So, Will Someone Now Try & Pry It Out of His Cold, Dead Hands?

Charlton Heston, 1 of the most versatile American actors of the 20th Century passed away last night (5 April 2008) at the age of 83. He died at his home in Beverly Hills, CA. Lydia, his wife of 64 years, was at his side. While no cause has been given, he had been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease since 2002.

For those of you who don't get it, NO I am not being disrespectful with the title of this post. It refers to a comment he made at the 2000 NRA convention. He held up a hand-made Brooks flintlock rifle & said that the only way that those (Al Gore in particular) who were trying to take away his 2nd Amendment rights would do so by prying it "out of his cold, dead hands." The title is a salute to his love of our freedoms that the US Constitution is ment to protect.

He was born John Charles Carter in Evanston, IL on 4 October 1924. He took his stage name from his mother's maiden name, Charlton & his step-father's last name, Heston.

He made his movie debut in 1941 in the title role of a silent version of Peer Gynt. But he worked on stage until he got his 1st break in 1950. He was given a role in The Hypnotist, an episode of the TV series The Clock. His big screen breakthrough role was as Brad Braden in The Greatest Show on Earth. Over the years he played everyone from Moses to Heathcliff, Judah Ben-Hur to El Cid, Cardinal Richelieu to Jason Colby, Michelangelo to Dr. Zaius in a remake of Planet of the Apes. He even played God. He made epics, small movies, Sci-Fi, Horror, Drama, Comedy, TV series & acted on stage throughout his career. He won the Oscar for Ben-Hur.

He was actively involved in the Civil Rights movement in the 60s. He was also actively involved in politics, 1st as a Democrat & later as a Republican. He was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1965 to 1971. From 1998 to 2003 he was president of the NRA. & while he is better known for his defense of the 2nd Amendment, he was as big a defender of the 1st Amendment. He clearly showed his disdain to PC talk: "Political correctness is tyranny with manners."

Defending true white pride: "The Constitution was handed down to guide us by a bunch of those wise old, dead, white guys who invented this country. It's true - they were white guys. So were most of the guys who died in Lincoln's name, opposing slavery in the 1860s. So, why should I be ashamed of white guys? Why is Hispanic pride or black pride a good thing, while white pride conjures up shaved heads and white hoods?"

Like everyone I have my favorites among his many movies. Some of those on the list will be no surprize, others are lesser known films of his.

Naturally Ben-Hur & The 10 Commandements (1956) make the list. The 1971 version of The Omega Man where he played Robert Neville & 1973's Soylent Green where he played Detective Robert Thorn also make my list. Another movie on my list is True Lies (1994). While it wasn't a huge role, he did get to play the head of the CIA, Spencer Trilby. While The Hawaiians (1970) was a disappointing sequel to Hawaii, there was definitely nobody better qualified to play Whipple 'Whip' Hoxworth than he was. (It wasn't bad, it just would have worked better as a TV mini-series.)

In 1987 he was given what was definitely his most important role. He filmed the introduction to Dr. Bernard Nathanson's documentary about late term abortions, Eclipse of Reason.

Charlton Heston was a great man, a great actor & a great American. His contributions across the board will not soon be forgotten. As for his critics, esp his political ones (re: Barbra Streisand & George Clooney), I leave you with a quote from the original version of Planet of the Apes (1968): "You Maniacs! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!"