Charleton Heston dead at 84 by reginaroadie

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Charleton Heston dead at 84

POSTED BY: REGINAROADIE
UPDATED: Sunday, April 6, 2008 11:31
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Saturday, April 5, 2008 8:38 PM

Hey All

Just came back from SHINE A LIGHT (the first great movie of 2008) and saw this little bit of sad news.

(FROM AP) — Legendary actor Charlton Heston, one of the last surviving links to the golden age of old Hollywood, has died. The Oscar-winning star had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease. According to a family spokesman, he passed away Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Associated Press said he was 84 years old, though reports on his age vary.

Characterized by a muscular build and booming voice, Heston starred in more than 100 films over 60 years. He gained fame as the star of epic movies, playing Moses in The Ten Commandments, John the Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told, and the title character in Ben-Hur, the role for which he won a Best Actor Oscar in 1960. He was also one of the early action-film stars, having fronted movies such as Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Soylent Green, and the disaster flicks Airport 1975 and Earthquake.

But Heston was known just as well for his work off screen, which kept him in the public eye during a late-career period when his film appearances became scarce. He served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1965-1971, and also spent time as the chairman of the American Film Institute. A high-profile Civil Rights activist in the 1950s and 1960s, he went on to become the president of the National Rifle Association in the 1990s. He won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993.

I didn't know he was a civil rights activist. I thought him being president of the NRA was the only non-acting thing he did.

Still, it is incredibly sad news. Heston truly was one of the last true movie stars. He achieved cinematic immortality racing chariots in ancient Rome, parting the Red Sea, yelling "Soylent Green is People!!" and telling some damn dirty apes to get their paws off of him and then blowing them all to Hell.

I think everyone here has seen the original PLANET OF THE APES and can agree it's probably one of the top 10 sci-fi films ever made, and a big part of it has to do with Heston as Taylor, probably the most cynical bastard to ever travel through space. If you look closely, you can see a bit of both Mal and Jayne within Taylor.

It's a shame that the Alzheimer's probably kept him from really doing an amazing final performance. But, we still have great memories of him.

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"And it starts with a sentence that might last a lifetime, or it all might just go down in flames. If I let you know me, then why would you want me? Each day I don't is a shame. Each day I don't is a great shame."

Loudon Wainwright III - "Strange Weirdos" off the "Knocked Up" soundtrack

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Saturday, April 5, 2008 8:57 PM

OUT2THEBLACK

Good article about a sad event in a full life...

More on this , later...

Meanwhile , R-R , you should enclose the AP portion of the article in quotes...

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Sunday, April 6, 2008 11:31 AM

CHRISISALL

He is Legend.

The Omega Chrisisall

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