Charlton Heston has died at 84! (1 Viewer)

[Holadem]

A great, charismatic actor -- RIP.

--
H

 

[Lucia Duran]

"Soylent Green is xxxxx!"

He was a fantastic actor and I enjoyed so many of films.








(Spoiler removed by moderator - CA)

 

[Cees Alons]

Sad news, respectable age, fantastic actor indeed. Sometimes I can reproduce the feeling we had after seeing one of his great movies in the theater, especially immediately after. It's great to be able to own those movies on a video medium now (we still need his Long John Silver).

Thanks, Chuck Heston, for a very long time you will be remembered in a good way by many.
RIP!


Cees

 

[Quentin]

Heston gone. I'm so bummed. I just watched Tombstone last night. He was so larger than life. RIP.

 

[Henry Gale]

Cees, even lost tribes near the Amazon know that line.






(Henry: only the cannibals among them - CA)

 

[teapot2001]

He was actually 83 years old.

~T

 

[LCD22]

I just read this over on The Digital Forum. RIP. :frowning:

The Ten Commandments will, and always be, one of my favorites and one of the greatest and epic films ever made. Thank you, Mr. Heston, for bringing your incredible performance to it. You will be solely missed.

This will probably be under the radar to some, but he was also in the 1990 Disney Channel original movie The Little Kidnappers. Good movie and gave another great performance.

 

[Robert Crawford]

No, he was 84 years old. Some media reports and publications had his birth year as 1924 when it was actually 1923.

 

[WadeM]

Stars of today just don't compare to stars of yesteryear. The charisma, character, class and style of the older stars don't seem like they'll ever be matched. I watch classic movies more than other movies because of the qualities of people like Charlton Heston. RIP.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Very sad to hear this.

He's left us an amazing body of work that will last forever.

Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, El Cid, Planet of the Apes, Omega Man to name but a few.

Time to rewatch some of them.

 

[Patrick Sun]

RIP, Mr. Heston, you will be missed, and you left us an amazing body of work.

 

[Mario Gauci]

Joe,


I've known of your admiration for Charlton Heston - and particularly for BEN-HUR (1959), PLANET OF THE APES (1968) and THE OMEGA MAN (1971) - for years now but this is the first time I've heard of your meeting Big Chuck in person - and thrice to boot! I'm glad also that they proved to be more satisfying encounters than those with your other big idol, Sir Paul!

Anyway, although I've seen a number of the man's work fairly recently, I still intend to give him a well-deserved and extensive tribute in the coming days; the same goes for Richard Widmark and, to a lesser extent (in terms of movies being watched) Jules Dassin.

On a personal level, Death has sadly been a regular companion these past three years (having lost 2 work colleagues and 3 close relatives - the latest, youngest and most tragic happening just 3 weeks ago - in the interim) but, thankfully, we can still relive the memories of our cinematic heroes through their best work on home video. For the record, I won't be watching BEN-HUR itself but I have a handful of first viewings of early minor entries in Heston's filmography on the schedule and several of his latterday genre efforts. Watch out for those reviews...

 

[Dave Hahn]

Like so many others, I am deeply saddened by the passing of one of Hollywood's greatest actors, and relieved that his suffering is finally over.

I will always remember him as astronaut George Taylor in Planet of the Apes. Without Heston the film could have been nothing more then another B-movie in the sci-fi genre. His presence in the film, and his acting made it believable, and one of the great films of not just the era, of not just the genre, but of all time.

His screen presence is legendary, and in my mind can only be compared with the likes of John Wayne. Unlike Wayne, Heston was not afraid to stretch and took parts in films from all genres; epics, westerns, war, suspense and of course science fiction.

Was he controversial, sure; he said it like he saw it and his politics made him anathema in liberal Hollywood. So much so that the likes of George Clooney could get away with making jokes about Mr. Heston's illness.

Perhaps the most revealing thing about Charlton Heston was the mutual respect and admiration Heston shared with another screen legend, Gregory Peck. No one was more vehemently opposed to Heston's position on gun laws than Peck, but Peck had said more then once that while he disagreed completely with Heston's politics, he looked fondly on their time together while making The Big Country and that he respected Heston as an actor and as a man.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Same here, Mario. As you know, I haven't been watching many films lately at all; just too tired with work to retain the stamina. So I've taken to watching a lot of TV episodes. But I will be paying cinematic tribute to Heston by watching some old favorites, and also some movies I haven't seen of Chuck's before. I'll probably skip BEN-HUR myself, as I've seen it this year already. Actually, I'd been trying to hold off on my intended double feature of THE OMEGA MAN and SOYLENT GREEN for a long time, saving it in the event of this inevitable passing... yet I caved in and watched them both late in 2007.
Still, I'll be giving those two another spin.

 

[Tony J Case]

Aw, man - that's too bad. I always enjoyed his flicks.

That said, I gotta admit that his acting was of the Shatnerian variety. He was a real scenery chewer - but the stuff he did was best handled by an actor like that.

 

[TonyD]

so what.
not everyone has seen the movie.
that's bad form to give the twist of a movie .

 

[RobertR]

RIP Mr. Heston. One of the Hollywood greats. I had the chance to see him in person at a showing of Ben Hur several years ago.

 

[Steve...O]

Great story, Joe. Thank you for sharing.

As I reflect over this news, my memories of Mr. Heston will be one of a gentleman who exhibited class and intelligence and was a stand up guy in addition to his skills as an actor. His latter day views were controversial, but so was his very vocal and active support of civil rights in the 1960s. He called them as he saw them. At the same time whenever I saw him interviewed about his views he always seemed respectful of those who disagreed with him and stayed above the fray. Consequently many of the online comments about his passing are from those who may have disagreed with some of his opinions but still express enormous respect for the actor and the man behind the actor.

The Clooney swipe of several years back mentioned several posts back is the main reason I don't respect him as a person; what a low blow.

Several years ago my wife and I went to see one of the worst movies ever made, Town & Country, with Beatty and Shandling. The only bright spot for us was Heston's supporting role as Beatty's girlfriend's father. He played it as only he could and the scene where he Beatty that he (Heston) is a dragon who guards his daughter the princess and follows it up with making a dragon roar is a mini classic of self parody.

 

[Henry Gale]

You are correct Tony and I am sorry I offended you with what was meant to be a humorous comment.

 

[Dale MA]

Sad news. :frowning: I'm a fan of his work.