Charlton Heston dead at 84

Source: PRNewswire

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., April 5, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Legendary actor, civil rights leader and political activist Charlton Heston passed away today, at the age of 84. He died at his home with Lydia, his wife of 64 years, at his side. Mr. Heston was loved by his two children, Fraser Clarke Heston and Holly Heston Rochell, and his three grandchildren, Jack Alexander Heston, Ridley Rochell and Charlie Rochell.



Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/statement-by-the-family-of-charlton-heston,340484.shtml

I laughed ;)


Still, he was a damn fine actor, no doubt about that

at all with his stance on guns, but he was a fine actor, and I believe that he touched many lives because of it. I hope his passing was peaceful, and I hope his family is peaceful with his passing.

and I'm even an atheist :shrug:

I think most people know this story, but that's never stopped me before.

One of the script doctors on Ben Hur was Gore Vidal, who describes himself as a "born-again atheist." Vidal told the story about Ben Hur in an interview:

Vidal and the director were trying to come up with a motivation for the rift between Ben Hur and Messala, played by Stephen Boyd.

They decided the pair had once been lovers. At the beginning of the movie, when they meet as adults, Messala wants to continue the romantic relationship, but Ben Hur does not.

They explained this to Stephen Boyd, who agreed to go along with it. But they kept it a secret from Charlton Heston, since the world wasn't ready for a ho-Moses-ual hero.

A lot of people comment on the "gay subtext" in that scene, but it's a lot more than a subtext. Not quite as blatant as Anne Baxter running around in "The Ten Commandments" squealing "Moses, Moses, Moses" while practically straddling Heston standing up. But pretty obvious!

:rofl:

Where is Michael Moore? :rofl:

make things right and refused. Neither man was bashful about their beliefs.

I never liked Charles Heston again after that interview with Michael Moore.

BUT

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Not about Heston dying. I just had a shrug for that. But prying his gun out .... that was priceless.

Come on everybody. Didn't we all look back at Reagan dying and wished we wouldn't have taken it so solemnly when the Reepubs just rode the man's corpse.

:rofl:

:rofl:

Nonetheless, the guy, however ridiculous his politics were, was a film legend. He definitely left his mark in every film he did.

I USED TO think of him as a fine actor. Until recently, the last 20 years, I've thought of him as the crazed gun advocate.

It's a sad time for his family, so I'll leave well enough alone. He was probably a good man, to have a wife of 64 years....holy shit!! He must've done something right.

The man also championed civil rights and spoke highly of John & Bobby Kennedy.

It bugs me how all the television shows are touting him as a conservative icon while ignoring some of the other beliefs he embraced.

They also forget that conservative idol, Ronald Reagan had been a Democrat before he was a Republican.

It's curious and sad that both of these men were actors by profession and they both suffered the same terrible, brain-eroding disease in their later years.

Just sayin'.

I've had relatives with that disease and their entire personality changed years before they were diagnosed. We just put it down to midlife changes, but who knows?

Lapses in judgment also fall in that category. Just look at how many people voted for Bush only to later claim it was a lapse in judgment. :eyes: I think you hit the nail on the head with your post. Brain farts and Republicanism DO seem to go hand in hand.

He was a good friend of the Kennedy's and was a tireless promoter of civil rights.

He died of a horrible disease. After being married for 64 years I hope his wife is doing okay.

I am one of those odd balls as I am a Democrat and NRA member. I love hunting and target shooting. My whole family are Democrats and we all hunt. The gun issue causes us inner turmoil and some of us have voted for the Republican because of the extreme stand of the Democrat candidate. We prefer Democrats that are not into gun control. Then we can vote for the Democrat and feel good about it.

We always liked Heston and didn't think he was a gun nut. But most of us are older and remember his work on civil rights even though he was a Republican.

no idea what happened to him after his award from C.O.R.E.. i wonder why/how he sold out to the Right? i mean this guy performed Shakespeare and civil rights activist before he became a grade-B actor and gun nut!?

maybe the corruption of fame. maybe it goes deeper than that.

hope he can rectify this with his creator.

that was the first thing I thought too. Ah well, he was a legend, whether for good or bad, it doesn't matter. His work will live on, indifferent to history's judgement. As a science fiction fan, there are several films he did which have become classics. I think they should include in his epitaph "I am but soylent green now."

:nuke:

;(



( haha! )

:-)

this one's gotta be a "duzy"...

RIP, Moses.

Uh, sorry, no can do. Not to the Omega Man.

And good riddance, about 35 years too late.

+++A CIVIL HONOR: In New York City on January 15, Charlton Heston received the "2001 Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Award" from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a leading U.S. civil rights organization. CORE chairman Roy Innis praised Heston: "He's been a civil rights fighter most of his career." Yoko Ono, a member of the Awards Committee, said: "I respect Mr. Heston for lending his name to the cause of racial equality." (Chuck led the Arts Contingent at the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech...... ###Classic HESTON QUOTE: "We will march because we recognize the events of the summer of 1963 as among the most significant we have lived through; and we wish to be part of these events and these times, when promises made a century ago will finally be kept." ( March on Washington, August 28, 1963)

http://marhew.tripod.com/hestfest/id3.html

well maybe being for civil rights will balance out his NRA stance so I guess:RIP.

He had a far greater impact on the right-wing crazies and gun nuts (of which I are one - gun nuts, that is) than he did on the Civil Rights movement.

Rest in Hell is where I am coming from.

Watch his smug ass on Bowling for Colombine, someday.

Moore set him up; it was the one part of that documentary that made me cringe.

I had no empathy for the aging Nazis, either.

That would make mucho sense. If not, where? Sure is not rural. To equate Heston to Nazi war criminals is foolish. If you can look at your life and see some Alzehiemer' patient movie star as similar to the Nazis, you have a nice life. Mass murders of my people, and millions of others are a tad more serious than a film star who advocates for the Second Amendment.

OF DEATH!!!

I have no problem with most of the social philosophy that Moore pushes, but you'd have to be an idiot to think he doesn't tweak his presentation of people's positions.

In the case of BFC, he juxtaposed Heston against the opposing view to make him appear to be responding to something he was not.

Don't get your impressions of him from Moore's film... even Moore shouldn't want that.

Judge him rather on the whole of the life he led... if you feel yourself so qualified to judge at all.

Dr. E.

I am just a guy who doesn't care for C Heston.

"the whole of the life he led"? Like fucking what? Some bs, studio-driven Civil Rights crap? Get a fucking grip. He was the sacrificial lamb for MGM. He was fucking Moses, for God's sake. Unimpeachable.

What kind of doctor are you?

I really want to know.

I try to make a point of not having my expertise pinned down on discussion boards for several reasons; One- I can't stand people who claim their profession makes them an 'expert' on a given subject, and I don't want to become such a person either directly or indirectly on the boards. Two- I post on other boards under the same U/N and I don't need hostile fools getting a handle on my profession either. The more people know about your personal life, the more angles they can exploit.

That said, I will tell you that I'm not a medical doctor, but if you're clever you could probably figure it out... though I won't confirm or deny anything. ;)

As for Heston, he was a dinosaur. A good man in the context of his life and times. Just because he had philosophical differences, no matter how ignorant they may seem to you, did not mean he was a bad man or an evil man. We have plenty of assholes that fit that category without needing to lump people we don't agree with in there.

Fair enough?

And I know all about "exploited angles".

If I had enough of a varied vocabulary, I could write a fucking book on it.

While I really liked the movie over all it was OBVIOUS that Mr. Heston was suffering from dementia at that point. I was very uncomfortable seeing Michael Moor badger him at that point in his life. It was the equivalent of watching someone drown a puppy. Moore won no points with me in that scene. And I generally like his work.

Yeah I disagreed with heston's macho-man-gun-love persona at the end of his life, but he was much more than that. He contributed a lot to this country and he wasn't perfect. No one is.

RIP Charlton Heston.

I was no loved of Heston's politics but I agree entirely on Moore's actions and he was a superb actor.

Same way I disagree with fred Thompson on virtually everything but thought he was great in In The Line Of Fire.

the imbalance was overwhelming...

played the god-like roles better. Yes that is limited range. RIP Mr. Heston

John Wayne tried ot blacklist everyone in this movie?
Heston love Gary Cooper - Listen to his interview on www.iconsradio.com
with the documentary maker that did INSIDE HIGH NOON.

The new documentary INSIDE HIGH NOON -

HIGH NOON was hailed upon its release in 1952 as an instant classic. It won several Academy Awards, including one for its legendary star, Gary Cooper. It was named the year's best picture by the New York Film Critics Society. And yet, even though it's high on the American Film Institute's 100 Best Films of the Century, HIGH NOON's respect has been hard won, indeed. Perhaps no other classic film has had such a rocky road as this "simple little western."

Decried by influential auteurist critics and academics, HIGH NOON has been attacked for being untrue to the western genre - read anti-populist; for being "middle-brow" (whatever that might mean); for being social drama hiding behind the western genre - and muddled social drama, at that; for being the most un-American film ever made (courtesy of John Wayne), etc.

However, 56 years after its release, HIGH NOON still powerfully resonates with audiences around the world. When Solidarity needed a universal image to promote democracy and the right to vote in Poland in 1987, they chose Gary Cooper in HIGH NOON, a ballot in his hand rather than a gun. Conservatives and liberals both manage to cite HIGH NOON on the floor of Congress as a metaphor for their competing political ideals. Political cartoonists and headline writers inevitably use HIGH NOON as reference for countless crises. President Eisenhower cited High Noon as his favorite film, as have President Clinton and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizuma.

On one hand, HIGH NOON has been attacked for being a conservative, damaging portrait of arrogant male paternalism. On the other hand, HIGH NOON is praised for challenging entrenched notions of gender, for exploring masculine anxiety, masculinity as a construct. Feminist critics and academics are offering intriguing and complex new readings to HIGH NOON.

Example: Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly) is having her new husband, Marshall Will Kane (Cooper), quit his career, leave his town, leave his friends, marry outside his church, and open a store of her choosing (wearing, perhaps, an apron?). Does Will Kane take on the villains at noon as a final gasp of masculine protest, as a declaration of independence from his wife's control?

Ernest Hemingway compared a story's meaning to an iceberg - like the iceberg, 7/8th of which lies hidden beneath the surface, 7/8th of a story's meaning lies beneath the surface.

Carl Foreman's bare-to-the-bones script and Fred Zinnemann's equally spare direction are a perfect film correlative to Hemingway's iceberg theory. This taut, seemingly straightforward little suspense western is complex, multi-layered, and perhaps even more relevant today than when it opened 56 years ago.

more on www.myspace.com/insidehighnoon

he is a biter, forevermore.

He went out badly.

In my opinion, he did far more harm than good.

Thanks for putting it on display.:sarcasm:

As a movie fan Heston has been in some of my favorites and he was generally fun to watch.

Did I agree with is politics? No. That said he was a human being and I dare say likely a classier one than you.

yeah, and Ronald Reagan was one hell of a fighter pilot.

"a movie fan"?

Yeah, there's your reality.

Welcome to the Nation that held The Roseanne Barr Show as the number one attraction for a couple of years running.

"a movie fan"....

Oh, spare me....

Good God, when you have nothing better to do with a few hours of your life....

go stare at a product...

'cause it don't take nothing...

just sit there, staring with everybody else...

then walk out on the same street.

It's all nothing.

Yeah, Ol' Charlie was a helluva guy...

It's your tattoo, not mine.

Put it where you believe it.

Tom

Roseanne Barr is brilliant woman and lifelong Progressive activist. He television sit-com ran for a decade, and broke all kinds of rules of television, in that the story lines revolved around the real problems working class people face, something networks consider poison, something that occured due to Roseanne herself. Average looking American couple, fat and funky, in love and affectionate is another image you don't see on TV much. Roseanne's show depicted labor organizing and abusive employers, mentioned Unions as good things, featured the first same sex prime time kiss, in addition to a few of the first gay characters ever on TV, much less a sitcom, much less portrayed as full and flawed people played by well known performers. This shit is subversive. And she personally fought for all of the content and focus that lifted her show up. While other sitcom stars worry about each dime they might grab, Roseanne worried about the message first, and used her own power to get that done, although I'm sure she grabbed enough money along the way as well. Point is most of them use their power to get more for them. She used hers to improve the show and keep the message healthy for the views.

She empowered women, gays, people who do not fit the ideal of beauty, working people and parents in each and every show. She continues to give wildly political stand up performances, when she could easily make far more money doing mainstream pablum comedy, considering she is one of the most famous people in America. On her blog she speaks her mind with abandon, and trust me, her positions on things would make her a top tier DUer, under any name she might use.
I suppose she could have stayed working in feminist collectives and such as she did earlier in life, but many people would be lesser for it. She has had a huge and positive impact on this country, which she loves madly and openly, and that impact has often come at a price paid with her own reputation.
If Roseanne was a man, she'd be a national hero of the Progressive movement. In fact, that is exactly what she is. She took Progressive messages and objectives to one of the widest audeinces to hear such things in decades. And she did it with really funny jokes, and without degrading other people or peoples. There are few performers or artists of any kind for whom I have more respect both in work and in her politics.

A great moment of activism, it really said what we were all thinking at the time.

And she is about as madly left as anyone I have ever known. She is very much a voice for the poor and working people, and women, and she hangs her ass on the line over and over again about it. She is also a person who might change her mind by thinking and then say 'I was wrong' which is about as rare a thing as there is. She is very out there with spritiual stuff. She's like a hippy, basically. A feminist hippy with good jokes. She hates Republicans so much that even if she sucked I'd love her.

She has become one of the people that she used to make fun of - the great unwashed nobodies.

and I will now walk out to the Golden Gate Bridge and throw myself from the railing.

I just feel so worthless, now.

How could I have ever misunderestimated her brilliance?

But that's OK, because I heard (just last night) that the two finest artists of the 20th Century were Madonna and Michael Fucking Jackson.

No kidding, I heard a living, breathing human being say exactly that.

You'd think you'd be smart enough to know that Film is an art form that an relate human emotion and reflect the greatness or hypocrisy of entire societies. Movies can effect people's thoughts and even change people's minds.

Yeah, I sure do like sitting and watching films, immersing my self in another world. And by the way... F*ck you, you prick. One of these days I will be making films as it's been my dreams since I was young.

So, in closing... did I already say f*ck you?

The harm he did in encouraging our gun culture far outweighs and "good" he did with his acting. Guess I'm a "class act" too.

when he didn't get hired for a movie because he had no talent, he'd serve them up to the committee. He ruined many careers.

which was bad enough, but lots of people i really respect disagree with me on the gun stuff. -
But to turn traitor --
he served up his fellow actors/artists for prosecution to get ahead in his profession - that is unbelievable, and unforgivable, in my opinion.

as did Sterling Hayden, for which he eventually repented. Nevertheless, he was still a fine actor and a person of some decency as was Heston.

Charlton Heston never turned in anyone for McCarthy's witch hunt.

But of course RFK was part of that stuff. Yep.

It's not my responsibility to prove a negative.

the committee an told us about Heston's 'work'. If he got passed over for a role he thought he should have had.....he turned in the director. If another actor got a role he wanted he turned in the actor.. He turned in writers too. He was a mediocre actor who believed he was Moses.

Name one person who Heston "turned in".

to memory.......my bad......I'd call her and ask her but she's been dead for about for 20 so I don't think I'd get a timely response. And I'm sorry if my taking the word of a woman who lived the experience is not to your liking but, too bad.

said that Heston never did that and that your freshman acting teacher in college was a bitter failed actress and a liar and had terrible breath.

but I can't find it. Could you please cite a source for this?

NT!

he was opposed to McCarthyism.

You aren't perhaps confusing him with Reagan (Who actually had a special FBI designation as a secret informant). Here's the dope on Reagan:

How red was Hollywood?
*
*
*

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2007/11/25/scott-van-wynsberghe-how-red-was-hollywood.aspx

pnorman

Heston did no such thing. Get your facts straight.

just like his "hero" ray-gun...

I will shed no tears for him either, that's for sure...

If his stock portfolio was as diversified, his family will be in the money.

Wasn't it Bowling for Columbine where he was such an ass to Michael Moore?

and Moore ambushed an old man with Alzheimer's

I'm not saying that he may not have been suffering from the effects of the disease then, but he still was in that position of authority and taking those pro-gun stands. Did he not insist on having the convention in Denver that year?

but a life is complex thing, I'm sure you will agree. Rev. Wright's case comes to mind here, as defended by Obama, and viewed by me and most others here.

but I still don't agree with the NRA's insensitivity to the city of Denver following the massacre. Why couldn't they have cancelled the convention and just had an unpublicized annual meeting or something? It just seemed so "in your face" at the time.

and we are left to say, "a life is not easily judged."

The Columbine massacre happened just a few short weeks before the scheduled convention. The convention had been scheduled months in advance, and it was cut down to only a days woth of activities, much of that taken up by the business meeting. (Which, incidentally, could not have been rescheduled given the amount of time, as per the laws governing the incorporation of the NRA.)

Don't go by Moore's movie for info about the NRA and Heston. The movie is filled with distortions and half-truths.

but not enough to please a lot of people, since there was still a fair amount of speechifying (from what I understanad) beyond just "business."

I guess it's all irrelevant now since Heston is dead. He does certainly leave a mixed legacy. I myself loved all his old epic films. He was perfect for those heroic parts.

It really shows you something about the qualities conservatives look for in leaders when they look longingly at the dodders with speech impediments and catchy quips.

I wonder what came first; the Alzheimer's or the NRA Presidency?

"Liberal" isn't just a label. It's a virtue and actually means something around here.

The man was more complex a person than you give him credit for.

blind
denying
bending over for whoever has their name in lights (or their soul in the shadows)

If "liberal" means giving every mean-spirited bastard in the world a break solely on the account that they are a fellow homo sapien?...

feeling any sense of loss that some sorry piece of shithumanity such as C Heston has checked out?

Then sign me out.

I am glad that he is no longer breathing the same air that you and I share.

Just tell me the address to where I need to mail my "Liberal" card.

Tom

Who is to say that you yourself isn't being blind to the good things that Charlton Heston has done, or denying that he did both good and back, and bending over to your own anger at his misdoings? If liberal means being a mean-spirited bastard, well, then you're welcome to your "Liberal" card.

I am well familiar with both my Father and my Mother.

So I am not really clear on the "bastard" part of your post.


But:...

"both good and back"?

"bending over to your own anger at his misdoings"?

Do you mind if I incorporate those jewels in a song?

Or nominate them for a DUzy?

Dedicated to what you think you 'know'

Today is Father's Day
And we have bought you a tie
Just to let you know we think
You are a regular guy

For according to our Mother,
You're our Father
And that's good enough for us
Yes that's good enough for us.

A red one.

Look good on a dead one.

Symbolism is for suckers.

Send a fucking tie.

Not at all. I would prefer if you performed it live on YouTube. I would watch that and rank it five stars.

We will all be dead, quite soon in the grand scheme of things. Time goes by fast and its coming for each and every one of us. Don't confuse your own identification with fear and remorse of death with the fact that the world is a better place without some people in it.

If Heston lived another 20 years would the world be a better place? no. I think not. Its just that simple. So break out the good wine. Drink to vanquished enemies. Drink to the time going forward from today being better than yesterday.

You want to feel sorry for someone, feel sorry for those people whose kids and family are killed by stray bullets from the guns this jerk helped propogate. Indiscriminate deadly weapons for all. Great frickin idea. Nice legacy.

liberal means whatever someone wants it to mean these days.

or lack there of might be ignored for a large enough payoff (The obvious example of this is *)

it's quite disheartening.

Heston was not a bad man and he should be remembered by liberals as one of us. He was a supporter of Stevenson and Kennedy. He was an opponent of racial segregation, McCarthyism and the Vietnam War. By the 80's he had switched political sides, but we can remember him, at least on the eve of his death, for what he did in his younger days.

it just doesn't work that way.

Big Difference.

I could draw analogies until we closed down the bar.

And, actually, I am going to go into town (200 yards) and participate in the closing down of a couple of local bars.

Damn, what a dangerous life.

And that's a joke, by the way...

from your postings that your life is cozy and protected and out of touch with reality. You live in petrol land, where you can claim to 'oppose guns' because you pay hired hands to carry the guns for you. If you faced danger, you'd call the government to help you with their guns. Tell you what, get your 'law enforcement' to disarm, disconnect your 911 services, close your animal control department, and then we can talk. You and your community are like all American communities, heavily armed and militarily patroled. You are armed. You live by the gun. You simply outsourse the labor, like many suburban softies, to real adults, and you pretend you don't like guns. Any emergency at all and you would ring for your own personal gunslingers to come help you, and I'll bet the farm you'd never think to ask them to come unarmed.
Most real liberals say this: once the government gives up all of its guns, we will think about it. So get your cops to go without. That is a start. They hold your gun for you. You should be so proud!

I am a gun nut.

Tried and true.

I have never called for help. Takes too fucking long.

Because I can handle my own business.

My, we certainly leap to ungrounded conclusions don't we?

You are simply delusional.

Where did you glean all of that information about me?

Send him a fucking tie.

A red one.

And punch in a tape of the Roseanne Show.

Turn the volume down.

Punch in your favorite BeeGees CD.

Crank it up.

I'll see you at Nancy Reagan's funeral.

I will be the guy with the air horn and a big ol' grin.

Other than some of the over-the-top reactions to his passing...

There is no mention of Mr. Heston's passing on the NRA's own website.

You would think that his own organization would show a little respect.

"gun ownership rights leader" maybe....

Off screen, Heston was loudly liberal, active in the civil rights movement, and marched on Washington DC with Martin Luther King in 1963. He was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1966 to 1971, then evolved into a conservative, serving as president of the National Rifle Association from 1998-2002. As NRA chief, Heston once held a 1776-era musket and uttered his most famous line: "I have only five words for you: From my cold, dead hands." He's written three autobiographies, and probably won't write a fourth, as he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

http://www.nndb.com/people/961/000022895/

His being right on civil rights does not make up for his myopia in regards to liberalism - he got swept up in the anti-communism witch hunts and moved ever rightward from there.

what was he doing marching with MLK in 1963? Lots of people thought King was a commie -- did Heston ever turn his back on him? I doubt it, since he received the MLK award from core in 2001.

The Democratic Party's did.

Spoken like a true, guncentric libertarian, Slack.

Heston's "White Guys Have It Tough In America" speech has been posted many times here, and I believe it's still available on the NRA site. That speech alone sinks your predictable argument that it's all the Democrats' fault.....

Is it possible he was becoming ill even then?

Sorry but facts are facts. RFK was assistant coucil to McCarthy's committee and said he retained a fondness for Tailgunner Joe until he died. That is also a fact. Facts are both fun and funny at times.
Heston was against gun control. That does not make him right wing. The Second Amendment is in our Constitution. Many people need to own guns, and if you think that sounds crazy, you are a city person, and have not looked at the fact that you are protected by a heavily armed military unit called the police. They hold the guns for you. Not one 'anti-gun' liberal I have ever met has ever petitioned their local police to disarm. In fact, one bump in the night and they call for the gunslingers they keep on payroll. Many of them keep 'private security' as well, meaning more guns and more muscle. Such gun protected people are like sons of wealth who claim poeverty because Dad holds the billions, spending the billions and claiming no responsibility.
You all live in heavily armed conclaves, with militias private and public on phone call away. In cities, many are opposed to say, shooting a bear, but that is because someone else already cleaned out the bears in your neighborhood. And of course, if one happens along, Animal Control will come running to handle it for you.
He was not an anti-communist withch hunter, but he was pro gun rights. Millions of liberals agree with him on that. Millions of liberals also think calling people informers who were not is very much a reactionary thing to do, and not at all liberal. What do you think a liberal is, a person who always pays to have another shoot the gun?

rights stuff, but look at him now.

we can respect the good without embracing the bad. Obama would agree when it comes to Rev. Wright, for example.

Too many are viewing life as black & white or good & evil.

pretty right wing act as if they are immune from criticism because of what they did in the 1960s. I look at what they are doing now. David Horowitz of Front Page was a publisher of Ramparts in the '60s but now he pedals hate.

Makes as much sense as calling an Alzheimer's addled bozo "The Great Communicator".

I admired his acting, but not his role as President of the NRA...

He had Alzheimer's too...that's not a pretty way to die...

Alzheimer's sucks, full stop.

NGU.

although it's sad he did pass away. I would've preferred another way that lowers the # of right wingnuts by one.

Fuck the milkshake...

:kick:

My condolences to his family.

I'll never be a single issue voter, but I'll probably always disagree with the Democrats on guns.

And half the members of this board are gun owners if the polls are correct.
I have enjoyed many of his films. My condolences to his family.

I don't see any mention of his transition on nytimes or usatoday.

It took a couple of google searches to find a link.

impressions on who someone voted for in the Presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. If he voted for a Democrat, I give him a pass, if not, fuck him.

not I

I am sure this will be all over Faux News!

He was a magnificent actor.

May you rest in peace Charlton Heston.

RIP

that has to be nice, not many people find someone and are able to be with them for so long. RIP.

"...and I want you to fuckin' acknowledge it!"

with him and during a lull in taping I said "would you touch me on the head with your stick?" He said "if I touch you on the head with this stick, you had better have been very, very good during your life". I said "Oh, Hell, don't touch me with that thing then". We both got a good laugh out of that. I didn't agree with his politics, but I think he was a decent man. RIP, Mr. Heston.

:)

And very well read and loved the ecology of our planet and other things. The gun thing, I do not really see as 'conservative' or 'liberal' as it tends to be more 'urban' and 'rural' in the divide.
Take it out of the city, and out of the absract, the gun issue is a whole new deal. City born and bred here. Four years less metro and I think people are nuts to oppose all guns. Nuts. Insane. Not thinking. Trusting the goverenment of Cheney and Bush on top of it all.
Opposition to gun ownership to me does not equal liberal, it equals city centerist, one who always hires others to do the dirty work, be it toting a gun or cleaning a toilet. If you would call the police when you are in danger, then you are not anti-gun.

You are in fact, armed by proxy. We all are.

ronnie raygun.

and remember sylent green is people.

Let the name of Moses be stricken from every book and tablet, stricken from all pylons and obelisks, stricken from every monument of Egypt. Let the name of Moses be unheard and unspoken, erased from the memory of men for all time.

The evil that men should turn their brothers into beasts of burden, to be stripped of spirit, and hope, and strength - only because they are of another race, another creed. If there is a god, he did not mean this to be so.

If this god is God, he would live on every mountain, in every valley. He would not be the god of Ishmael or Israel alone, but of all men. It is said he created all men in his image. He would dwell in every heart, every mind, every soul.

Narrator: The steel has been tempered. The metal is ready - for the Maker's hand.

and leaving his gun behind,

he went and came to dwell in a strange land.

RIP

I didn't always agree with his politics, but I always liked his movies.

Politically we were night and day, but who cares? I am friends with people I don't agree with so I can admire a man who I don't know personally but don't agree with either. I think jokes about death are in bad taste, but hey its not on my conscience because I don't do that. As an actor this guy starred in some of my all time favorite movies. He was in some really epic films and some great Sci Fi.

Planet of the Apes
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Soylent Green
Omega Man
Ben Hur

Other movies he was in that I liked

The Ten Commandments
Major Dundee
Airport 1975
Earthquake
Midway
The Mountain Men
The Big Country

with what is happening nowadays in Darfur and the Sudan, and other "Mahdi"'s fighting the battles today that was fought then against Gordon of Khartoum:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlvJznNXdto&feature=related

and another recently passed soul in a movie based on the same events too (though Heston survived this actor):

http://www.impeachbushcards.com/damn_you.mp3

RAW

NOT because of any spite or hatred for the crazy old kook ... just because I like irony.

He was a nice man. I didn't like his NRA job but I'm sad he's died. I have lots of relatives who are gun fanatics AND vote DEM. It's a Montana thing. I also loved many of his old movies - however nowadays his acting seems a bit SNL-ish.

including her love of hunting and guns as a child, etc.

Great actor, great man. Col. Taylor is dead! How upsetting... Greatest actor who ever lived. You will be missed, Moses!

:cry:

nt

Seriously, Alzheimer is something I wouldn't wish on anyone and perhaps that was his atonement in the end. Like Reagan he was stripped of his dignity and Independence and went out as a helpless common man.

I feel this scene happening in so many ways now...










And it's weird that this happens right after "I Am Legend" is released on DVD...





Hoping that Will Smith many years from now isn't some gun toting right winger too!

Which in turn was based on the book "I am Legend"

RIP, Mr. Heston.

but in nothing that I liked that much. He was a strong supporter of the NRA and second ammendment, which is to me debatable. But he was married for 64 years and marched with Martin Luther King??? These are bonafides of fidelity and gentle intent. In the balance I cannot judge him poorly and neither am I qualified to judge him a saint....neither are most of us.

And a man who stood next to Dr. King in washington for this "I Have a Dream" speach, he has done much more good than many of the current politicians that we lift up on our shoulders. He slowly evolved into a conservative, but i like that attribute that as an early onset symptom of the disease. I would wish that no one speak ill will, but I know I wish too much

I don't think his brief "stint" at "civil rights" cancels out all the harm he did and the thousands he is indirectly responsible for because of his irrational fetish for guns...

He will be sorely missed.

R.I.P. :cry:

Always happens in threes.
So if you're a celebrity, look out.

----

and I disagreed with his politics but he seemed to be a pretty honorable guy overall.

We just lost Richard Widmark.

Who bought you?
You're bought as soon as they pay you a salary.

You tell everybody. Listen to me, Hatcher. You've gotta tell them! Soylent Green is people! We've gotta stop them somehow!

Is there anything you can do, DOCTOR, I mean, seeing as how you've lost over 200 million patients?

It's genuine 160-proof old Anglo-Saxon baby.

I'm a seeker too. But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help thinking that somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be.

Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!

Oh my God. I'm back. I'm home. All the time, it was... We finally really did it. You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

Some apes, it seems, are more equal than others.

side of history when it came to Civil Rights, and was a pretty good actor to boot.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Heston.

On a side note, you grave-pissers in this thread disgust decent people everywhere. Don't pretend for a minute to me that you're "progressives" of any kind. :thumbsdown:

the man was an actor.
Undoubtedly, like all of us, he had a variety of views -- political, social, economic.

I do not understand the hatred on this thread.
So the man had a stand on guns with which many of us do not agree.
He also suffered from self-doubt, alcoholism, and Alzheimer's disease.
He also marched for civil rights before it was cool, spoke up for human rights, and campaigned for many Democrats.
As often is the case, some people become more conservative as they age.
Like many others, he perceived a decline in values, especially in the arts. Unlike others, because he was a movie star, his views were open to scrutiny.

But who are we to judge? I just don't get all this consignment to hell talk. When did we become so self-righteous?
We are all flawed.
Some days I'm perfectly happy that my views are not open to scrutiny. Heck, we're all using screen names for goodness sake. He didn't have that luxury. So he stood and did the best with what he had.

Usually, around Easter, Ben Hur hits the movie channels. I hear that music and I can't stay away from the screen.
I love the chariot race. And when I think of the last scene, even though I'm not a believer, I see the blood running from the cross, and out into the waters of the world. And I think about how all of us are linked by blood.

And I wonder, will we ever know that? will we ever realize that we are more linked than not linked?
Will we ever know peace?

Alas, probably not, if the hatred and judgmental remarks on this thread are any in indication.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Heston.

Who also was an active college democrat, but had a greater impact later on in his life when he did more damage to the country, whereas one might argue that Heston had just as much impact more positively from his films and his early politics than he did his latter politics.

And coincidentally it is alzheimer's that took them both. I wonder how much that progressive disease plays into the rotting of their values and perspective as they grow older too.

My father is also afflicted with that dreaded disease, and to hear sometimes him talk about issues similar issues like racism in a way that I never would have dreamed him talking about as an intelligent and very well values rooted college professor amazes me too sometimes.

It is a terrible disease that really takes people away from society a lot earlier than when they actually go! I make sure and eat blue berries or black berries with my cereal as often as I can for breakfast to try and ward that hereditary monster off.

I enjoyed his acting. He had a great voice and a great face. I didn't care for his later politics but that is in the past. If there is a life after this I hope he finds peace there.

I didn't like his politics in his later years, but if what's in his Wiki entry is correct then we should be thankful for his role in progressive issues during the Civil Rights era.

Ben Hur, Planet of the Apes, Julius Caesar, The Ten Commandments, Omega Man, Soylent Green . . .

I hope that spreader of misery spends all his glory days around the eternal flames of hell with ol' Raygun talkin' 'bout how they really fucked this country - oh they probably won't even remember, lol. How about we quit glorifying someone just because they had the good sense to DIE.

you're a fine human being :puke:

Thanks for the great movie roles.

I hope the NRA will follow his lead in this one.

You have nothing to lose except that your guns be pried from your cold, dead fingers! I'm sure he can shoot his way out of this...

:evilgrin:

Thoughts and prayers be with your family.

The despicable utterances some so called "liberals" are capable of at the passing of a fellow human being... I will say no more.

I definitely did NOT agree with his positions when he joined the chorus of fringe wingnuts during the '90s to denigrate the oppressed cultures in the U.S. who were fighting to have their voices heard as positive contributors to American society. Sadly, his stridency during that time shocked me to no end and eventually turned me off, as his public face became ugly and angry - the personification of the so-called "Angry White (Jewish) Male".

However as an actor, no one can say that he did not define an era and popular film genres - be they big budget "historic" (in quotes) epics or science ficition.

In fact I hated his politics almost as much as the pathetic grave pissing that DU specializes in. RIP Charlton.

AWESOME actor. Great presence and power. Too bad he sold out to the NRA, but other than that much credit earned for his acting contributions and perhaps others as well.

pity that it came off as overblown in 20th century motion pictures.
I always found it ironic that Moses was portrayed by such a....ham.

"Damn dirty apes..."
"Soylent green is people!"

I did enjoy his over the top acting in films of my youth.

R.I.P

From Wikipedia



Too bad that he lost sight in his later years. But, I dug him as an actor and am grateful for his early activism.

Rest in peace, Mr Heston.

"Heston saw McCarthyism and racial segregation as helping the cause of Communism worldwide, and opposed both. He also opposed the Vietnam War and voted for Richard Nixon in 1972."

i don't see how that scans a all!? how does segregation help Communism? how does voting for Nixon help end the VietNam war?

of those looking to divide and conquer American society by any means, Communism being one.

Seems he voted for Nixon because of the latter's "secret plan" to end the war. THe phrase never came from Nixon, but he did say this: "...new leadership will end the war". He lied.

and that Cold War Era Orwellian double-think in terms of segregation and communism is the same fear mongering that fuels the war on terra today...

same old same, huh?

the more they stay the same.

... must have played well in Latin America, Africa, and the third world. What do you think?

At least not for money. ;)

:hi:

But really, I think he died before. He's just looking for attention. :shrug:

He did'nt end up well.:eyes:

Puerile, murderous fantasies were stoked by the Hollywood drama of vengeance at the barrel of a very big gun. That is the view of America that we present to the rest of the world. Thanks for nothing.

And frankly he would not have had the role been brought to him. He never did that kind of movie at all. You are thinking of Clint Eastwood, maker of multiple Dirty Harry movies.

Having an even MORE fantastic career in the depth and meaningfulness of his films as both an actor and a director.

And also in his involvement in politics, some of it being admirable (when he became the mayor of Carmel and some of the things he did there), to his involvement in supporting Bush and the Republican party (NOT so admirable).

At least at this point, he still seems to be a relatively wise and thoughtful man more than not.

That's the only kind thing I can think of to say.

If George Bush decreed all guns in the citizens' hands to be a federal offense, and Blackwater patrolled the streets with same reckless abandon they do in Iraq, how would you defend your self your property and family when the Bush Gestapo seizes everything you own?
Since Bush has the power to suspend Constitutional guarantees, the Second Amendment is trivial. How would people feel when Bush says the military is taking your home to quarter soldiers for national security.
Gun regulation has been a losing issue for Democrats for a long time.
Assuming every gun owner is a right wing yahoo bent on shooting everyone who disagrees with the notion that this is a Christian nation and the planet is 6000 years old, does not reflect an open mind.
A good way to lose votes is telling people they have no right to self defense.