Rest in Peace, Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston died tonight at the age of 83. One of the great leading men of Hollywood, a man of limited range but unlimited charisma, whose wealth of memorable screen performances fortunately overwhelmed his increasingly outspoken politics, Heston never quietly enjoyed his fame, but never squandered it.

Charlton Heston's defining performance, at least for members of my generation (whether most of us realize it or not), probably came in Wayne's World 2. He played a bit part, listed in the credits as "Good Actor," brought on in a gimmick to replace a man giving Wayne directions at a gas station whom Wayne complains isn't a good actor. Heston delivers the man's lines again, but does so with such pathos, such richness, that Wayne's mugging and crying in front of the camera almost seems genuine -- and Heston's Golden Hollywood baritone overacting fits the role perfectly.

In that movie, he was an elder statesman gently sending up his own deserved legend, and for a man whose most memorable performances would seem laughably stilted if delivered today, it perfectly fit both the movie and his history. Unsurprisingly, he played virtually the same role, though not for laughs, in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet three years later; also unsurprisingly, having already pulled the trick off once, this time he was much less memorable.

His bit part in Wayne's World 2 may have been the defining role for his latter-day acting career, but, sadly, it wasn't what defined him. That came in Bowling for Columbine, when guerrilla documentarian Michael Moore depicted him, as NRA president, as the personification of much that was wrong with America's gun culture. The movie was released in 2002, the same year that Heston announced he suffered from symptoms of Alzheimer's disease; he stepped down as NRA president the next year. Michael Moore later suffered a backlash from his treatment of the aging Heston (which Moore defended by saying he had tried to "not make Heston look as evil as he actually was"), but it was the apogee of Heston's transformation from great actor into political sideshow.

Heston's closest analog may have been Ronald Reagan, as they were both Hollywood Golden Age actors whose later careers largely transitioned into conservative politics. But while Reagan's presidency was perhaps the final death knell in the career of Ronald Reagan, B-movie star of Bedtime for Bonzo, Heston's latter-day persona could never push away the memory of his greatest work, like Touch of Evil, Ben-Hur, or Planet of the Apes. By the end of his career, when he began to take roles which winked at his status as a living legend, his very presence on the screen unconsciously recalled a half-century in front of the camera.

Whenever I think of Charlton Heston, though, I think of Touch of Evil, where he played a Mexican by putting on a bad mustache, a bad tan, and, in the exact same voice as Judah Ben-Hur, he would deliver lines like, "Susie, one of the longest borders on Earth is right here between your country and mine. Open border. Fourteen hundred miles without a single machine gun in place. I suppose that all sounds very corny to you." Eyebrow raised, lips raised not in smile but in oversincerity, declaiming each line as if it were something between a pun and a psalm, every character he played had the same accent, same chiseled chin, and same wooden expression, which as he aged became ever more dignified. Whatever he lacked in the Method, he made up in animal magnetism: he was handsome and strong, and had a voice the sound of mahogany. Heston wasn't a good actor, but he was a great one.

It speaks well of us as a culture that a man's art should outlive his politics. As Little Steven van Zandt has said, "One must always separate the artist from the art. The art is always better." Charlton Heston was one of our greatest stars, and his best movies will last forever. Rest in peace, Charlton, and don't eat any Soylent Green in Heaven.

Comments

[rpence]

I not only disagreed with Mr. Heston's politics toward the end, I was disgusted by them. Having said that, I'm also disgusted by the self-righteous smugness of some of the posts here. I didn't like how MM used him in BOC, but that was characteristic of Moore's usual preaching to the choir, going after the easiest targets (Britney Spears in F911), and remaining resolutely uncritical of those with whom he agrees.

I don't have to love or like Heston to respect his work. And he made far fewer shitty movies than most of today's big stars, no matter what their politics. I can think of several "actors" who currently make multimillion dollar salaries who have NEVER made a good or even mediocre film. Heston worked with Orson Welles and Sam Peckinpah, and for that reason alone he was an important figure in film history.

[baldblackman]

Charlton Heston was a hack actor! I guess when William Shatner dies he will labled "One of the best actors of the century". The NRA thing aside, name a really good movie Charlton Heston stared in? Touch of evil? Wow, wooden stitled, and just bad, even Orson Well is a pardoy of himself. Soylant Green and Omega man?

[AlexRemington]

You're entitled to your opinion, but I think Touch of Evil is an awfully entertaining movie. It's a prototypical "B" movie - low budget, intentionally melodramatic, etc. A lot of Heston's movies are melodramatic and entertaining, viewed nowadays, I think: Planet of the Apes, Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, etc. Soylent Green isn't anybody's idea of a "great" movie, but the final line has its place in movie history, as it should.

No, his movies weren't all that cerebral. They weren't philosophically groundbreaking. And, like I say, he didn't have much range as an actor. But he was in some really fun movies.

[happycat]

You are absolutely right! Recently I had the pleasure of watching his fine acting abilities in the movie "Earthquake." It was a drama, but I found myself laughing at his performance. Another horrible actor is David Caruso. Add him to the list of "wooden stilted and just bad" actors.

[meanguy]

a better man that 95% of his critics

[BigGayAl]

I could not agree more.

[happycat]

BigGayAl,
I don't have a comment I just wanted to say that I love your name! Say hi to Star for me!

[momosity]

I totally loved his movies, especially Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man and Soylent Green. His extreme-right-wing, gun-loving politics I could have done without. RIP, "Bright Eyes".

[rwe]

Chicago just had it's 22nd highschool student killed by gunfire. Chicago has one of the strictest set of gun control laws in the country.Moore was despicable . The Chicago City Council are allowed to conceal carry

[TheChirurgeon]

I think we can all agree that "Omega Man" was the greatest movie of any generation and that Heston should forever be remembered as a hero for his role in that film.

[AlexRemington]

That's as good a criterion as I've heard all day.

[NickfromCali]

A good man with (in the end) lousy politics. RIP Moses, Ben-Hur,etc.

[PaxMundis]

People try to narrow Heston's politics down, but he was a strong and sincere follower of Dr. King. Yes, he was wrong about guns, but that doesn't mean we should throw out all his politics.

[Kundera]

It's amazing how many lefties blast Bush on his ignoring the Constitution, but here was a man who defended the Constitution and you blast him. He defended civil rights, the first and second amendments and you blast him. I guess you just can't win with some people.

[oliverlv]

Charlton Heston was the epitome of the overcooked, grandiloquent Hollywood leading man.

For NRA fans, the scene in Planet of the Apes where he gets his hands on one of the vanquished apes rifles is legendary. What better illustration of the necessity of bearing and keeping arms than the hordes of hostile apes ready to do us in...

[SamThornton]

If one were to make a movie satirizing Hollywood and the motion picture industry, the role depicting the Hollywood cliche of the "Leading Man," could not be better played by anyone other than Charlton Heston. Now it looks like we'll have to wait a while longer before that particular movie gets made.

[militantlibrarian]

His godlike performance in the Ten Commandments is truly hilarious. A milestone in comic genius . . . .

[Jude2004]

I found Charleton Heston's performance as the Player King in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet perfect. I own Ben Hur, which I also love (he drove his own chariot), but I also found him well-cast as the voice of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico. I figure he became ultra-conservative because his brain was already going, so I forgive him for that.

[Jude2004]

And how could I have forgotten Soylent Green and Planet of the Apes? Good old Chuck.

[JoePalooka]

Even in death he has more stature than the Brady bunch..

[BusGreg]

NOT!

[aceholiday]

looks like he doesn't have Alzheimer's anymore