Conservatives should celebrate the 100th anniversary of Charlton Heston’s birth before 2023 becomes a distant memory. Heston not just fought against Hollywood’s leftward drift in politics, but he also courageously embodied the values of family and work, civility and principle over his long career.
Heston was a boy born in Michigan on October 4,1923. He spent his childhood in idyllic backwoods, but suffered the pain of separation and loss that came along with the divorce of his parents. Heston learned a valuable lesson in life about happiness as a young boy. Heston was a man of many accomplishments. He became the glitterati of Hollywood, received international acclaim, and dined with world leaders. But he never forgot his family. He remained devoted to Lydia, his wife, until his death, and made fatherhood his most important duty.
Heston’s passion for acting as a child led him to receive a scholarship at Northwestern University to study theatre. Heston and his wife, an actress who was a young woman at the time, went to New York after World War II to pursue their careers in theater on Broadway. Heston’s natural talent, rugged stage presence and old-fashioned perseverance paid off when he established himself as an actor in New York in the early days of live television productions. Hollywood found him.
Heston’s film career would place him on the same level as Hollywood’s greatest dramatic actors of the 20th century, such as Gary Cooper and Henry Fonda. Heston also worked with John Wayne, James Stewart, John Wayne and John Wayne. Their cinematic storytelling shared a common theme: flawed characters, bitter conflicts and the best in human spirit. Heston made over 100 films, of which half were among the best in American cinema.
[elementor-template id="1446"]The Ben-Hur is his masterpiece. It was a blockbuster MGM release in 1959. This historical fiction deserves to be rediscover by every new generation of moviegoers. Heston’s , Ben-Hur is Old Hollywood at its finest. It connects us with the Roman antiquity as well as Jesus Christ’s world. Heston’s portrayal of Judah Ben-Hur immortalized in Lew Wallace novel won him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Ben-Hur’s famous Chariot-race spectacle was created without computerized effects. It is still one of the best action scenes to come out Hollywood. It is essential that the viewer sees it on screen to feel the trembling stallions and hear the roaring crowd. Heston learned how to drive a chariot in preparation for Ben Hur. William Wyler spent three months capturing those four crucial minutes. Heston described the shoot as follows:
The four thousand extras were able to cheer the chariots as they thundered through the turns. Our extras were ecstatic as I passed Messala, crumpled in the sand, when we shot the long shot of Ben-Hur cantering into the victory lap. The crowd jumped out of the stands, without any direction. They chased the white team. A young Arab grabbed Messala’s helmet, pranced and held it up like a trophy. It was a wonderful, spontaneous moment.
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Ben-Hur may be more appealing to modern audiences than Heston’s other ancient classic: Ten Commandments. Commandments, a Wagnerian scale film produced by Cecil B. DeMille and featuring 14,000 extras plus 15,000 animals in Egypt, was shot on location. The film launched the young Heston into stardom as Moses and made a powerful cinematic statement that is unimaginable today in Hollywood.
The Greatest Show on Earth is another DeMille classic featuring Heston. It’s a human-interest drama about the American circus of the early 20th century in its prime. The 1951 Technicolor film is a docudrama that captures the sprawling three-ring circus, with its huge tents, aerobatic acts, and exotic animals. All of this has been lost to time. The Greatest Showunconsciously preserves an image of 1950s America, a time and society that Hollywood today wants to deconstruct but which DeMille, Heston and other fine actors ennobled.
Heston’s filmography also contains timeless classics like El Cid, 55 Days at Peking, The Greatest Story ever Told, Khartoum, and Midway. Heston’s fascination with historical drama was not a coincidence. He explained in his memoirs that he had been captivated by it.
When I was in school, I liked history, but never really studied it. After I started doing real research and preparing my parts, I realized what I am now convinced of: History isn’t just the most important, it could be the only one.
Heston has a keen eye for historical accuracy and an insatiable thirst for authenticity. Heston spent his entire career researching, reviewing and editing scripts to prepare for the recreation of historical figures such as Richelieu and Mark Antony. The actor created the character of Andrew Jackson in The President’s Lady, and The Buccaneer better than anyone else. Heston’s portrayal of Michelangelo, in the 1965 drama The Agony and the Ecstasy was one of his best performances.
[elementor-template id="1446"]Heston was always at home on the stage, often interrupting his career in film to go back to the stage and hone his skills with the best like Laurence Olivier. Heston was a man who demanded more from himself and understood that engaging with live audiences would make him better at the screen. The actor, who was also well-versed in history, philosophy, and literature, felt at home with Shakespeare and the Bible. Heston was able to portray the Stratford Bard’s greatest characters better than any Hollywood actor in his generation.
He may have taken his Shakespeare obsession too far at times. Heston’s attempts to adapt Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, and Antony & Cleopatra into moving pictures both failed. Heston’s stage performance was not deterred by the fact that Shakespeare’s rich dialog rarely works on film. Heston also played in Kenneth Branagh 1996 Hamlet which lost money. Heston’s powerful bass voice made him the perfect choice to deliver King Henry’s Eve speech on Saint Crispin’s Day. Unfortunately, Heston’s performance was never recorded. Branagh made Henry VI in to a film and turned a profit.
Heston, as a Hollywood overlord was self-critical, magnanimous and kept his ego under control to finish projects in the best tradition of “the show must go on”. Heston’s generosity and negotiations with studios ensured the 1958 Orson Welles masterpiece Touch of Evil was finally made. Heston gave a great performance in evil but later regretted that he portrayed his Mexican police chief character as being too American. Heston described Welles’s creativity as the best in Hollywood.
[elementor-template id="1446"]Heston saved Sam Peckinpah from losing his bacon by completing the Western Major Dundee. Peckinpah was known to arrive drunk at the filming set. Columbia executives wanted to cancel the project. Heston saved it by contributing to the cost overruns. Heston praised Peckinpah for his many talents in his memoirs. However, he also described a revenge incident on the set, when the actor, riding on horseback and frustrated, drew a saber and charged at the besotted and annoying director.
Heston considered a second Western, Will Penny, the intensely personal drama of a tough loner cowboy, as one of his finest film performances. Heston considered Will Penny – the intensely personal drama about a tough, loner cowboy – as one of his best film performances.
Heston’s Planet of the Apes is considered by many to be his most innovative film. Apes was a 1968 statement-movie that not only introduced a new science-fiction genre, but also struck a chord with Cold-War moviegoers. The actor then went on to appear in other science fiction cult films, including Soylent Green, The Omega Man. The latter film paired Heston with a black love interest in a groundbreaking move for its time.
[elementor-template id="1446"]Heston made his first Hollywood film in Dark City, a well-acted movie-noir crime story that showcased a young Heston in his late 20s with an impressive big-screen presence. A forgotten sleeper, Secret of the Incas is an adventure film filmed in Peru. Heston plays a gringo who is opportunistic and rugged in South America. Heston was the original Indiana Jones.
Heston was rumored to have been able to make several films, but for some reason he didn’t. Some of these what-ifs include replacing William Holden as a POW in the intense POW Drama Stalag17, and taking John Wayne’s role in The Longest Day. Heston turned down Delivery. Imagine Heston in place of Gregory Peck in the 1977 biopic about General Douglas MacArthur.
In The Arena is Heston’s autobiography from 1995, based on the daily journal entries he made throughout his career. It’s a treasure trove of Hollywood tales that give us an insider’s perspective of the great films (and not-so-great ones) that consumed his professional lifetime. Heston’s 1995 autobiography, em>In the Arena/em>, is a treasure trove of Hollywood stories that gives us an insider’s view of all the great (and not-so-great) films that consumed his professional life. Heston writes thoughtfully and frankly about his many acting struggles: successes and mistakes, as well as inadequacies. Heston’s memoir recounts a life of public service in an industry that is fiercely competitive. Heston shows remarkable generosity.
[elementor-template id="1446"]Chuck Heston is a political person, but not a politician. He considered running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in California but wisely declined that career switch because he in his heart was a thespian. Ronald Reagan mentored Heston’s political career, as both men had served in the toughest job in Hollywood: President of the Screen Actors Guild. Heston didn’t consider Reagan to be a great actor but admired his negotiating skills. He also considered him as a gifted statesman, who “understood the concept performance.”
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Heston, like Reagan, was a Democrat that could legitimately complain about the radicalization of his party. Heston said he had a conservative epiphany when he saw the 1964 billboard “Goldwater for President”, which stated: “In your hearts, you know that he is right.”
Heston visited combat zones in order to show his support for our troops during a conflict he believed Washington mismanaged. Heston was proud of his support for Dr. Martin Luther King, and he was present at the Lincoln Memorial during the speech in 1963. Heston would have viewed loyalty to the U.S. Constitution, as the guiding star that led him to march with Martin Luther King, and then to stand with NRA to defend Second Amendment rights.
Heston was a great actor and he enjoyed playing Sir Thomas More. Heston starred in the 1988 television adaptation of Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons. Heston often quoted More’s line from the story, which expressed his own special commitment to honor and principle: “When a person takes an oath he is holding himself in his hands like water.” Heston liked to quote More’s line in the story that expressed his own special adherence to principle and honor: “When a man takes an oath, he holds himself in his hands like water.”
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