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Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston
Heston at the March on Washington in 1963
Born
John Charles Carter[1]

(1923-10-04)October 4, 1923
Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.
DiedApril 5, 2008(2008-04-05) (aged 84)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Resting placeSaint Matthew's Episcopal Church Columbarium
Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.
Alma materNorthwestern University
Occupations
  • Actor
  • activist
Years active1941–2003
WorksFilmography
Political party
Spouse
​
(m. 1944)​
Children2, including Fraser Clarke Heston
56th President of the National Rifle Association
In office
1998–2003
Preceded byMarion P. Hammer
Succeeded byKayne Robinson
16th President of the Screen Actors Guild
In office
1965–1971
Preceded byDana Andrews
Succeeded byJohn Gavin
Military career
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Army Air Corps
Years of service1944–1946
Rank Staff Sergeant
Unit77th Bombardment Squadron
Battles/warsWorld War II

Charlton Heston[1] (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist.[2] 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.[3][4]

Heston gained stardom for his leading roles as Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956), and as the title role of Ben-Hur (1959), the later 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 to speak openly against racism and was an active supporter of the civil rights movement. Heston left the Democratic Party in 1987 to become 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 he had Alzheimer's disease in 2002, he retired from both acting and the NRA presidency.[5]

  1. ^ 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."
  2. ^ Berkvist, Robert (April 6, 2008). "Charlton Heston, Epic Film Star and Voice of N.R.A., Dies at 84". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 23, 2013. Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  3. ^ "Charlton Heston". Golden Globe Awards Official Website. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  4. ^ Swartz, Tracy (February 26, 2016). "After his death, Charlton Heston's family split his Oscars". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
  5. ^ "Charlton Heston's Last Sneer" Archived May 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, SFGate.com, April 30, 2003.