The sea has come back together. Charlton Heston has died at age 84.

I liked him in Planet of the Apes and could see some of the appealing aspects of The Omega Man. Plus he did some fine dramatic roles, such as Touch of Evil. But the sword and sandals stuff, well, hey.

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Make that 83. The IMDb lists his birth date as October 4, 1924, 33 years to the day before Sputnik 1.

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I like him planet of apes as well, so who took the gun from his cold dead hand.

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The sword & sandals stuff was a phase Hollyweird went through about fifty years ago. Give him credit, he did it better than most, except maybe Yul Brynner...

As for the gun, if they have even an iota of respect, they'll bury him with one firmly clenched in his cold dead hand.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

But he said I could have it, now.

R.I.P.

I never really understood why he was considered to be a "muscular, imposing" presence on the screen. Compared to who, Jimmy Stewart?

Well, that was in the days before steroids and HGH. Standards were different.

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"It is quite clear that Occam's razor does not sharpen in your pyramid." (Nicolas)

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." (Paul Simon)

R I P Mr Heston

And thank you for Ben Hur....has been and will be enjoyed by generations...

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No, even for those days, he wasn't that muscular.

Compared to who?
He had a masculine physique that was not too big or too thin.

There is also the presence of the person that carries it.

Just because someone doesn't look like Schwarzenegger doesn't make them a 90 lb weakling. He' was bigger than I am.

Its the chin...the man had a jawbone with more charisma than anything that Hollyweird has belched forth in a generation.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

Ah, dammit, I was going to watch Beh Hur again last weekend but never made the time. I was just waiting for a few extra hours. I wish I had made the time now.

You have made a lot of days a little brighter with your talent and many more to come.

Rest in Peace.

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This is a good point. Schwarzenegger changed our perception of what a movie hero should look like. When you view movies prior to Arnold hitting the scene there weren't too many heroes that were totally buff.

On a side note, I wonder if Heston watched I Am Legend and lost his will to live. I was a huge fan of the movie The Omega Man when I was a kid, so I liked I Am Legend a lot. I have talked to people who never saw The Omega Man and they didn't seem too impressed by I Am Legend. Personally I thought the zombies were awesome. I was a little annoyed by the similarities to Golem, they obviously used the same technology, but overall I thought they were pretty cool (for zombies). With that said I should defend myself up front by stating that zombie movies are an acquired taste but once you like them it seems that the most idiotic things can be thrown your way and you'll enjoy it... up to a point, but that point is pretty far out there.

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I eat zombies.

I never said he looked like a 90 pound weakling, nor do I think Arnold is the relevant standard. Heston looks like an average size guy to me. An in-shape average guy, I mean. There's nothing imposing about his physique.

As to contemporaries who I feel are more physical, Yul Brynner, Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster come to mind.

Well,in Planet of the Apes he'd just spent X number of years in suspended animation,that's not something conducive to staying in good physical shape

I see nobody's mentioned his greatest role,Moses.I'm proof that you don't have to be a Christian to enjoy it,the sets,the rest of the cast,the special effects that still look good today! One of my favorite movies.

bit of trivia: Ben-Hur was written by the Territorial Governor of New Mexico,Lew Wallace,who could've pardoned Billy the Kid,but there's evidence that he was in cahoots with the Kid's enemies

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True (at least if you believe Gore Vidal, which--based on the visual record--I do) Charlton Heston Story.

So they were making Ben-Hur. (Yep, it's hyphenated.) And somehow, it wasn't working. They didn't have a real hook for the story--or, as I believe Gore phrased it, they have a disagreement about politics and that's supposed to fill three hours of film. It didn't work. So Gore Vidal went up to William Wyler, the director of the film, and suggested that they have the pair be, um, formerly very close. (Gore Vidal was a screenwriter, albeit an uncredited one.)

So William Wyler says that they can't do that--leaving aside the Code, the book is subtitled A Tale of the Christ. (Yep, that article belongs there.) So Gore says, you know, we won't say anything. We'll just throw in some subtext for those who are watching for it. And William Wyler agreed, and he told Gore to go off and explain to Stephen Boyd, who played Messala, and Wyler said he'd take care of Charlton Heston. Gore Vidal does not think he was filled in on the story, and the no politics rule forbids me from getting very far into why. (Let's just say that we're dealing with a man who swore, after quite a lot of research--presumably including the man's own notebooks with the pictures of his boyfriends in them--that Michelangelo couldn't have been gay.) However, if you actually watch the film again, watch for the looks Messala gives Judah Ben-Hur.

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"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Compared to the men of his days, Heston at 6'3" was one of the tallest leading men. Only Rock Hudson at 6'5" and Jimmy Stewart at 6'3" were comparable.

I'm more than willing to give Mr. Heston his due. I thought he showed acting ability in 'Will Penny', but the times and the man brought out Screen Presence, and he had it.

Perhaps the worst moment in Ben-Hur was after the chariot race, with Stephen Boyd lying on the litter, skin flensed and body shattered after being dragged and trampled, and he smiles to reveal a mouthful of perfect, white, gleaming teeth.

On the other hand, we saw Ben-Hur touch the mezzuah as he walked through the door of his old home.

Lew Wallace was also a less-than-great general for the Union in the US Civil War. Which meant he was in good company.

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Oh, yeah.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

"It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people!"

Nick

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