Charlton Heston has passed

[clifford_thornton]

And I just watched Will Penny the other night.

I don't know about "RIP," but so long to a complete nutjob who, sometimes, could act.

From the BBC...

Ben Hur star Charlton Heston dies

Heston won an Oscar for his starring role in Ben Hur

Charlton Heston, who won a best actor Oscar for his starring role in the epic Ben Hur has died, aged 84, a spokesman for the star's family has said.

Heston died on Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia, whom he married in 1944, at his side.

Heston also portrayed Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the 1950s and 1960s.

He stepped down as president of US gun lobby, the National Rifle Association (NRA), in 2003, citing ill-health.

The previous year, he had revealed he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease.

Heston was born John Charles Carter in Evanston, Illinois, on 4 October 1924.

He studied acting before serving for three years in the US Air Force. But back in civilian life, Heston went through hard times, while waiting for his first break.

In 1952, after working on Broadway, Heston starred as the ringmaster in the movie The Greatest Show on Earth.

Four years later, he appeared as Moses in The Ten Commandments, one of the roles which would define his career.

[bertrand]

I'll mostly remember him for his stint with the NRA.

[Big Al]

RIP

I guess they can take that gun from him now.

[Christiern]

Well, one less vote for the warmongers.

[GA Russell]

I haven't seen Ben Hur since it was new. I'd like to see it again sometime.

I wonder if NetFlix gets on run on an actor's movies when he dies. I bet it does.

[Bright Moments]

great actor!

who can forget the final scene in planet of the apes!!!

[porcy62]

RIP

I guess they can take that gun from him now.

BTW not a bad actor at all.

[Van Basten II]

Two words Soylent Green

[Teasing the Korean]

What?

Edited April 7, 2008 by Teasing the Korean

[Shawn]

I can't decide whether to say "Rest In Peace" or "Good Riddance".

At least they won't have to pry the gun from his "cold dead hands".

[BERIGAN]

Well, one less vote for the warmongers.

Funny, you said kinder things when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. But I forget, he was such a warmonger....

Edited April 6, 2008 by BERIGAN

[BERIGAN]

I can't decide whether to say "Rest In Peace" or "Good Riddance".

At least they won't have to pry the gun from his "cold dead hands".

Oh clearly, good riddance....he supported the 2nd amendment, and was an early supporter of civil rights...clearly a purely evil man.

[Christiern]

Conrad, that photo is obviously a poor Photoshop job.

I think anyone with Altzheimers (or any disease, for that matter) is to be wished good health. I lie most of Heston's movies, but I am bothered by anyone's blind support of he NRA.

[7/4]

Conrad, that photo is obviously a poor Photoshop job.

I think anyone with Altzheimers (or any disease, for that matter) is to be wished good health. I lie most of Heston's movies, but I am bothered by anyone's blind support of he NRA.

If you surf around a bit, you can see that the photo is credited Courtesy of National Archives & Records Administration.

Here's another taken at the same event:

[papsrus]

Ah ... nobody's perfect. I'm sure he was a fine fellow. RIP.

[Larry Kart]

A fairly stiff actor in my experience who was effective IMO only when he was playing characters whose iconic physical and emotional rigidities matched his own nature (e.g. in "Touch of Evil" and "El Cid"). Comparing him another famous graduate of New Trier High School in Winnetka, Il. (my alma mater, too), I'd say that Rock Hudson was much the superior performer. In fact there may have been a tradition of beefy stiff guys at New Trier; I believe Ralph Bellamy went there. Of course, all that is cancelled out by a one-time New Trier student who I believe eventually moved on to a private school, Bruce Dern. And don't forget Ann-Margret, who I knew a bit back then and interviewed when she and I were both adults, if either of of us could be said to have reached that state. Not sure into which category she falls.

[porcy62]

Conrad, that photo is obviously a poor Photoshop job.

I think anyone with Altzheimers (or any disease, for that matter) is to be wished good health. I lie most of Heston's movies, but I am bothered by anyone's blind support of he NRA.

If you surf around a bit, you can see that the photo is credited Courtesy of National Archives & Records Administration.

Here's another taken at the same event:

Yep, all italian newspapers obits remark that Heston supported civil liberties back then and later turned into a strong rep supporter up to NRA presidency.

[king ubu]

just saw "Major Dundee" on Friday night... he did some good films, but what do I know...

[zen archer]

So weird last night without knowing he passed we were at a party and the talk was about

The Omega Man.

That final scene where he dies with his arms out, christ like in the water fountain. Back in the

70s they used to show that film on channel 38/56 here in Boston a lot, the Saturday afternoon

movie.

RIP CHUCK !

[JSngry]

Yep, all italian newspapers obits remark that Heston supported civil liberties back then and later turned into a strong rep supporter up to NRA presidency.

There are those who would make the case that those are not contradictory positions, but are in fact complimentary.

I'm not one of them, at least not absolutely, but...

[JSngry]

In fact there may have been a tradition of beefy stiff guys at New Trier...And don't forget Ann-Margret, who I knew a bit back then and interviewed when she and I were both adults, if either of of us could be said to have reached that state. Not sure into which category she falls.

Maybe she was one of the ones who made the beefy guys stiff...

[Larry Kart]

In fact there may have been a tradition of beefy stiff guys at New Trier...And don't forget Ann-Margret, who I knew a bit back then and interviewed when she and I were both adults, if either of of us could be said to have reached that state. Not sure into which category she falls.

Maybe she was one of the ones who made the beefy guys stiff...

There's an amusing anecdote about that in Dern's recent (and quite entertaining and utterly unfettered autobiography):

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Said-Probably...2110&sr=8-1

He and A-M were doing a simulated sex scene in a film, while her husband Roger Smith hovered just out of camera range. Dern, hard-pressed so to speak to know what do, got between the sheets with his undershorts on; A-M was insulted, saying something like "You're just like all those other snotty New Trier boys!" though eventually they worked it out. A-M's family BTW came from the other side of the tracks, while Dern was a scion of wealth and high social standing; his family on his mother's side founded Carson Pirie Scott department store and owned lots of downtown real estate.

[Larry Kart]

The Dern/Ann-Margret movie was "Middle Age Crazy" (1980):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081157/

IIRC they play husband and wife.

[Alexander]

Conrad, that photo is obviously a poor Photoshop job.

I think anyone with Altzheimers (or any disease, for that matter) is to be wished good health. I lie most of Heston's movies, but I am bothered by anyone's blind support of he NRA.

If you surf around a bit, you can see that the photo is credited Courtesy of National Archives & Records Administration.

Here's another taken at the same event:

Yep, all italian newspapers obits remark that Heston supported civil liberties back then and later turned into a strong rep supporter up to NRA presidency.

Not uncommon, actually. A lot of Reagan supporters in the early 1980s were former New Deal Democrats. Frank Sinatra among them.

[porcy62]

Yep, all italian newspapers obits remark that Heston supported civil liberties back then and later turned into a strong rep supporter up to NRA presidency.

There are those who would make the case that those are not contradictory positions, but are in fact complimentary.

I'm not one of them, at least not absolutely, but...

Yep, they aren't "intrisecally" contradictory positions, thought IMHO NRA has more to deal with an economic lobby rather then civil rights or Constitution, my opinion of course.

I haven't got prejudices against Heston, I never knew him personally nor I followed close his extra-movies' life, he wasn't such a great actor, (Jimmy Stewart was, just to name another conservative), just a good actor with a few memorable roles, The Omega Man or Planet of Apes.