Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston American Actor & Political Activist
Birth name: John Charles Carter.
Birth & Death: Oct 4, 1923 – Apr 5, 2008.
Charlton Heston was an American actor and political activist. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years.
He played Moses in the epic film The Ten Commandments (1956), for which he received his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. He also starred in Touch of Evil (1958) with Orson Welles; Ben-Hur (1959), for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor; El Cid (1961); Planet of the Apes 1968 film (1968); The Greatest Show on Earth (1952); Secret of the Incas (1954); The Big Country (1958); and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).
A supporter of Democratic politicians and civil rights in the 1960s, Heston later became a Republican, founding a conservative political action committee and supporting Ronald Reagan. Heston was the five-term president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), from 1998 to 2003.
After announcing he had Alzheimer's disease in 2002, he retired from both acting and the NRA presidency.
You can find people similar to Charlton Heston by visiting our lists Presidents of the American Film Institute and United Service Organizations entertainers.
| Full name at birth | John Charles Carter
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| Claim to fame | 'The Ten Commandments' (1956) 'Ben-Hur' (1959) & 'Planet of the Apes' (1968)
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| Date of birth | 4 October 1923
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| Place of birth | Wilmette, Illinois, USA
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| Date of death | 5 April 2008
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| Age | 84 (age at death)
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| Place of death | Beverly Hills, California, USA
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| Cause of death | Pneumonia
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| Resting place | Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church ColumbariumPacific Palisades, California, U.S.
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| Occupation | Actor, Activist, Director, Writer, Trade Unionist, Stage Actor
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PERSONAL DETAILS
| Height | 6' 3¼" (191 cm)
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| Pets | David Bradley (filmmaker colleague)
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ADDITIONAL DETAILS
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| Net worth | $40,000,000 USD
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| High school | [1941] New Trier High School, Winnetka, IL
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| University | [1941-43] Northwestern University (classical drama scholarship)
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![Charlton Heston and Lydia Marie Clarke - Yours Retro Magazine Pictorial [United Kingdom] (September 2023)](http://img3.bdbphotos.com/images/130x130/f/i/fip0fy9cds1qqpdy.jpg?skj2io4l)
![Charlton Heston - Yours Retro Magazine Pictorial [United Kingdom] (June 2023)](http://img3.bdbphotos.com/images/130x130/k/m/kmgtbigbpn5zbbm5.jpg?skj2io4l)
- While they were starring in a play together in 1960, Laurence Olivier told Heston that he had the potential to become the greatest American actor of the century. When the play received unfavorable notices, Heston said, "I guess you learn to forget bad notices?", to which Olivier replied, "What's more important, laddie, and much harder -- learn to forget good notices."
- As president of the NRA, he would usually tell his audience in speeches that he had "marched for civil rights long before it became fashionable to do so". In reality he only attended two events, the first in 1961 and the second the March on Washington in August 1963. Due to his busy film career at the time, he was unable to appear more frequently to back the Civil Rights cause.
- Named The Call of the Wild (1972) as his worst movie.
- After his starring role in the 1968 version of Planet of the Apes (1968), he had an uncredited cameo in the 2001 remake, Planet of the Apes (2001), as Gen. Thade's dying father.
- First recipient of the American Film Institute's Charlton Heston Award, created in 2003. The second recipient was his close friend Jack Valenti in 2004.
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