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Charlton Heston | |
|---|---|
 Heston at the March on Washington in 1963 | |
| Born | John Charles Carter[1] October 4, 1923 Wilmette, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | April 5, 2008 (aged 84) |
| Resting place | Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church Columbarium Pacific Palisades, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1941–2003 |
| Works | Filmography |
| Political party |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 2, including Fraser Clarke Heston |
| 56th President of the National Rifle Association | |
| In office 1998–2003 | |
| Preceded by | Marion P. Hammer |
| Succeeded by | Kayne Robinson |
| President of the Screen Actors Guild | |
| In office 1965–1971 | |
| Preceded by | Dana Andrews |
| Succeeded by | John Gavin |
| Military career | |
| Service | United States Army Air Forces |
| Years of service | 1944–1946 |
| Rank | Staff Sergeant |
| Unit | 77th Bombardment Squadron |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
Charlton Heston[1] (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor. He gained stardom for his leading man roles in numerous Hollywood films including biblical epics, science-fiction films and action films. He won the Academy Award as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, and three Primetime Emmy Awards. He won numerous honorary accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1978, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1967, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1971, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1997, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003.[2][3]
Heston gained stardom for his leading roles as Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956), and as the title role of Ben-Hur (1959), the latter of which earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. His other notable credits include The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Secret of the Incas (1954), Touch of Evil (1958), The Big Country (1958), El Cid (1961), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Khartoum (1966), Planet of the Apes (1968), Julius Caesar (1970), The Omega Man (1971), Antony and Cleopatra (1972), Soylent Green (1973), The Three Musketeers (1974), Airport 1975 (1974), Earthquake (1974), and Crossed Swords (1978). He later acted in Mother Lode (1982), Tombstone (1993), True Lies (1994), Alaska (1996), and Hamlet (1996).
In the 1950s and early 1960s, he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors who openly denounced racism and he was also an active supporter of the civil rights movement. In 1987, Heston left the Democratic Party and became a Republican, founding a conservative political action committee and supporting Ronald Reagan. Heston was a five-term president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), from 1998 to 2003. After announcing that he had Alzheimer's disease in 2002, he retired from acting and the NRA presidency.[4]
- ^ a b Eliot, Marc. Hollywood's Last Icon: Charlton Heston, HarperCollins Publishing © 2017; ISBN 978-0-06-242043-5 (553 pages); pp. 11–12 address birthname controversy: "Then, as if to erase everything that reminded her son of Russell, Lilla told him his name was no longer John Charles Carter; from now on he was Charlton Heston."
- ^ "Charlton Heston". Golden Globe Awards Official Website. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
- ^ Swartz, Tracy (February 26, 2016). "After his death, Charlton Heston's family split his Oscars". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
- ^ "Charlton Heston's Last Sneer" Archived May 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, SFGate.com, April 30, 2003.