Charlton Heston dies at age 84

twinsrwe · Post by **twinsrwe** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:47 am

Actor Charlton Heston died, Saturday night, at his Beverly Hills home; his wife Lydia was at his side. He was 84 years old. No cause of death has been reported, yet. Charlton Heston was one of my favorite actors; he was a truly remarkable person with a gift for acting.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4598982&page=1

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/04/06/h ... index.html

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2008 ... at_84.html

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCJ ... U7Yo0fePbQ

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:52 am

That's a shame. Thanks for posting such a great photo of him, twinsrwe.

Richard Widmark died recently, too. He was like 93.

twinsrwe · Post by **twinsrwe** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 12:06 pm

You're welcome, Augusta. I also think that is a great picture of him.

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:56 am

That's how I'd like to remember him.

I remember seeing "Planet of the Apes" at the movies when I was a kid. It had him running naked being chased by apes. He was in really great shape, and he must have been 40 or so then.

Gee, are there any old movie stars left?? Oh - Eli Wallach, I think. I can't think of any more.

But all those stars from the 1960's are really up there. The Enquirer ran a picture of Jethro (Max Baer) and I think it said he was SEVENTY. It's hard to think of "Jethro" as that old.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:42 am

Yes, he was a class act. The first movie I remember seeing him in was about army ants, The Naked Jungle.

He was very good in Khartoum too.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:09 pm

Augusta, you should see the actress who played Ellie May (Donna Douglas). She's a little old lady now.

Its funny but I just spontaneously watched the movie EARTHQUAKE with Charlton Heston a few days before he died. I hadn't seen that movie since it was in the movie theater. It's badly written (despite having Mario Puzo as a screenwriter) and is directed like a made-for-tv movie, but the earthquake scenes and some of the aftermath is truly shocking. Since they didn't have CGI back then, the earthquake segment, which lasts about 8 full minutes, has an unsettling 9/11 feel to it. It was a tribute to the filmmakers that they didn't play any music during the quake and just let the images speak for themselves.

There was an odd moment, when Charlton Heston is talking to his mistress played by Genevieve Bujold and they are discussing their relative lack of sexual prudishness.

"I'm no Mary Poppins!" she says.
"Well, I'm no Billy Graham but..." he replies.

I thought that was an odd moment, like Ed Wood was writing the screenplay.

Heston was great in Shakespeare, although not a great Shakesperean actor. He just ate the scenery.

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:47 pm

Hey, Richard! Yes, I saw Donna Douglas doing an interview a few years ago. She's a cute little old lady.

She said she was originally from the south - Georgia, I think. And she had a southern accent, which she had to lose to go into acting. And then she gets the Elly Mae role.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:58 pm

With all due respect for Mr. Heston, I must pause to comment that the Beverely Hillbillies was an inspired piece of genius! I love that show! Especially the early black and white ones.

twinsrwe · Post by **twinsrwe** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:51 pm

There are so many of Charlton Heston movies that I truly enjoyed, such as Planet of the Apes, Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, to name a few. However, my all time favorite is the 1983 TV mini-series, Chiefs. This mini-series is definitely a classic. Charlton Heston, did a magnificent job as narrator in this mini-series, as well as playing the role of Hugh Holmes. This mini-series had an outstanding cast, with Charlton Heston, Wayne Rogers, Brad Davis, Billy Dee Williams, Keith Carradine, Stephen Collins, Tess Harper, Paul Sorvino, and Victoria Tennant, to name a few. With a cast like this, how could it be anything else but a dynamite mini-series?

I think, Stuart Woods' novel, Chiefs, is one of the best police dramas that has ever been written. The 1983 Chiefs, TV mini-series, is a first–class adaptation of Mr. Woods' novel; it is surprising how close the plot of the movie is to the plot of this novel. This is a thumbs up movie, for sure.

1bigsteve · Post by **1bigsteve** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 5:43 pm

I just bought a copy of his auto-bio this morning. I always liked "Chucky." He was good.

I loved that scene in "Earthquake" as he tells George Kennedy, who as a police officer is trying to commandeer Chucky's SUV: "It has a custom transmission. It has eight forward speeds... and three reverses, and all of them are a lot harder to operate than that .38."

I thought that scene at the end was bitter-sweet when he chooses to die with his nagging wife rather than going on living with his girl friend. Now thats class! I love his films.

Rest in peace Charlton.

-1bigsteve (o:

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:29 pm

Did anyone see TCM's Robert Osborne show his 1997 interview with Heston the other nite? It was so good! What a gentleman he was off the screen (well, I guess he was still on the screen in the interview, but he had to play himself). In his mid-70's then, he was very handsome. He said he got the name "Charlton Heston" because he put his mother's last name and his step-mother's last name together. His real name was something like James Charles Carter (?).

He said 11 days after shooting "Soylent Green", Edward G. Robinson died, and EGR knew he was dying. He knew that last scene was really his last scene he'd ever film.

He said he grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He didn't say what town, tho. I'd love to know where.

He preferrred to be called "Chuck", Big Steve.

I agree, Richard. "The Beverly Hillbillies" was genius. Today I think "The Simpsons" is genius, but some of their later shows haven't been up to par.
They say that "Gilligan's Island" was probably the most perfect idea for a sitcom because of all the possibilities they could do - the show would never run out of ideas. One of my all-time favorite shows was "The Odd Couple". The 1970's had one of the best years ever for tv - All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Odd Couple. Really fresh and creative stuff.