BEIJING,
April 7 -- Oscar-winning U.S. actor Charlton Heston, whose chiseled features and
commanding presence won him epic roles from Moses to Michelangelo, died on
Saturday night at the age of 84, his family said.
Heston, a former president of the influential
National Rifle Association lobbying group, died at his home in Beverly Hills
with his wife Lydia at his side, the family said in a statement.
The actor, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar for the
title role in Ben Hur in which he did many of his own chariot race stunts, had
announced in 2002 that he was suffering symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
The family said a private memorial service would be
held.
In his heyday, Heston's rugged features and
conservative lifestyle seemed to belong to another age. As director Anthony Mann
said: "Put a toga on him and he looks perfect." Frank Sinatra once joked: "That
guy Heston has to watch it. If he's not careful, he'll get actors a good name."
Actor Charlton Heston poses in character, in the
title role of the motion picture Ben-Hur, on April 29, 1958, at Cinecitta
studios in Rome, Italy. AP
Between super-spectacles (The 10 Commandments,
Ben Hur), science fiction movies (Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green) and
disaster epics (Earthquake), Heston pushed for screen versions of Shakespearean
plays, directing one, Anthony and Cleopatra.
Heston's most controversial role was not in a movie
but as leader of the National Rifle Association, the gun-rights lobby group,
from 1998 to 2003. He often stood at the podium at conventions, holding an
antique flintlock rifle above his head and telling gun-control advocates they
would not get his gun unless they could pry it "from my cold, dead hands".
Born John Charlton Carter (Heston was his
stepfather's name) on Oct 4, 1923, in Evanston, Illinois, he made his theatrical
debut as Santa Claus in a school play at age 5 and studied acting at
Northwestern University.
After a World War II stint as a gunner in the Army
Air Corps, Heston headed to Broadway, where he briefly supported himself with
nude modeling between acting jobs.
In 1944, he had married fellow Northwestern drama
student Lydia Clarke and their marriage lasted 64 years until his death. They
had two children, Fraser Clarke and Holly Ann, and three grandchildren Jack
Alexander, Ridley and Charlie.
Heston gained attention in 1947 in Anthony and
Cleopatra, which landed him a job in the Studio One television series that
re-enacted famous plays.
The television work led to movies and Cecil B.
DeMille put him in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), portraying a circus
manager determined that the show must go on.
In 1956, DeMille cast Heston as Moses for The 10
Commandments, saying the actor reminded him of Michelangelo's statue. The $7.5
million epic was the most expensive film up to that time and became the
second-biggest moneymaker of the time, behind Gone With the Wind.
In addition to playing Moses, Heston did the voice of
God in the film. His 3-month-old son, Fraser, played the baby Moses floating
down the Nile in a basket.
He took some roles in Westerns, with a break in 1957
for Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, followed by more epics.
Less successful were his portrayal of John the
Baptist in The Greatest Story Ever Told about the life of Jesus and that of
Michelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy, a 1965 commercial flop.
(Source: China Daily)
