man.

Hey Coma, how about mentioning the fact Charlton Heston marched with Martin Luther King in the USA when it was something only a person with guts would do. "Too sad he didn't get shot"? You're a punk.

I have no problem with any of Charlton Heston's beliefs. I'd bet for a fact he was a better person than most of the people in the so called entertainment industry will ever be.

Michael Moore is a fat ass buffoon and is a bigger coward than some would care to admit. I'd like to see that fat boy get mugged on the street in the USA. I'd bet he would wish he had a gun to defend himself with.

victoravalentine, April 7, 2008; 10:18 PM

For 50 years, the Harvard Law School Forum has been sponsoring speeches by luminaries ranging from Fidel Castro to Gerald Ford to Dr. Ruth. Sometimes the speeches have generated a bit of media coverage, sometimes not. But one given last month by Charlton Heston has taken on a life of its own.
Heston, the actor and conservative activist, delivered a stem-winderto about 200 listeners about "a cultural war that's about to hijack your birthright to think and say what resides in your heart." "He knew he was coming to a liberal environment, and clearly a group of his listeners was conservative and another was more liberal," said David Christopherson, president of the forum. "About half respectfully challenged him during the questions.
It generated a lot of debate around the campus. But what's happened caught us off-guard." What happened was Rush Limbaugh's radio talk show. On March 15, Limbaugh read the entire speech on the air, only to find himself bombarded with thousands of requests for a copy of it. The same thing happened at Harvard Law. "We couldn't keep up with all the requests," said Mike Chmura at Harvard. "It really didn't have legs and might have been forgotten if Mr.Limbaugh hadn't decided to deliver it."

'Winning the Cultural War'
Charlton Heston's Speech to the Harvard Law School Forum February 16, 1999
I remember my son when he was five, explaining to his kindergarten class what his father did for a living. "My Daddy," he said, "pretends to be people."
There have been quite a few of them. Prophets from the Old and New Testaments, a couple of Christian saints, generals of various nationalities and different centuries, several kings, three American presidents, a French cardinal and two geniuses, including Michelangelo.
If you want the ceiling re-painted I'll do my best. There always seem to be a lot of different fellows up here. I'm never sure which one of them gets to talk. Right now, I guess I'm the guy.
As I pondered our visit tonight it struck me: If my Creator gave me the gift to connect you with the hearts and minds of those great men, then I want to use that same gift now to re-connect you with your own sense of liberty of your own freedom of thought ... your own compass for what is right.
Dedicating the memorial at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln said of America,"We are now engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure." Those words are true again. I believe that we are again engaged in a great civil war, a cultural war that's about to hijack your birthright to think and say what resides in your heart. I fear you no longer trust the pulsing lifeblood of liberty inside you ... the stuff that made this country rise from wilderness into the miracle that it is.
Let me back up. About a year ago I became president of the National Rifle Association, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. I ran for office, I was elected, and now I serve ... I serve as a moving target for the media who've called me everything from "ridiculous" and "duped" to a "brain-injured, senile, crazy old man." I know ... I'm pretty old... but I sure as Lord ain't senile.
As I have stood in the crosshairs of those who target Second Amendment freedoms, I've realized that firearms are not the only issue. No, it's much, much bigger than that. I've come to understand that a cultural war is raging across our land, in which, with Orwellian fervor, certain acceptable thoughts and speech are mandated. For example, I marched for civil rights with Dr.King in 1963 - long before Hollywood found it fashionable. But when I told an audience last year that white pride is just as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone else's pride, they called me a racist. I've worked with brilliantly talented homosexuals all my life. But when I told an audience that gay rights should extend no further than your rights or my rights, I was called a homophobe. I served in World War II against the Axis powers. But during a speech, when I drew an analogy between singling out innocent Jews and singling out innocent gun owners, I was called an anti-Semite. Everyone I know knows I would never raise a closed fist against my country. But when I asked an audience to oppose this cultural persecution, I was compared to Timothy McVeigh.
From time to time ,friends and colleagues, they're essentially friends from Time Magazine, say how dare you speak your mind. You are using language not authorized for public consumption!" But I am not afraid. If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys - subjects bound to the British crown.
In his book, "The End of Sanity," Martin Gross writes that "blatantly irrational behavior is rapidly being established as the norm in almost every area of human endeavor. There seem to be new customs, new rules, new anti-intellectual theories regularly foisted on us from every direction.Underneath, the nation is roiling. Americans know something without a name is undermining the nation, turning the mind mushy when it comes to separating truth from falsehood and right from wrong. And they don't like it."
Let me read a few examples. At Antioch college in Ohio, young men seeking intimacy with a coed must get verbal permission at each step of the process from kissing to petting to final copulation ... all clearly spelled out in a printed college directive.
In New Jersey, despite the death of several patients nationwide who had been infected by dentists who had concealed their AIDs --- the state commissioned announced that health providers who are HIV-positive need not..... need not..... tell their patients that they are infected.
At William and Mary, students tried to change the name of the school team "The Tribe" because it was supposedly insulting to local Indians, only to learn that authentic Virginia chiefs truly like the name.
In San Francisco, city fathers passed an ordinance protecting the rights of transvestites to cross-dress on the job, and for transsexuals to have separate toilet facilities while undergoing sex change surgery.
In New York City, kids who don't speak a word of Spanish have been placed in bilingual classes to learn their three R's in Spanish solely because their last names sound Hispanic.
At the University of Pennsylvania, in a state where thousands died at Gettysburg opposing slavery, the president of that college officially set up segregated dormitory space for black students. Yeah, I know ... that's out of bounds now. Dr. King said "Negroes." Jimmy Baldwin and most of us on the March said "black." But it's a no-no now.
For me, hyphenated identities are awkward ... particularly "Native-American." I'm a Native American, for God's sake. I also happen to be a blood-initiated brother of the Miniconjou Sioux. On my wife's side, my grandson is a thirteenth generation native American... with a capital letter on "American."
Finally, just last month ... David Howard, head of the Washington D.C. Office of Public Advocate, used the word "niggardly" while talking to colleagues about budgetary matters. Of course, "niggardly" means stingy or scanty. But within days Howard was forced to publicly apologize and resign. As columnist Tony Snow wrote: "David Howard got fired because some people in public employ were morons who (a) didn't know the meaning of niggardly,(b) didn't know how to use a dictionary to discover the meaning, and (c) actually demanded that he apologize for their ignorance."
What does all of this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say , so telling us what to do can't be far behind. Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me: Why did political correctness originate on America's campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who're supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression? Let's be honest. Who here thinks your professors can say what they really believe? It scares me to death, and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason. You are the best and the rightist. You, here in the fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on the Charles River, you are the cream. But I submit that you, and your counterparts across the land, are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation since Concord Bridge. And as long as you validate that and abide it ... you are - by your grandfathers' standards - cowards.
Here's another example. Right now at more than one major university, Second Amendment scholars and researchers are being told to shut up about their findings or they'll lose their jobs. Why? Because their research findings would undermine big-city mayor's pending lawsuits that seek to extort hundreds of millions of dollars from firearm manufacturers. I don't care what you think about guns. But if you are not shocked at that, I am shocked at you. Who will guard the raw material of unfettered ideas, if not you?
Who will defend the core value of academia, if you supposed soldiers of free thought and expression lay down your arms and plead, "Don't shoot me." If you talk about race, it does not make you a racist. If you see distinctions between the genders, it does not make you a sexist. If you think critically about a denomination, it does not make you anti-religion.
If you accept but don't celebrate homosexuality, it does not make you a homophobe. Don't let America's universities continue to serve as incubators for this rampant epidemic of new McCarthyism.
But what can you do? How can anyone prevail against such pervasive social subjugation? The answer's been here all along. I learned it 36 years ago, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., standing with Dr. Martin Luther King and two hundred thousand people. You simply ... disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely. But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom. I learned the awesome power of disobedience from Dr. King ...who learned it from Gandhi, and Thoreau, and Jesus, and every other great man who led those in the right against those with the might.
Disobedience is in our DNA. We feel innate kinship with that disobedient spirit that tossed tea into Boston Harbor, that sent Thoreau to jail, that refused to sit in the back of the bus, that protested a war in Vietnam. In that same spirit, I am asking you to disavow cultural correctness with massive disobedience of rogue authority, social directives and onerous laws that weaken personal freedom.
But be careful ... it hurts. Disobedience demands that you put yourself at risk. Dr. King stood on lots of balconies. You must be willing to be humiliated ... to endure the modern-day equivalent of the police dogs at Montgomery and the water cannons at Selma. You must be willing to experience discomfort. I'm not complaining, but my own decades of social activism have taken their toll on me.
Let me tell you a story. A few years back I heard about a rapper named Ice-T who was selling a CD called "Cop Killer" celebrating ambushing and murdering police officers. It was being marketed by none other than Time/Warner, the biggest entertainment conglomerate in the world. Police across the country were outraged. Rightfully so-at least one had been murdered. But Time/Warner was stonewalling because the CD was a cash cow for them, and the media were tiptoeing around it because the rapper was black. I heard Time/Warner had a stockholders meeting scheduled in Beverly Hills. I owned some shares at the time, so I decided to attend. What I did there was against the advice of my family and colleagues. I asked for the floor. To a hushed room of a thousand average American stockholders, I simply read the full lyrics of "Cop Killer"- every vicious, vulgar, instructional word.
"I GOT MY 12 GAUGE SAWED OFF
I GOT MY HEADLIGHTS TURNED OFF
I'M ABOUT TO BUST SOME SHOTS OFF
I'M ABOUT TO DUST SOME COPS OFF..."
It got worse, a lot worse. I won't read the rest of it to you. But trust me, the room was a sea of shocked, frozen, blanched faces. The Time/Warner executives squirmed in their chairs and stared at their shoes. They hated me for that. Then I delivered another volley of sick lyric brimming with racist filth, where Ice-T fantasizes about sodomizing two 12-year old nieces of Al and Tipper Gore.
"SHE PUSHED HER BUTT AGAINST MY ...."
Well, I won't do to you here what I did to them. Let's just say I left the room in echoing silence. When I read the lyrics to the waiting press corps, one of them said "We can't print that."
"I know," I replied, "but Time/Warner's selling it."
Two months later, Time/Warner terminated Ice-T's contract. I'll never be offered another film by Warner's, or get a good review from Time magazine. But disobedience means you must be willing to act, not just talk. When a mugger sues his elderly victim for defending herself ... jam the switchboard of the district attorney's office. When your university is pressured to lower standards until 80% of the students graduate with honors... choke the halls of the board of regents. When an 8-year-old boy pecks a girl's cheek on the playground and gets hauled into court for sexual harassment ... march on that school and block its doorways. When someone you elected is seduced by political power and betrays you...petition them, oust them, banish them. When Time magazine's cover portrays millennium nuts as deranged, crazy Christians holding a cross as it did last month ...boycott their magazine and the products it advertises.
So that this nation may long endure, I urge you to follow in the hallowed footsteps of the great disobedience's of history that freed exiles, founded religions, defeated tyrants, and yes, in the hands of an aroused rabble in arms and a few great men, by God's grace, built this country. If Dr. King were here, I think he would agree.





VVautier, April 7, 2008; 10:45 PM

I recall James Cameron saying when casting for True Lies and the role of Spencer Trilby, that he wanted someone who looked as though he could kick Swarzenegger's butt. He was in his 70's then, but Chuck Heston was that man.
As long as I live, I shall never forget watching Planet of the Apes with my dad and uncle when I was 8 years old. Also catching The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur over the following couple of years. Trips to the cinema just don't hit you like that anymore.
A huge, massive part of my childhood died this weekend and I'm absolutely gutted. God bless you sir. Rest in Peace.

daylights007, April 8, 2008; 2:45 AM

Thanks Vautier, for posting this interesting speech. Mr. Heston might have been perfectly right, when he claimed, "I believe that we are again engaged in a great civil war, a cultural war that's about to hijack your birthright to think and say what resides in your heart."

But this war will surely not won with the guns and firearms, that neurotic US citizens hide benath their beds. It makes me very pessimistic to understand, that someone as intelligent as Mr. Heston, didn't happen to learn anything from the massacre at Columbine and other places.

I also think, it's an incredible perversion, when claiming the right for self-defense results in the permission to keep fully automatic weapons in order to pulverize anyone whose nose you dislike.

Me, I grew up in a city under martial law, where not even the police forces were allowed to carry weapons and where the posession of any sort of firearm would result in the immediate imposition of a death sentence - which was, after the fact, altered to a more civilized punishment. But as a matter of fact, in more than three decades, only one or two persons got shot. Just my two Cents.


@knives: Come on, guy! Who should better know the value of a provocative comment, than you. So, no need to call me punk, punk. ;)))



coma, April 8, 2008; 7:17 AM

Powerful and righteous points brought up in his speech to make one wonder... including coma's brief comments from his memories of the east side that is no more. Indeed a strong speech that needs to be read carefully over and over again for the sake of finding something that one might have missed and for the sake of good reading... thanks for including this one VVautier.

Being far and away for some time now I was not aware with this NRA involvement until recently and frankly, I don't care for it... I prefer civilized diplomacy over weapons and violence. I did not even know there was an NRA .

Perhaps irrelavent - I need to mention this - but one thing struck me though. The man was in a very tempting business and was married to the same person for 64 years. SIXTY FOUR! Isn't this beautiful? That should tell us something about his character.

Briefly, I believe that the right to bear arms for the sole sake of defending one's life vs. using them to defend personal disagreements and beliefs should not be confused.
Everyone should be free to disagree, believe and express themselves in a way that does not offend others in a a so called 'LIVE AND LET LIVE' way of life.
I don't know what gave rise to the term 'politcally correct' but in my mind, I see political correctness as choosing your words carefully, trying not to be offensive and making the world a better place.
I always think of the term 'politically correct' as that and nothing more, having nothing to do with politics and mind control.
I always tried and try to speak my mind off where I see fit without being insulting even though being a temperamental hot head at times, I do tend to stump my foot in my mouth... or in other people's mouths... that is if they have one!

The right to bear arms and all this violence in U.S. schools and amongst young lives is very disturbing to me.

All the raw and mindless violence in films is also something to think about.

Just jotting notes down... my mind has NOT been in an ambush of creativity lately.

I got to listen to some film score.

serifiot, April 8, 2008; 9:49 AM

SERIFIOT, No truer, wiser and more eloquent words have been spoken on this thorny topic. Hats off to you !!

delerue, April 8, 2008; 11:15 AM

Rush Limbaugh is one of the biggest frauds in American media. He's hyped as an entertainer and his show is sold as entertainment. The fact is he's a political goat for the right wing and is as dirty as anyone he supposedly critisizes. It figures that fat fraud would use Charlton Heston to bolster his own false image of being the one who cares.

Limbaugh is one of the worst as far as discrimination and bias goes. He plays on peoples hate and spreads lies. Regardless of what anyone thinks about Charlton Heston I would say it's pretty certain that he was on the level. With Limbaugh and his cohorts, I wouldn't bet on it.


victoravalentine, April 9, 2008; 1:08 AM

Has anyone noticed yet, that Richard Widmark has also passed away?



coma, April 9, 2008; 4:46 PM

Yeah I noticed when Widmark died. I have a 1956 16mm Technicolor print of "Backlash". Richard Widmark is in a lot of damn good films.

Charlton Heston was more of an icon. He's in a lot of films I grew up with. I remember seeing them all at the drive-in theatres. "Planet Of The Apes", "The Omega Man", "Earthquake". On the day it was announced that he died I found the vinyl pressing of Earthquake" with the extra sound effects track at the end of the score. I've had the standard copy for years.

victoravalentine, April 10, 2008; 11:24 PM

Excellent point, knives. Mr. Heston was much more of an icon, than an (ordinary) actor. And I can't imagine anyone else, giving screen life to characters as Moses, Michelangelo and Ben Hur.

As you mentioned Earthquake, the same day, I finally got the director's cut of Touch Of Evil. And I'm still shocked that Mr. Welles had the score erased from the starting sequence.


coma, April 11, 2008; 12:00 PM