Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston Facts
| Sign | Libra |
| Born |
Oct 4, 1923 Evanston, IL |
| Died |
Apr 5, 2008 Beverly Hills, CA |
| Age | Died at 84 |
| Total Facts | 119 |
He wore a hairpiece in every movie from Skyjacked (1972) onwards.
Heston has often been compared with his friend Ronald Reagan. 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.
Heston is a popular actor in Greece, where his name is written as "Charlton Easton" due to "Heston" having scatological connotations in the Greek language.
Heston served on the Advisory Board of Accuracy in the Media (AIM), a conservative media "watchdog" group founded by the late Reed Irvine.
Heston wanted to appear in The Return of the Musketeers (1989), but his character of Cardinal Richelieu from the previous film was deceased in the film's setting of 1648. Fortunately, director Richard Lester had a painting of Richelieu created, with Heston as the model. This painting is seen in the beginning of the film, and was given to Heston after filming.
Heston's Hollywood mansion is filled with memorabilia from his career. He and his wife have lived in the same house near Los Angeles's Mulholland Drive for more than forty years. Built by the actor's father after Heston won the Academy Award for best actor in Ben-Hur (1959), the postmodern style home - inside and out - is filled with the memorabilia. Sitting on a table in the back yard is the figure of a Roman, whip in hand, lashing vigorously at four straining horses harnessed to a chariot. Mounted on the entrance of his study are the two great brass ring knockers from the movie set's House of Hur. Hung above the fireplace is a painting of a lumbering Conestoga wagon and, nearby, a pencil sketch of friend Sir Laurence Olivier portraying King Lear. From most windows sparkle views of canyons. In the home's central hallway hang twenty paintings of Heston in signature roles: Ben-Hur, Moses, Richelieu, Michelangelo, the Planet of the Apes (1968) marooned astronaut Commander Taylor, the steel-willed Major Dundee, Soylent Green (1973) detective Thorn, Andrew Jackson in <a href="search.php?q=The+President%26%23x27%3Bs+L
Heston's portrayal of William F. Cody in Pony Express (1953), a western from early in his career, inspired the Bills, a Congolese youth cult that idolized American westerns.
His classmates at Northwestern University included Cloris Leachman, Paul Lynde, Charlotte Rae, Martha Hyer, Patricia Neal and Agnes Nixon.
His funeral was held a week after his death on 12 April 2008 in a ceremony which was attended by 250 people including former First Lady Nancy Davis, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olivia de Havilland, Keith Carradine, Pat Boone, Tom Selleck, Oliver Stone and Rob Reiner.
His professional name of Charlton Heston came from a combination of his mother's maiden name (Lila Charlton) and his stepfather's last name (Chester Heston).
His wife calls him Charlie, but everyone else calls him Chuck
Hosted "Saturday Night Live" (1975) in 1993.
In 1981, Heston was named co-chairman of President Ronald Reagan's Task Force for the Arts and Humanities. He served on the National Council for the Arts and was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild six times.
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 also appears in the photo which was published in the Summer 1996 issue of the CCC's newsletter, the Citizens Informer.
In 1999 he joined Karl Malden in pressing for an honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement to be awarded to veteran director Elia Kazan. Marlon Brando, who never made public appearances, refused to present the award so Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese ultimately did.
In 2000 he surprised the Oxford Union by reading his address on gun laws from a teleprompter. This later sparked rumors he had known of his Alzheimer's long before he announced it to the world in August 2002.
In April 2003 10-foot-tall bronze statue of Heston was erected in front of the NRA's national headquarters in Washington, D.C., in character from Will Penny (1968), in full cowboy gear holding a handgun.
In his youth he used an iron bar attached to a wall to do pull ups and chin ups in order to develop his biceps and triceps.
In the animated television show "Family Guy" (1999), Heston is accidentally shot by character Joe Swanson. Joe is horrified and apologizes profusely. As he collapses, Heston replies "That's OK son - it's your right as an American citizen!".
Initially turned down the role of Steve Leech in The Big Country (1958) because he didn't think the role was big enough after the success he had with The Ten Commandments (1956), but his agent convinced him to take the part on the grounds that it would be worth it for his career to work with both Gregory Peck, who was still a bigger star than Heston at the time, and director William Wyler. This association led to Heston being cast in Wyler's next film, as the title character in Ben-Hur (1959), for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor.
Is the youngest man to receive the Golden Globes Cecil B. DeMille Award, in 1967 at the age of 43.
Missed the start of his presentation at The 44th Annual Academy Awards (1972) (TV), because of a flat tire on the Santa Monica freeway. Clint Eastwood stood in for him, and before Eastwood finished the speech that Heston was due to give, Heston arrived, to some audience laughter and enjoyment.
Named The Call of the Wild (1972) as his worst movie.
Neighbors who live down the hill from Heston filed a lawsuit against the actor, alleging their property was damaged in January 2005 when heavy rain sent hillside debris pouring into their home. The lawsuit alleges that "slope failure" on Heston's property caused substantial damage to their home, diminishing the market value of their property. The couple seek at least $1.2 million, as well as punitive damages. Jeff Briggs, Heston's attorney, said the actor owns ten per cent of the hillside, while the neighbors own the rest. (3 January 2007).
Offered to return his entire paycheck to the producers of Major Dundee (1965) so that director Sam Peckinpah could film some crucial scenes that were cut due to time and budget constraints. The producers took back Heston's paycheck but still refused to let the scenes be filmed. Heston wrote in his autobiography "In The Arena" (1995) that the main problem with Major Dundee (1965) was that everyone had a different idea of what the film was: Heston saw it as a film about life after the Civil War, the producers just wanted a standard cavalry-vs.-Indians film, while Peckinpah, according to Heston, really had his next film, The Wild Bunch (1969), in mind.
On 18 June 1968, Heston appeared on "The Joey Bishop Show" (1967) and, along with Gregory Peck, James Stewart and Kirk Douglas, called for gun controls following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Ironically, thirty years later, Heston was elected President of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) and campaigned against gun control.
On August 9, 2002, he issued a statement in which he advised his physicians have recently told him he may have a neurological disorder whose symptoms are consistent with Alzheimer's disease.
On December 4, 1993, aged 80, he became the oldest man to host "Saturday Night Live" (1975) in the show's history, and the third oldest overall, behind Miskel Spillman and Ruth Gordon.
One of his biggest regrets was that he never got to play the lead role in Becket.
Originally a Democrat who campaigned for Presidential candidates Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy, he gradually switched to becoming a conservative Republican during the 1960s.
Owned more than 400 modern and antique guns.
Participated in the March on Washington for Civil Rights on 28 August 1963, along with Burt Lancaster, Marlon Brando, Sidney Poitier, Bob Dylan and Harry Belafonte.
Prior to starring in The Omega Man (1971), a remake of Vincent Price's film The Last Man on Earth (1964), Heston and Price appeared together in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956).
Professed great respect and admiration for the late actor Gregory Peck, despite their opposing political ideals.
Ranked #28 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Recipient of Kennedy Center honors in 1997, along with Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, Jessye Norman and Edward Villella.
Reports at the time suggested that Heston badly wanted to play Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons (1966). The part went to Paul Scofield instead.
Said that Planet of the Apes (1968) was the most physically demanding film he had ever done.
Somewhat ironically, Heston was a vocal supporter of the Gun Control Act of 1968, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson.
Stated in his autobiography 'In The Arena' that while he felt Anthony Mann was a good director, he also felt that Mann's lack of experience in directing large scale historical films such as their 1961 epic El Cid (1961) hurt the overall product and also stated that El Cid may have benefited from being directed by William Wyler, who directed Heston in The Big Country (1958) and Ben-Hur (1959), or someone like Wyler.
The actors he admired the most were Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, Clark Gable, Cary Grant and James Stewart.
Though often portrayed as an ultra-conservative, Heston wrote in his 1995 autobiography "In the Arena" that he was opposed to the McCarthy witch hunts of the 1950s, was against the Vietnam War and thought President Richard Nixon was bad for America.
Three grandsons: John Alexander Clarke "Jack" Heston, Ridley Charlton Rochell, and "Charlie" Rochell.
Tried to revive the play "Mister Roberts" in the early 1990s, but was unsuccessful.
Turned down Rock Hudson's role as the captain of a nuclear submarine in Ice Station Zebra (1968) because he didn't think there was much characterization in the script.
Turned down Gary Cooper's role in High Noon (1952).
Turned down an offer to co-star with Marilyn Monroe in Let's Make Love (1960) in order to be directed in a play by Laurence Olivier, whom he greatly admired.
Turned down the lead in The Omen (1976). The role then went to Gregory Peck.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Heston continued to act on the stage. He appeared in Long Day's Journey Into Night opposite Deborah Kerr, Macbeth opposite Vanessa Redgrave and The Caine Mutiny with Ben Cross. His final stage role was opposite his wife Lydia Clarke in Love Letters at the Haymarket Theatre in London in the summer of 1999.
Very popular in Japan, where even his less successful films were generally well received, because his screen persona embodied the qualities that the Japanese had admired in their Samurai warriors.