John Charles Carter[1] was born on October 4, 1923, inCook County, Illinois, to Lilla (née Baines; 1899–1994) and Russell Whitford Carter (1897–1966), asawmill operator. His autobiography[5] states that he was born inWilmette, Illinois, while most sources indicate that he was born in adjacentEvanston, Illinois.[6][7][8] His birth certificate, registered when he was 11 days old, lists his name as Charlton Carter and records his birthplace as Evanston.[9]
Heston said in a 1995 interview that he was not very good at remembering addresses or his early childhood.[10] Heston was partially ofScottish descent, including from the Clan Fraser, but the majority of his ancestry wasEnglish. His earliest colonial ancestors arrived in America from England in the 1600s.[11][12][13][14][15] His maternal great-grandparents and namesakes were Englishman William Charlton fromSunderland and Scotswoman Mary Drysdale Charlton. They emigrated to Canada, where his grandmother, Marian Emily Charlton, was born in 1872.[16] In his autobiography Heston refers to his father participating in his family's construction business. When Heston was an infant, his father's work moved the family toSt. Helen, Michigan.[17] It was a rural, heavily forested part of the state, and Heston lived an isolated yet idyllic existence, spending much time hunting and fishing in the backwoods of the area.[5]
When Heston was ten years old, his parents divorced after having three children. Shortly thereafter, his mother remarried and Charlton, with his younger sister Lilla and younger brother Alan, next moved to Wilmette. Heston and his two siblings took the surname of his mother's new husband. The three children attendedNew Trier High School, which would become the high school attended byRock Hudson andAnn-Margret.[18] He recalled living there, "All kids play pretend games, but I did it more than most. Even when we moved to Chicago, I was more or less a loner. We lived in a North Shore suburb, where I was a skinny hick from the woods, and all the other kids seemed to be rich and know about girls".[19]: xii Contradictions on paper and in an interview surround when "Charlton" became Heston's first name. His birth certificate lists his name as Charlton Carter, and the1930 United States census record forRichfield, Michigan, inRoscommon County, shows his name as being Charlton J. Carter at age six.[20] Later accounts and movie studio biographies say he was born John Charles Carter. When Russell Carter died in 1966, Charlton's brother and sister changed their surname from Carter to Heston the following year; Charlton did not.[1]
Charlton was his maternal grandmother Marian's maiden name,[16] not his mother Lilla's. This is contrary to how 20th-century references read and what Heston said. When Heston's maternal grandmother and his biological maternal grandfather Charles Baines[21] separated or divorced in the early 1900s, Marian (née Charlton) Baines married William Henry Lawton in 1907.[22] Charlton Heston's mother, Lilla, and her sister May were adopted by their maternal grandfather and changed their last name to Charlton in order to distance themselves from their biological father, Mr. Baines, who was an undesirable father figure.[23][24] The Carters divorced in 1933 and Lilla Carter married Chester Heston. The newly married Mrs. Heston preferred her children use the same last name as hers.[25] It was thus as Charlton Heston that he appeared in his first film with younger brother Alan Carter (small role), an adaptation ofHenrik Ibsen'sPeer Gynt (1941).[26] His nickname was always Chuck.
Heston frequently recounted that while growing up innorthern Michigan in a sparsely populated area, he often wandered in the forest, "acting" out characters from books he had read.[27] Later, in high school, he enrolled inNew Trier's drama program, playing the lead role in the amateur silent16 mm film adaptation ofPeer Gynt, from theIbsenplay, by future film activistDavid Bradley released in 1941. From the Winnetka Community Theatre (or the Winnetka Dramatist's Guild, as it was then known) in which he was active, he earned a drama scholarship toNorthwestern University.[28][29] He attended college from 1941 to 1943 and among his acting teachers wasAlvina Krause.[28] Several years later, Heston teamed up with Bradley to produce the first sound version ofWilliam Shakespeare'sJulius Caesar, in which Heston playedMark Antony.[30]
After the war, the Hestons lived inHell's Kitchen,New York City, where they worked as artists' models. Seeking a way to make it in theatre, they decided to manage a playhouse inAsheville, North Carolina, in 1947, making $100 a week (roughly equivalent to $1,400 in 2024).[34] In 1948, they returned to New York, where Heston was offered a supporting role in aBroadway revival of Shakespeare'sAntony and Cleopatra, starringKatharine Cornell. In television, Heston played a number of roles inCBS'sStudio One, one of the most popularanthology dramas of the 1950s. In 1949 Heston playedMark Antony in an independent film adaptation ofJulius Caesar (1950). Film producerHal B. Wallis spotted Heston in a 1950 television production ofWuthering Heights and offered him a contract. When his wife reminded Heston they had decided to pursue theater and television, he replied, "Well, maybe just for one film to see what it's like."
Heston became an icon for playingMoses in the hugely successful biblical epicThe Ten Commandments (1956), selected by director Cecil B. DeMille, who thought Heston bore an uncanny resemblance toMichelangelo'sstatue of Moses.[35] DeMille cast Heston's three-month-old son,Fraser Clarke Heston, as the infant Moses.The Ten Commandments became one of the greatest box office successes of all time and isthe eighth-highest-grossing film adjusted for inflation. His portrayal of the Hebrew prophet and deliverer was praised by film critics.The Hollywood Reporter described him as "splendid, handsome and princely (and human) in the scenes dealing with him as a young man, and majestic and terrible as his role demands it".[36] TheNew York Daily News wrote that he "is remarkably effective as both the young, princely Moses and as the Patriarchal savior of his people".[37] His performance as Moses earned him his first nomination for theGolden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama andSpain'sFotogramas de Plata Award for Best Foreign Performer. When the Egyptian Theater reopened in December 1998, it screened Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 originalThe Ten Commandments, which had premiered there 75 years earlier. Charlton and Lydia Heston were honored guests at this opening showing and were seated with their longtime friends, brothers Charles Elias Disney and Daniel H. Disney.
Heston turned down the lead oppositeMarilyn Monroe inLet's Make Love to appear inBenn W. Levy's playThe Tumbler, directed byLaurence Olivier.[39] Called a "harrowingly pretentious verse drama" byTime,[40] the production went through a troubled out-of-town tryout period in Boston and closed after five performances on Broadway in February 1960.[41] Heston, a great admirer of Olivier the actor, took on the play to work with him as a director. After the play flopped, Heston told columnistJoe Hyams, "I feel I am the only one who came out with a profit. ... I got out of it precisely what I went in for—a chance to work with Olivier. I learned from him in six weeks things I never would have learned otherwise. I think I've ended up a better actor."[42]
Heston enjoyed acting on stage, believing it revivified him as an actor. He never returned to Broadway but acted in regional theatres. His most frequent stage roles included the title role inMacbeth, and Mark Antony in bothJulius Caesar andAntony and Cleopatra.[43] Heston considered himself to be a Shakespearean actor and collected significant works by and aboutWilliam Shakespeare.[44] He played SirThomas More inA Man for All Seasons in several regional productions in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, eventually playing it inLondon's West End. The play was a success and the West End production was taken toAberdeen, Scotland, for a week, where it was staged atHis Majesty's Theatre.[45]Samuel Bronston pursued Heston to play the title role in an epic shot in Spain,El Cid (1961), which was a big success. He was in a war film for Paramount,The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962), and a melodrama shot in Hawaii,Diamond Head (1963). Bronston wanted him for another epic and the result was55 Days at Peking (1963), which was a box office disappointment.
Drawing of Heston after he won an Oscar forBen-Hur in 1959 (artist:Nicholas Volpe)
In 1971, he starred in the post-apocalyptic science-fiction filmThe Omega Man, which has received mixed critical reviews, but was popular, and has become acult film in the years since release. It was also during this time he became a gun rights advocate.[47] In 1972, Heston made his directorial debut and starred as Mark Antony in anadaptation of the William Shakespeare play he had performed earlier in his theater career,Antony and Cleopatra.Hildegarde Neil was Cleopatra and English actorEric Porter wasAhenobarbus. After receiving scathing reviews, the film was never released to theaters and is rarely seen on television.
Heston's long run as a box office draw effectively ended withTwo-Minute Warning (1976), a suspense film, andThe Last Hard Men (1976), a Western. He playedKing Henry VIII forThe Prince and the Pauper (1977) from theMusketeers team, then starred in a disaster-suspense filmGray Lady Down (1978). Heston was in a Western written by his son,The Mountain Men (1980), and a horror film,The Awakening (1980). He made his second film as a director,Mother Lode (1982), also written by his son, and it was a commercial disappointment.
From 1985 until 1987, he starred in his only prime time stint on a television series in the soapThe Colbys. With his son Fraser, he produced and starred in several TV movies, including remakes ofTreasure Island andA Man for All Seasons. In 1992, Heston appeared on theA&E cable network in a short series of videos,Charlton Heston Presents theBible, reading passages from theKing James version.
In 1993, Heston teamed withJohn Anthony West andRobert M. Schoch in anEmmy Award-winningNBC special,The Mystery of the Sphinx. West and Schoch had proposed a much earlier date for the construction of theGreat Sphinx than the one which is generally accepted. They had suggested that the main type ofweathering evident on the Great Sphinx and surrounding enclosure walls could only have been caused by prolonged and extensive rainfall and that the whole structure was carved out oflimestone bedrock by an ancient advanced culture (such as theHeavy NeolithicQaraoun culture).[49] Never taking himself too seriously, Heston also made several appearances as "Chuck" inDame Edna Everage's shows, both on stage and on television. Heston appeared in 1993 in a cameo role inWayne's World 2 in a scene where Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) requests casting a better actor for a small role. After the scene is reshot with Heston, Campbell weeps in awe. That same year, Heston hostedSaturday Night Live. He had cameos in the filmsHamlet,Tombstone, andTrue Lies.
Richard Corliss wrote inTime magazine, "From start to finish, Heston was a grand, ornery anachronism, the sinewy symbol of a time when Hollywood took itself seriously, when heroes came from history books, not comic books. Epics likeBen-Hur orEl Cid simply couldn't be made today, in part because popular culture has changed as much as political fashion. But mainly because there's no one remotely like Charlton Heston to infuse the form with his stature, fire, and guts."[52] In his obituary for the actor, film criticRoger Ebert noted, "Heston made at least three movies that almost everybody eventually sees:Ben-Hur,The Ten Commandments andPlanet of the Apes."[53] Heston's cinematic legacy was the subject ofCinematic Atlas: The Triumphs of Charlton Heston, an 11-film retrospective by theFilm Society of theLincoln Center that was shown at theWalter Reade Theatre from August 29 to September 4, 2008.[54]
On April 17, 2010, Heston was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Great Western Performers.[55] In his childhood hometown ofSt. Helen, Michigan, acharter (independent) school, Charlton Heston Academy, opened on September 4, 2012. It is housed in the former St. Helen Elementary School. Enrollment on the first day was 220 students in grades kindergarten through eighth.[56][57]
Heston's political activism had four stages.[60] In the first stage, 1955–1961, he endorsed liberalDemocratic candidates for president and signed on to petitions forliberal political causes. From 1961 until 1972, the second stage, he continued to endorse Democratic candidates for president. Moving beyondHollywood, he became nationally visible in 1963 in support of theCivil Rights Act of 1964. From 1965 until 1971, he served as the elected President of theScreen Actors Guild and clashed with his liberal rivalEd Asner. In 1968, he helped publicizegun control measures when he joined fellow Hollywood stars in support of the Gun Control Act of 1968.[61]
The third stage began in 1972. Heston rejected the liberalism ofGeorge McGovern and supportedRepublicanRichard Nixon in 1972 for president.[62]: 192–193 In the 1980s, he gave strong support toRonald Reagan during hisconservative presidency. In 1995, Heston entered his fourth stage by establishing his own political action fund-raising committee and jumped into the internal politics of theNational Rifle Association. He gave numerousculture wars speeches and interviews upholding the conservative position, blaming media and academia for imposingaffirmative action, which he saw as unfairreverse discrimination.[63]
Heston campaigned for presidential candidateAdlai Stevenson in1956, although he was unable to campaign forJohn F. Kennedy in1960 because he was filmingEl Cid in Spain.[64] Reportedly, when asegregatedOklahoma movie theater was showing his movieEl Cid for the first time in 1961, he joined a picket line outside the movie theater.[65] Heston made no reference to this incident in his autobiography but he described traveling toOklahoma City to picket segregated restaurants, to the chagrin of the producers ofEl Cid,Allied Artists.[66] During theMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom held inWashington, D.C., in 1963, he accompaniedMartin Luther King Jr. In later speeches, he said he helped the civil rights cause "long before Hollywood found it fashionable".[67]
In his 1995 autobiography,In the Arena, written after he became a conservative Republican, Heston wrote that while driving back from the set ofThe War Lord, he saw a "Barry Goldwater for President" billboard with his campaign slogan "In Your Heart You Know He's Right" and thought to himself, "Son of a bitch, heis right."[68] Heston later said that his support for Goldwater was the event that helped turn him against gun control laws.[69] Following theassassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Heston,Gregory Peck,Kirk Douglas, andJames Stewart issued a statement in support of President Johnson'sGun Control Act of 1968.[70][71] The Johnson White House had solicited Heston's support.[72] He endorsedHubert Humphrey in the1968 presidential election.[73]
Heston opposed theVietnam War during its course (though he changed his opinion in the years following the war)[74] and in 1969 was approached by the Democratic Party to run for theU.S. Senate against incumbentGeorge Murphy. He agonized over the decision but ultimately determined he could never give up acting.[75] He supportedRichard Nixon in1972, though Nixon is not mentioned in his autobiography.[76][77][78]
By the 1980s, Heston supportedgun rights and changed his political affiliation from Democratic to Republican. When asked why he changed political alliances, Heston replied "I didn't change. The Democratic Party changed."[79] In 1987, he first registered as a Republican.[80] He campaigned for Republicans and Republican presidents Ronald Reagan,[81]George H. W. Bush, andGeorge W. Bush.[82]
"the God-fearing, law-abiding,Caucasian,middle-classProtestant—or even worse,evangelical Christian,Midwestern orSouthern—or even worse,rural, apparently straight—or even worse, admittedheterosexuals, gun-owning—or even worse, NRA card-carrying, average working stiff—or even worse, male working stiff—because, not only don't you count, you are a down-right obstacle tosocial progress. Your voice deserves a lowerdecibel level, your opinion is less enlightened, your media access is insignificant; and frankly, mister, you need to wake up, wise up, and learn a little something from your new America; and until you do, would you mind shutting up?"
—Heston, "Fighting the Culture War in America" speech (1997)[83]
Heston resigned in protest fromActors Equity, saying the union's refusal to allow awhite actor to play a Eurasian role inMiss Saigon was "obscenely racist".[84][85] Heston charged thatCNN's telecasts fromBaghdad were "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990–1991Gulf War.[38] At aTime Warner stockholders' meeting, Heston castigated the company for releasing anIce-T album which included a song "Cop Killer" about killing police officers. While filmingThe Savage, Heston was initiated by blood into theMiniconjouLakota Nation, saying that he had no naturalAmerican Indian heritage, but elected to be "Native American" to salvage the term from exclusively referring to American Indians.[5]
In Heston's 1997 speech, called "Fighting the Culture War in America", Heston rhetorically deplored aculture war he said was being conducted by a generation of media people, educators, entertainers, and politicians. He stated, "TheConstitution was handed down to guide us by a bunch of wise old dead white guys who invented our country! Now some flinch when I say that. Why! It's true ... they were white guys! So were most of the guys that died inLincoln's nameopposing slavery in the 1860s. So why should I be ashamed of white guys? Why is "Hispanic Pride" or "Black Pride" a good thing, while "White Pride" conjuresshaven heads andwhite hoods? Why was theMillion Man March on Washington celebrated by many as progress, while thePromise Keepers March on Washington was greeted with suspicion and ridicule? I'll tell you why: Cultural warfare!" In an address to students atHarvard Law School entitled "Winning the Cultural War", Heston said, "If Americans believed inpolitical correctness, we'd still beKing George's boys—subjects bound to the British crown."[86]
Heston with President Ronald Reagan during a meeting for the Presidential Task Force on the Arts and Humanities in the White House Cabinet Room in 1981
He said to the students: "You are the best and the brightest. You, here in this fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on theCharles River. You are the cream. But I submit that you and your counterparts across the land are the most socially conformed and politically silenced generation sinceConcord Bridge. And as long as you validate that and abide it, you are, by your grandfathers' standards,cowards".[86] During a speech atBrandeis University, he stated, "Political correctness is tyranny with manners".[87] In a speech to theNational Press Club in 1997, Heston said, "Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder."[88]
Heston was the ceremonial president and spokesman of the NRA from 1998 until his resignation in 2003. At the 2000 NRA convention, he raised a rifle over his head and declared that he would not allow a potentialAl Gore administration to take away hisSecond Amendment rights except "from my cold, dead hands".[89][90] In announcing his resignation from the presidency in 2003, he again raised a rifle over his head, repeating the words of his 2000 speech.[91]
In the 2002 filmBowling for Columbine,Michael Moore interviewed Heston at Heston's home, asking him about an April 1999 meeting the NRA held inDenver, Colorado, shortly after theColumbine High School massacre. Moore criticized Heston for the perceived thoughtlessness in the timing and location of the meeting. When Moore asked Heston for his thoughts on whygun-related homicide is so much higher in the United States than in other countries, Heston said it was because, "we have probably more mixed ethnicity" and that "we have a history of violence, perhaps more than most countries".[92] Heston subsequently excused himself on-camera and walked away, and Moore was later criticized by some for having conducted the interview as anambush.[93][94][95] The interview was conducted early in 2001 before Heston publicly announced hisAlzheimer's diagnosis, but the film was released afterward, causing some to say that Moore should have cut the interview from the final film.[96]
On August 9, 2002, he publicly announced (via a taped message) that he had been diagnosed with symptoms which are consistent withAlzheimer's disease.[101] In July 2003, in his final public appearance, Heston received thePresidential Medal of Freedom at theWhite House from President George W. Bush. In March 2005, various newspapers reported that family and friends were shocked by the progression of his illness and that he was sometimes unable to get out of bed.[102]
Heston died on the morning of April 5, 2008, at his home inBeverly Hills, California, with Lydia, his wife of 64 years, by his side. He was 84 years old. Heston was also survived by their son,Fraser Clarke Heston, and their daughter, Holly Ann Heston. The cause of Heston's death was not disclosed by his family.[103][104] A month later, media outlets reported his death was due topneumonia.[105]
Early tributes came in from leading figures; President George W. Bush called Heston "a man of character and integrity, with a big heart ... He served his country during World War II, marched in the civil rights movement, led a labor union and vigorously defended Americans' Second Amendment rights." Former First LadyNancy Reagan said that she was "heartbroken" over Heston's death and released a statement, reading, "I will never forget Chuck as a hero on the big screen in the roles he played, but more importantly I considered him a hero in life for the many times that he stepped up to supportRonnie in whatever he was doing."[106]
^Notable Kin: An Anthology of Columns First Published in the Nehgs Nexus, 1986–1995 by Gary B. Roberts, David Curtis Dearborn, John Anderson Brayton, Richard E. Brenneman, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Carl Boyer, 1997 page 21
^abThe 1880 United States Census; Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
^Steven J. Ross,Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics (2011), Chapter 7. 978-0-19-518172-2
^Mathews, Jay (May 2, 1986). "Charlton Heston, Statesman On the Set; For the 'Colbys' Star, Acting Is Only Part of the Job".The Washington Post. p. D1.
^Ebert, Roger (June 18, 2004). "9/11: Just the facts?".Chicago Sun-Times. p. 55.In some cases, [Moore] was guilty of making a good story better, but in other cases (such as his ambush of Charlton Heston) he was unfair
^Whitty, Stephen (April 6, 2008)."The best action hero".The Star-Ledger.Archived from the original on April 8, 2008. RetrievedApril 7, 2008.
Bernier, Michelle Bernier (2009).Charlton Heston: An Incredible Life (2nd ed.). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.ISBN978-1441467492.excerpt and text search
Raymond, Emilie (2006).From My Cold, Dead Hands: Charlton Heston and American Politics. University Press of Kentucky.ISBN0813124085.excerpt and text search; biography by scholar focused on political roles
Ross, Steven J. (2011).Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics. Oxford University Press USA.ISBN978-0199911431. Chapter 7 is on Charlton Heston
