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July 20th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Fraser Heston visiting Jack Hawkins and his father Charlton on the set of Ben-Hur.

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Dig A Hole: Charlton Heston

April 6th, 2008 by Scott Marks

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If Charlton Heston never existed, Hollywood surely would have invented one. At a time when studios were countering the small screen invasion with lavish, “cast of thousands” epics, they needed someone to take the lead. Who else but Chuck Heston had the right combination of chiseled features, booming voice, leading man looks and an unwillingness to turn down a beefy paycheck no matter how ludicrous the role?

Heston is to acting what The Monkees are to rock and roll. Both were prefabricated industry creations that arrived on the scene at a precise moment in time to fill a specific void (and make their backers a lot of money).

The legendary movie star died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with Lydia, his wife of 64 years, at his side. No official cause of death has been named, but the actor revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 84.

Heston, born John Charles Carter in Evanston, Illinois, was the son of Lilla (nee Charlton) and Russell Whitford Carter, a mill operator. His parents divorced when he was ten and soon after his mother married Chester Heston. The new family migrated up the road a piece to Chicago’s well-fixed suburb of Wilmette where Charlton Heston (his new surname) attended New Trier High School.

Heston made his movie debut in a pair of 1940s independent films shot on 16mm by classmate David Bradley, who later became a noted film archivist. While in high school, he played the title role in Peer Gynt (1942). At Northwestern University he starred as Marc Antony in Bradley’s 1949 version of Julius Caesar, in which Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry had a supporting role as ancient Rome.

Paramount producer Hal B. Wallis spotted Heston in a 1950 television production of Wuthering Heights and offered him a contract. When Lydia reminded him that they had decided to pursue careers in theater and television, he replied, “Well, maybe just for one film to see what it’s like.”

His first appearance for the studio was in William Dieterle’s adept film noir Dark City. Two years later Heston got his big break playing the manager of Cecil B. DeMille’s Greatest Show on Earth. It’s as close to the circus as you ever want to get.

Years before Chuck tackled history books and the Bible, he appeared in a pair of exceedingly entertaining genre pictures. King Vidor literally dragged Heston through a swamp all for the love of sadistic Jennifer Jones in his over-the-top melodrama Ruby Gentry and George Pal plunged him neck-deep in ants (and Eleanor Parker) in the solid adventure pic The Naked Jungle.

In 1953 Heston assumed the roles of two historical figures — Andrew Jackson in Henry Levin’s lethal The President’s Lady and Frank ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody in Jerry Hopper’s leaden Pony Express — a move that heralded a career in epics and costume pictures. (He once again assumed the roles of President Jackson in the 1958 remake of The Buccaneer.) As Moses in Cecil B. DeMille’s monumental remake of his own The Ten Commandments, Heston added the Old Testament to his repertoire

Admittedly, Heston perched atop Mt. Sinai all dolled up in hair stylist Nellie Manley’s Cottonelle sausage curls gives rise for laughter (as does a majority of the film’s dialog), yet the picture endures mostly through its majestic production design, persuasive matte shots and dazzling Technicolor complexion.

During the filming a dolorous Heston faced the blazing noonday sun weighted down under layers of Hebrew cloth. A pixelated Edward G. Robinson strolled by, noticed the actor’s discomfort and cracked, “It’s tough being a Jew, isn’t it, Chuck?”

As much as I delight in DeMille’s corn, William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) is an epic of a different kind. At three-and-a-half hours (counting intermission) Ben-Hur is an epic bore. It’s a pile of sanctimonious slop that, aside from Miklos Rosza’s tremendous score, has nothing to recommend. Needless to say, the film garnered 11 Academy Awards, one of which went to Heston.

If Charlton Heston did only one thing over the course of his mega career to forever secure a place in the annals of film history, he saw to it that Orson Welles directed Touch of Evil (1958). The contractually obliged Welles reluctantly consented to play the role of corrupt detective Hank Quinlan. Heston signed on thinking that Welles was also going to direct and eventually convinced producer Albert Zugsmith to give the “difficult” filmmaker a shot. In return, Welles directed Heston in his finest role as a (believe it or not) honeymooning Mexican narcotics agent trying to take down a Tijuana dope ring. If you’re allowed one film in hell, I’m packing Touch of Evil.

Throughout his career Heston portrayed numerous historical heroes. In addition to Mose, Judah, Stonewall and Cody, Heston breathed life into John the Baptist (The Greatest Story Ever Told), Michelangelo (The Agony and the Ecstasy), General Charles ‘Chinese’ Gordon (Khartoum), Marc Antony (Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra), Cardinal Richelieu (The Three Musketeers) and Henry VIII (The Prince and the Pauper).

Of all the figures drawn from history, it’s Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar in Anthony Mann’s stunning El Cid that leads the pack. Not that Heston matters much; El Cid is the director’s crowning epic and would have been a masterpiece with or without him, which is probably true of just about any quality picture Heston happened to appear in.

Science fiction fans undoubtedly remember Heston fondly for his trilogy of late 60s, early 70s futuristic films, Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man and Soylent Green. (Beneath the Planet of the Apes doesn’t count!) Apes remains a personal favorite with memories of Heston’s teeth, bigger and yellower than Moses’ tablets, writ large in anamorphic close ups.

Throughout the 70s Heston found work in a string of fashionable disaster films. He piloted ill-fated flights in Skyjacked and Airport ‘77, did little to rock the screen in the Senssurround productions Earthquake and Midway, saved football fans at the Two-Minute Warning and refused to keep the Gray Lady Down.

The rest of Heston’s work on screen consisted of nighttime soaps (Dynasty, The Colbys), made-for-TV adaptations of classics (A Man for All Seasons, Treasure Island, Genghis Khan) and voice for hire (Call from Space, Hercules, Armageddon).

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Charlton Heston, James Baldwin, Marlon Brando & Harry Belafonte

Off screen Heston was quite the political activist. He was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1965 to 1971. He campaigned for Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy in addition to accompanying Martin Luther King on a civil rights march in 1963. After Robert Kennedy’s assassination, Heston became a vocal supporter of President Lyndon Johnson’s Gun Control Act of 1968. He also opposed Richard Nixon and the war in Vietnam.

What a difference a couple of decades make. By the 1980s Heston was a staunch advocate of affirmative action, had reversed his feelings on gun control and registered as a Republican. He was the President and cheerleader of the NRA from 1998 until he resigned in 2003. At the 2000 NRA convention, he raised a hand-made Brooks flintlock rifle over his head and declared that presidential candidate Al Gore would take away his Second Amendment rights “from my cold, dead hands.” It was the greatest performance of his career.

His last shining screen moment was self parody, only it’s hard to tell whether or not Heston was in on the joke. Co-starring opposite Warren Beatty in the sadly underrated Town and Country, Heston’s right wing, gun-toting lunatic father-in-law plays more like documentary footage rather than a performance.

As contemptuous as Heston’s political beliefs are, even I felt sorry for the guy when Michael Moore accosted the Alzheimer’s-stricken actor in his home and used the footage in Bowling for Columbine.

Take a moment to look at this clip from Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil. Were it not for Charlton Heston, we might not have the single-greatest shot ever recorded on film.



Photos:
Ben-Hur (+ Souvenir Program)
The Ten Commandments
Touch of Evil
El Cid
Planet of the Apes

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