Charlton Heston, RIP [Updated]

Tonight, Charlton Heston died at age 84.

Despite extreme-right-wing political views that make me cringe, Heston starred in a lot of treasured movies from my childhood – Planet of the apes (obviously), Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, The Omega Man, The Three (and Four) Musketeers, True Lies... and later in life, I discovered Touch of Evil and Soylent Green (which, despite the now-comedic ending, is actually a funky little film).

In the coming days, keep your eyes peeled for too many jokes about Heston's famous "from my cold, dead hands" line (regarding gun laws in the US).

I choose to respectfully decline that gag, and instead call attention to his credits from 1997 - 1998, where he was credited in six different films as "Narrator" ("Actor" entries #11 - 15, and "self" entry #45). Well done.

He may have been crazy, but he leaves behind a collection of performances I'll be watching the rest of my life. In a lot of ways, he was my first view of "Old Hollywood," an era even farther away now that he's passed.

Bon voyage.





[Update]

I found this great tribute Richard Dreyfuss wrote back in August of 2002, when Heston announced that he had Alzheimer's disease. A wonderful piece, and sadly relevant today.