Saying Goodbye To Charlton Heston

Saturday, 250 or so of Charlton Heston's closest friends (and some of us very distant ones) gathered to say farewell to a great man at his home church in Pacific Palisades, CA. It was a remarkably bi-partisan affair: Nancy Reagan sat between Tom Selleck and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the second row directly behind Heston's wife Lydia, son Frasier and daughter Holly, while directors Rob Reiner and Oliver Stone brought up the rear. In between were other friends like Pat Boone, Keith Carradine, Wayne LaPierre, Olivia DeHavilland and others.

Frasier Heston gave a particularly poignant eulogy saying "he was the finest man I've ever known. He was the finest man I will ever know."

Then speaking directly to his Father, added: "You did your best; You kept your promises."

Heston's pastor gave the homily, noting that Heston had been a "faithful member of our flock," and, gesturing to the seat where he said Heston sat every Sunday, told the audience how difficult it had been for him to preach from Exodus chapter 3 with the man who had famously played Moses sitting there in front of him.

While all funerals are typically "religious," Heston's was especially so. There were a number of hymns and liturgical readings and at one point the celebrant personalized things, noting, "Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to you our brother Charlton, who was reborn by water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism. Grant that his death may recall to us your victory over death, and be an occasion for us to renew our trust in your Father's love."

Each attendee was offered communion, or, if they preferred, a "blessing," and bagpipes playing "Amazing Grace," closed the service.

We reconvened at Heston's beloved home for home videos, a live band, food and pictures of the man of the hour. There we received a booklet which included a letter Chuck had written in February 1998 addressed simply "To whom this will inevitably concern." As usual he had the last word:

I hope my wife..will reject embalming. I've worn makeup all my life. I'd like to avoid it in death. I would prefer cremation, followed by a simple service.....a wake in our home with our friends would be nice, sharing some good wine and the more plausible 'memories of Chuck.' in the remote chance I might be hanging around in some sentient form, I'd enjoy that enormously....Closing remarks? Shakespeare was a master of both the elegiac and the wry; Here's Falstaff: 'Every man owes God a death. He that pays today is quit for tomorrow.' No, I can't pre-empt Shakespeare for my small departure. It's tacky. I'll quote Groucho Marx instead: "It happens to everybody. It's not such a big deal.

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Comments

[tinkaboutit]

They actually named the Charlton Chew candy bar after him.

[susie1776]

By what standard can Charlton Heston be called a "great" man? He was obviously a good husband and father, went to church etc. But how does any of that necessarily qualify him for greatness?? He was a movie actor who happened to have been cast in a number of larger than life roles...but that didn't make HIM larger than life. Did it? He was the spokesperson for an organization that in my opinion has fostered an increase in the gun violence in this country and there was nothing great about that. He was a celebrity who used that celebrity to lobby for his political causes. He was not "GREAT"....just a man. Why do we have this need to put celebrities and others on these pedestals. I personally stopped watching even his old reruns because of his politics.

[jmpurser]

Heston was a "great man"???

Nothing against the guy (okay, his stance on guns and gays) but really we need to distinguish between "well known" and great.

[bagelmaven]

I have mixed emotions when it comes to Heston. I watched an interview conducted by Robert Osborne. Heston was certainly aged but eloquent. He possessed wonderful articulation abilities and recounted detailed memories of his life with extraordinary clarity.

Politically though he went from president of the Screen Actors Guild, marching with King and supporting civil rights to an arch religious conservative mouthpiece for the NRA. It simply does not add up in my mind.

I cannot understand, as Heston put it, the many closetedarts industry conservatives. I do not think there are that many. In the arts one is usually sensitive to feelings and to those things which do not conform to the culture at large. The arts explores about not fitting in and questioning the dominant culture. It is hard for me to see a man of the arts siding with those who want to enshrine the status quo and who philosophically care more for profits than they do for the poor. That side today would like the social ostracism of homosexuals and a marriage between church and state.

I will remember Heston in that Osborne interview as phenomenally eloquent man of letters. I will blind myself to the rifle in his "cold dead hands" and remember him as Michaelangelo rather than Moses. As the Shakespeare he loved said: "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"

[charon]

I think it has something to do with getting to be older and richer. Some start hanging out with older, richer industrialists and such, and it rubs off on them. Look at Reagan, Sinatra, etc.

[qdemn7]

Charlton Heston was a class act, in every since of the word. Thanks for everything Chuck, rest in peace.