Sunday, April 06, 2008

Film legend Charlton Heston dead at 84

Charlton 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, has died. He was 84.


Forget that biblical drek. Here's the moment that cements Heston in my memory:

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, sad to say, that damn dirty human is dead. I remember Heston most distinctly from modern reality, not old fictional films, however, as when he stood before an NRA convention of fellow gun nuts several years ago, and I think, said those who would try to preclude his right to bear arms (as he dramatically raised a rifle above his head) could have his gun when they pried it from his cold, dead fingers. Hmmm. Wonder if he is to buried with that rifle--there's small degree of opportunity now for his oath to be fulfilled, if so, I guess.

Sorry to see The Omega Man finally go raging into that good night, mutant zombies on the prowl, or not. 8^{

Anonymous said...

Well, I see "watch me" beat me to this.

Charleton was kind enough to take Edward G. Robinson home, and to let us all know that Soylent Green was people. (I'm really glad I know that.)

And now, this interstellar seeker is on his way to find out if there's something better than man.

(Has to be.)

Daniel
The Odd Little Universe of Daniel Brenton

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Daniel. THiRd!

Anonymous said...

I'll miss the hell out of one of the toughest SOBs ever to grace the big screen.

RIP Chuck. You'll be missed.

Tony F. said...

Does this mean we can finally pry his gun from his cold, dead fingers?

Anonymous said...

What's not generally known (or pulicized by the MSM) is that Heston marched with Martin Luther King back in the 60s.

Anonymous said...

Huh! So what happened to him, to make his political views more conservative? If, in fact, they became so--gun people are generally to the right of center, but I've known some fairly well-armed liberals & lefties, too.

Katie said...

Whoa! You can't support civil rights for people *and* be all for the right to own a gun same time?

Wow...I didn't know that!

*rolls eyes* :o)

Mac said...

Katie--

I'm with you. By no means are civil rights advocacy and "pro gun" advocacy mutually exclusive.

Paul Kimball said...

I don't support gun ownership, at least not without registration, and certainly not of the kind of weapons Americans can get their hands on, but I'll always remember Michael Moore's unconscionable ambush of Heston in "Bowling for Columbine", and how Moore also twisted Heston's comments at the NRA rally to make him look like a complete, insenstive wacko. That's not a documentary - that's propaganda.

Long live Taylor! Die, you apes!!

Paul

P.S. Some of that biblical drek you dismiss, Mac, is great filmmaking. My other fave Heston role, by the way, is in "Touch of Evil" opposite Orson Welles.

Anonymous said...

Oh...my...God...

Charlton Heston is dead.