Chariot racing in Ben Hur
"If you need a ceiling painted, a chariot race run, a city besieged, or the Red Sea parted, you think of me."
So said Charlton Heston, a man whose epic performances shaped a generation of cinema and whose uncompromising political stance won him a reputation as tough as his characters'. At heart a shy man, Heston transformed onscreen into the very embodiment of the hero: strong, loyal, honourable, and always steadfast in his beliefs. He played Moses, Ben Hur, Marc Antony, Michaelangelo and El Cid. He was the astronaut hero of Planet Of The Apes and he braved treacherous jungle in search of the Secret Of The Incas. He even uncovered the terrible secret of Soylent Green. When his career began to fade, it was only because the world itself was changing. Heston remained himself.
Born John Charles Carter in a small Illinios town in 1924, Heston was always drawn to acting. School and community theatre performances led to a scholarship at Northwestern University where he met his wife Lydia, who was to stay by his side until the end. He served in the army and went on to a career in theatre, appearing on Broadway in Antony And Cleopatra before he got his first movie break with William Dieterle's Dark City. Two years later he would work with Cecil B. DeMille on The Greatest Show On Earth and all Hollywood would sit up and take notice.
From there on, Heston had no difficulty remaining in the public eye. "I've played cardinals and cowboys, kings and quarterbacks, presidents and painters, cops and con-men," he would later say proudly of his long career. A staunch believer in personal freedom, he courted controversy in the early Sixties by openly supporting the Civil Rights Movement in America, forming a friendship with Martin Luther King Jr., but later he would become disillusioned with left wing politics, and he spent his latter years campaigning for the National Rifle Association.
In 2002, Heston was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. "What cannot be cured must be endured," he concluded, but regretted the distance which the illness created between him and his audience and the effect it had on his work. His final performance was as Josef Mengele in My Father, Rua Alguem 5555 the following year, though he continued to contribute to documentaries about the film industry thereafter.
Heston died at home in Beverly Hills on Saturday. "It's been quite a ride," he said of his life. "I loved every minute of it."
