Remembering Charlton Heston

April 30, 2008

Love ya, Cleveland. This entry is a tribute to the late, great Charlton Heston. I consider Heston to be one of the greatest actors of all time. He starred in 124 movies in his career, and then later he made many TV movies and appeared in many TV series. Then he became a political activist and NRA president. In this tribute, I want to look back at his career and point out the performances that I consider his best.

His first great role was in 1950 when he starred as Marc Antony in Julius Caesar. That role really launched him. He had a great relationship with producer/director Cecil B. DeMille and as a result of his performance here, as a young, good-looking leading man, he was cast in DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), based on the Barnum and Bailey circus, costarring Jimmy Stewart. It was nominated and won Best Picture. Heston played the head of the circus and gave a memorable performance which again launched him into some other movies with DeMille, most notably The Ten Commandments.

He did some good Westerns in between. He did The Savage in 1952 and Pony Express in 1953 where he played “Buffalo Bill” Cody. In 1953, he also did Arrowhead.

He did The Naked Jungle in 1954, which was actually kind of a B movie. Then he did Secret of the Incas – a not too publicized film where he played a real hard-nosed character opposite Thomas Mitchell. He did The Far Horizons and a comedy called The Private War of Major Benson in 1955. And then of course in 1956 his big break came when he played Moses in The Ten Commandments opposite Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter. He gave a tremendous performance. To this day it may be the movie he’s best known for. This role caused William Wyler, the great director, to notice him and put him in a couple of movies. The first was The Big Country (1958), which I consider one of the greatest Westerns of all time. He played kind of a bad guy as the foreman on a big ranch owned by Charles Bickford. Burl Ives plays the rival rancher, in a Hatfields and McCoys kind of story. Gregory Peck tries to establish peace between the two. This movie has one of the greatest fight scenes in motion picture history between Heston’s character and Peck’s character in the middle of the “Big Country” – great, underrated movie. Also in 1958 Heston did Touch of Evil and another Demille film called The Buccaneer where he played President Andrew Jackson as a general in the War of 1812. The Buccaneer co-starred Inger Stevens and Yul Brynner, who played the legendary pirate Jean Lafitte. Heston is excellent in the supporting role.

In 1959, Heston did The Wreck of Mary Deare and, of course, Ben-Hur, which is his most acclaimed role. He was cast by Wyler to play Judah Ben-Hur alongside Stephen Boyd and Hugh Griffith. It won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. I still say to this day Ben-Hur stands the test of time, and I think it’s the greatest movie of all time. Heston gives one of the greatest performances of all time, and he won the Oscar for it. It’s a tremendous story, and it also features one of the most memorable scenes in motion picture history – the chariot race.

In 1961, Heston starred opposite Sophia Loren in El Cid, a film about the legendary Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar. Heston always believed that El Cid did not get the credit it deserved. This movie was yet another epic in Heston’s arsenal. He became known for them throughout his career.

In 1963, he did Diamond Head. This movie didn’t get much acclaim, but that doesn’t matter with Heston because he always gave such a masterful performance. Next he did 55 Days at Peking (1963), which starred an all-star cast (David Niven, Ava Gardner). I think this is Heston’s most underrated acting performance. He played Major Matt Lewis.

1965 was a very good year for Heston. He was in a Western called Major Dundee. He starred in The War Lord. He played John the Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told (which a lot of people don’t realize). And he gave an underrated performance as Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy. I thought he should have won Best Actor or at least been nominated. He played opposite Rex Harrison, playing the Pope, who employs him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It’s really a great, underrated performance – one of his best in my opinion. But he got overlooked.

In 1966, Heston was in Khartoum where he played Gen. Charles “Chinese” Gordon. In 1968, he played astronaut George Taylor in Planet of the Apes. Also in 1968 he did another Western called Will Penny. He played kind of a sympathetic figure in that film. In 1970, he was in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, but not as much as originally intended. They originally wanted him to have more of a major role, but Heston didn't think there was anything left for his character to accomplish. So he only agreed to give a cameo performance, which is at the very end of the movie.

He did Julius Caesar in 1970, portraying Marc Antony again. He also did The Hawaiians in 1970. Then he did The Omega Man, which I thought was a very good film. It was a futuristic movie where he was one of the last survivors on the planet (I Am Legend was a partial remake of this premise). In 1973, he did Soylent Green – another science fiction, futuristic movie. This time the earth was becoming overpopulated and food was growing scarce. He played opposite Edward G. Robinson as detective Robert Thorn. Heston was absolutely great. The chemistry between he and Robinson was phenomenal. Robinson deserved a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance and did not get it. That turned out to be his last performance.

In 1974, Heston did two disaster movies, Airport 1975 and Earthquake. As he explains it, everybody was doing at least one disaster movie in that era. Then he played Cardinal Richelieu in The Four Musketeers.

In 1976, Heston starred in Midway. This was the World War II movie about the Battle of Midway. He played Captain Matthew Garth. This was a very good war movie. Also in 1976 he starred in another disaster movie called Two-Minute Warning that was set during the Super Bowl. He played a detective in that film.

In 1978, he did Gray Lady Down. In 1980, he did The Mountain Men. From there, Heston kind of turned his career to TV. He did Dynasty and a ton of other series and shows. His career will be best known for all the epic movies he made during his illustrious career. He was an icon in the motion picture industry, giving us some of the best performances of all time, and he will certainly be missed. Until next time, remember….. I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I love ya, Cleveland.