Heston

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</div><div><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 222px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Charlton_Heston_1959.jpg" class="image" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Charlton_Heston_1959.jpg/220px-Charlton_Heston_1959.jpg" width="220" height="288" class="thumbimage" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Charlton_Heston_1959.jpg/330px-Charlton_Heston_1959.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Charlton_Heston_1959.jpg/440px-Charlton_Heston_1959.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1000" data-file-height="1311" style="border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); vertical-align: middle; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></a><div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Charlton_Heston_1959.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22 viewBox=%220 0 11 15%22 width=%2215%22 height=%2211%22%3E %3Cg id=%22magnify-clip%22 fill=%22%23fff%22 stroke=%22%23000%22%3E %3Cpath id=%22bigbox%22 d=%22M1.509 1.865h10.99v7.919h-10.99z%22/%3E %3Cpath id=%22smallbox%22 d=%22M-1.499 6.868h5.943v4.904h-5.943z%22/%3E %3C/g%3E %3C/svg%3E"); display: block; text-indent: 15px; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; width: 15px; height: 11px; user-select: none;" /></div>Drawing of Heston after he won an Oscar for Ben-Hur in 1959. Artist: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Volpe" title="Nicholas Volpe" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Nicholas Volpe</a>.</div></div></div><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">1970s action star</h3>In 1971, he starred in the post-apocalyptic science-fiction film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Man" title="The Omega Man" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Omega Man</a>, which has received mixed critical reviews but was popular. He became a gun rights advocate.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-47" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[47]</a>In 1972, Heston made his directorial debut and starred as Mark Antony in an adaptation of the William Shakespeare play he had performed earlier in his theater career, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_and_Cleopatra(1972_film)" title="Antony and Cleopatra (1972 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Antony and Cleopatra</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegarde_Neil" title="Hildegarde Neil" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Hildegarde Neil</a> was Cleopatra and English actor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Porter" title="Eric Porter" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Eric Porter</a> was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaeus_Domitius_Ahenobarbus(consul_32_BC)" title="Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 32 BC)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ahenobarbus</a>. After receiving scathing reviews, the film was never released to theaters, and is rarely seen on television. It was finally released on DVD in March 2011.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-48" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[48]</a>His next film, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyjacked(film)" title="Skyjacked (film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Skyjacked</a> (1972) was a hit. However <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_of_the_Wild(1972_film)" title="The Call of the Wild (1972 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Call of the Wild</a> (1972) was a flop, one of Heston's least favorite films. He quickly recovered with a string of hits: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green" title="Soylent Green" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Soylent Green</a> (1973), another science fiction story; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Musketeers(1973_film)" title="The Three Musketeers (1973 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Three Musketeers</a> (1973), playing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Richelieu" title="Cardinal Richelieu" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Cardinal Richelieu</a> in an all-star cast; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake(1974_film)" title="Earthquake (1974 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Earthquake</a> (1974), a disaster film; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airport_1975" title="Airport 1975" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Airport 1975</a> (1975), another disaster film; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway(film)" class="mw-redirect" title="Midway (film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Midway</a> (1976) a war film.Heston's good run at the box office ended with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-Minute_Warning" title="Two-Minute Warning" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Two-Minute Warning</a> (1976), a disaster film, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Hard_Men(film)" title="The Last Hard Men (film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The Last Hard Men</a> (1976), a Western. He played <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Henry_VIII" class="mw-redirect" title="King Henry VIII" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">King Henry VIII</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince_and_the_Pauper(1977_film)" title="The Prince and the Pauper (1977 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The Prince and the Pauper</a> (1977), from the Musketeers team, then starred in a disaster film, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_Lady_Down" title="Gray Lady Down" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Gray Lady Down</a> (1978).Heston was in a Western written by his son, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mountain_Men" title="The Mountain Men" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The Mountain Men</a> (1980) and a horror film, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Awakening(1980_film)" title="The Awakening (1980 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The Awakening</a> (1980). He made his second film as a director <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Lode(film)" title="Mother Lode (film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Mother Lode</a> (1982) also written by his son; it was a commercial disappointment.<h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Later career</h3>From 1985-87, he starred in his only prime time stint on a television series in the soap, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colbys" title="The Colbys" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Colbys</a>. With his son Fraser, he produced and starred in several TV movies, including remakes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Island(1990_film)" title="Treasure Island (1990 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Treasure Island</a> and A Man For All Seasons. In 1992, Heston appeared on the A&E cable network in a short series of videos, Charlton Heston Presents the Bible, reading passages from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorized_Version" class="mw-redirect" title="Authorized Version" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">King James version</a>.Never taking himself too seriously, he also made a few appearances as "Chuck" in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dame_Edna_Everage" title="Dame Edna Everage" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dame Edna Everage</a>'s shows, both on stage and on television. Heston appeared in 1993 in a cameo role in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne%27s_World_2" title="Wayne's World 2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Wayne's World 2</a>, in a scene where Wayne Campbell (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Myers(actor)" class="mw-redirect" title="Mike Myers (actor)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mike Myers</a>) requests casting a better actor for a small role. After the scene is reshot with Heston, Campbell weeps in awe. That same year, Heston hosted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live" title="Saturday Night Live" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Saturday Night Live</a>. He had cameos in the films <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet(1996_film)" title="Hamlet (1996 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Hamlet</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone(film)" title="Tombstone (film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tombstone</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Lies" title="True Lies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">True Lies</a>.He starred in many theatre productions at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Music_Center" title="Los Angeles Music Center" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Los Angeles Music Center</a>, where he appeared in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_Story(play)" title="Detective Story (play)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Detective Story</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Caine_Mutiny_Court_Martial" class="mw-redirect" title="The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Caine Mutiny Court Martial</a>, and as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes" title="Sherlock Holmes" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sherlock Holmes</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crucifer_of_Blood" title="The Crucifer of Blood" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Crucifer of Blood</a>, opposite <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Johnson(actor)" title="Richard Johnson (actor)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Richard Johnson</a> as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr.Watson" title="Dr. Watson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dr. Watson</a>. In 2001, he made a cameo appearance as an elderly, dying chimpanzee in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Burton" title="Tim Burton" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tim Burton</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes(2001_film)" title="Planet of the Apes (2001 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">remake of Planet of the Apes</a>. His last film role was as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele" title="Josef Mengele" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Josef Mengele</a> in My Father, Rua Alguem 5555, which had limited release (mainly to festivals) in 2003.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-49" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[49]</a>Heston's distinctive voice landed him roles as a film narrator, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon(1998_film)" title="Armageddon (1998 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Armageddon</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney" class="mw-redirect" title="Disney" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Disney</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules(1997_film)" title="Hercules (1997 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Hercules</a>. He played the title role in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Roberts(play)" title="Mister Roberts (play)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mister Roberts</a> three times and cited it as one of his favorite roles. In the early 1990s, he tried unsuccessfully to revive and direct the show with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Selleck" title="Tom Selleck" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tom Selleck</a> in the title role.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-50" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[50]</a> In 1998, Heston had a cameo role playing himself in the American television series <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends" title="Friends" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Friends</a>, in the episode "The One with Joey's Dirty Day". In 2000, he played Chief Justice Haden Wainwright in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outer_Limits(1995_TV_series)" title="The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Outer Limits</a> episode "Final Appeal".<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Political activism</h2><div class="thumb tleft" style="float: left; clear: left; margin: 0.5em 1.4em 1.3em 0px; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 172px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Charlton_Heston-1961_hearing.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22 viewBox=%220 0 11 15%22 width=%2215%22 height=%2211%22%3E %3Cg id=%22magnify-clip%22 fill=%22%23fff%22 stroke=%22%23000%22%3E %3Cpath id=%22bigbox%22 d=%22M1.509 1.865h10.99v7.919h-10.99z%22/%3E %3Cpath id=%22smallbox%22 d=%22M-1.499 6.868h5.943v4.904h-5.943z%22/%3E %3C/g%3E %3C/svg%3E"); display: block; text-indent: 15px; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; width: 15px; height: 11px; user-select: none;" /></div>Heston at a congressional hearing in 1961</div></div></div><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 172px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heston_Baldwin_Brando_Civil_Rights_March_1963.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22 viewBox=%220 0 11 15%22 width=%2215%22 height=%2211%22%3E %3Cg id=%22magnify-clip%22 fill=%22%23fff%22 stroke=%22%23000%22%3E %3Cpath id=%22bigbox%22 d=%22M1.509 1.865h10.99v7.919h-10.99z%22/%3E %3Cpath id=%22smallbox%22 d=%22M-1.499 6.868h5.943v4.904h-5.943z%22/%3E %3C/g%3E %3C/svg%3E"); display: block; text-indent: 15px; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; width: 15px; height: 11px; user-select: none;" /></div>Charlton Heston (left) with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin(writer)" class="mw-redirect" title="James Baldwin (writer)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">James Baldwin</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlon_Brando" title="Marlon Brando" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Marlon Brando</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Belafonte" title="Harry Belafonte" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Harry Belafonte</a>at the Civil Rights <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Washington_for_Jobs_and_Freedom" title="March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom</a> 1963: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Poitier" title="Sidney Poitier" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sidney Poitier</a>is in the background.</div></div></div><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 172px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Poitier_Belafonte_Heston_Civil_Rights_March_1963.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22 viewBox=%220 0 11 15%22 width=%2215%22 height=%2211%22%3E %3Cg id=%22magnify-clip%22 fill=%22%23fff%22 stroke=%22%23000%22%3E %3Cpath id=%22bigbox%22 d=%22M1.509 1.865h10.99v7.919h-10.99z%22/%3E %3Cpath id=%22smallbox%22 d=%22M-1.499 6.868h5.943v4.904h-5.943z%22/%3E %3C/g%3E %3C/svg%3E"); display: block; text-indent: 15px; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; width: 15px; height: 11px; user-select: none;" /></div>Heston at the 1963 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Washington_for_Jobs_and_Freedom" title="March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Civil Rights March on Washington, DC</a> with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Poitier" title="Sidney Poitier" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sidney Poitier</a> (left) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Belafonte" title="Harry Belafonte" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Harry Belafonte</a></div></div></div><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 172px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Charlton_Heston_Civil_Rights_March_1963.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22 viewBox=%220 0 11 15%22 width=%2215%22 height=%2211%22%3E %3Cg id=%22magnify-clip%22 fill=%22%23fff%22 stroke=%22%23000%22%3E %3Cpath id=%22bigbox%22 d=%22M1.509 1.865h10.99v7.919h-10.99z%22/%3E %3Cpath id=%22smallbox%22 d=%22M-1.499 6.868h5.943v4.904h-5.943z%22/%3E %3C/g%3E %3C/svg%3E"); display: block; text-indent: 15px; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; width: 15px; height: 11px; user-select: none;" /></div>Heston at the March on Washington in 1963</div></div></div>Heston's political activism had four stages.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-51" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[51]</a> In the first stage, 1955–61, he endorsed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Democratic</a> candidates for President, and signed on to petitions and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism_in_the_United_States" title="Liberalism in the United States" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">liberal</a> political causes. From 1961–72, the second stage, he continued to endorse Democratic candidates for President. Moving beyond <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood" title="Hollywood" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Hollywood</a>, he became nationally visible in 1963 in support of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964" title="Civil Rights Act of 1964" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>. From 1965–71, he served as the elected president of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Actors_Guild" title="Screen Actors Guild" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Screen Actors Guild</a>, and clashed with his liberal rival <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Asner" title="Ed Asner" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Ed Asner</a>. In 1968, he used his "cowboy" persona to publicize <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_control" title="Gun control" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">gun control</a> measures.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]The third stage began in 1972. Like many <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservative" class="mw-redirect" title="Neoconservative" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">neoconservatives</a> of the same era who moved from liberal Democrat to conservative <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Republican</a>, he rejected the liberalism of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_McGovern" title="George McGovern" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George McGovern</a> and supported <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon" title="Richard Nixon" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Richard Nixon</a> in 1972 for President. In the 1980s, he gave strong support to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Ronald Reagan</a> during his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_States" title="Conservatism in the United States" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">conservative</a> presidency. In 1995, Heston entered his fourth stage by establishing his own political action fund-raising committee and jumped into the internal politics of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association" title="National Rifle Association" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">National Rifle Association</a>. He gave numerous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_war" title="Culture war" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">culture wars</a> speeches and interviews upholding the conservative position, blaming media and academia for imposing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action" title="Affirmative action" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">affirmative action</a>, which he saw as unfair <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_discrimination" title="Reverse discrimination" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">reverse discrimination</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-52" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">[52]</a>Heston campaigned for Presidential candidate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson_II" title="Adlai Stevenson II" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Adlai Stevenson</a> in 1956, although he was unable to campaign for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F.Kennedy" title="John F. Kennedy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">John F. Kennedy</a> in 1960 due to filming on El Cid in Spain.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-Stevenson_and_Kennedy-53" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[53]</a> Reportedly, when in 1961 a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_segregation_in_the_United_States" title="Racial segregation in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">segregated</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma" title="Oklahoma" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Oklahoma</a> movie theater was showing his movie El Cid for the first time, he joined a picket line outside.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-54" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[54]</a> Heston made no reference to this in his autobiography but describes traveling to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City" title="Oklahoma City" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Oklahoma City</a> to picket segregated restaurants, to the chagrin of the producers of El Cid, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_Artists_Pictures_Corporation" class="mw-redirect" title="Allied Artists Pictures Corporation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Allied Artists</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-55" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[55]</a> During the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Washington_for_Jobs_and_Freedom" title="March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom</a> held in Washington, DC, in 1963, he accompanied <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,Jr." class="mw-redirect" title="Martin Luther King, Jr." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Martin Luther King, Jr.</a> In later speeches, he said he helped the civil rights cause "long before Hollywood found it fashionable."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-56" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[56]</a>In the 1964 election, he endorsed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_Baines_Johnson" class="mw-redirect" title="Lyndon Baines Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Lyndon Baines Johnson</a>, who had masterminded the passage of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964" title="Civil Rights Act of 1964" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Civil Rights Act of 1964</a> through Congress over the vociferous opposition of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Democrats" title="Southern Democrats" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Southern Democrats</a>. That year, Heston publicly opposed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_14(1964)" title="California Proposition 14 (1964)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">California Proposition 14</a> that rolled back the state's fair housing law, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumford_Fair_Housing_Act" class="mw-redirect" title="Rumford Fair Housing Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Rumford Fair Housing Act</a>.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]In his 1995 autobiography, In the Arena, written after he became a conservative Republican, Heston wrote that while driving back from the set of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Lord" title="The War Lord" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The War Lord</a>, he saw a "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater" title="Barry Goldwater" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Barry Goldwater</a> for President" billboard with his campaign slogan "In Your Heart You Know He's Right" and thought to himself, "Son of a bitch, he is right."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-57" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[57]</a> Heston later said that his support for Goldwater was the event that helped turn him against gun control laws.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-58" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[58]</a> Following the assassination of Senator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F.Kennedy" title="Robert F. Kennedy" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Robert F. Kennedy</a> in 1968, Heston, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Peck" title="Gregory Peck" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Gregory Peck</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Douglas" title="Kirk Douglas" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Kirk Douglas</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart" title="James Stewart" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">James Stewart</a> issued a statement in support of President Johnson's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Control_Act_of_1968" title="Gun Control Act of 1968" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Gun Control Act of 1968</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-59" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[59]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-60" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[60]</a> The Johnson White House had solicited Heston's support.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-61" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[61]</a> He endorsed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Humphrey" title="Hubert Humphrey" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Hubert Humphrey</a> in the 1968 Presidential election.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-62" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[62]</a>Heston opposed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War" title="Vietnam War" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Vietnam War</a> during its course (though he changed his opinion in the years following the war)<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-63" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[63]</a> and in 1969 was approached by the Democratic Party to run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Murphy" title="George Murphy" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">George Murphy</a>. He agonized over the decision but ultimately determined he could never give up acting.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-64" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[64]</a> He is reported to have voted for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon" title="Richard Nixon" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Richard Nixon</a>in 1972, though Nixon is not mentioned in his autobiography.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-65" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[65]</a>By the 1980s, Heston supported <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_States" title="Gun politics in the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">gun rights</a> 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."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-66" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[66]</a> In 1987, he first registered as a Republican.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-67" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[67]</a> He campaigned for Republicans and Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-Reagan-68" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[68]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H.W.Bush" class="mw-redirect" title="George H.W. Bush" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George H.W. Bush</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George W. Bush</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-69" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[69]</a>Heston resigned in protest from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actors_Equity" class="mw-redirect" title="Actors Equity" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Actors Equity</a>, saying the union's refusal to allow <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racebending" title="Racebending" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">a white actor to play a Eurasian role</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Saigon" title="Miss Saigon" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Miss Saigon</a> was "obscenely racist".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-70" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[70]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-71" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[71]</a>Heston charged that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN" title="CNN" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">CNN</a>'s telecasts from Baghdad were "sowing doubts" about the allied effort in the 1990–91 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War" title="Gulf War" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Gulf War</a>."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-bobthomas-41" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[41]</a>At a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner" class="mw-redirect" title="Time Warner" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Time Warner</a> stockholders' meeting, Heston castigated the company for releasing an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice-T" title="Ice-T" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Ice-T</a> album which included a song "Cop Killer" about killing police officers. While filming <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Savage(1952_film)" title="The Savage (1952 film)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Savage</a>, Heston was initiated by blood into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniconjou" title="Miniconjou" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Miniconjou</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakota_people" title="Lakota people" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Lakota Nation</a>, saying that he had no natural <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States" title="Native Americans in the United States" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">American Indian</a> heritage, but elected to be "Native American" to salvage the term from exclusively referring to American Indians.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-Arena-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[12]</a>In 1993, Heston teamed up with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_West" title="John Anthony West" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">John Anthony West</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_M.Schoch" title="Robert M. Schoch" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Robert M. Schoch</a> in an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Award" title="Emmy Award" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Emmy Award</a>-winning <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC" title="NBC" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">NBC</a> special, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_the_Sphinx" title="The Mystery of the Sphinx" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Mystery of the Sphinx</a>. West and Schoch had proposed a much earlier date for the construction of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx" class="mw-redirect" title="Great Sphinx" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Great Sphinx</a> than generally accepted. They had suggested that the main type of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weathering" title="Weathering" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">weathering</a> evident on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx" class="mw-redirect" title="Great Sphinx" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Great Sphinx</a> and surrounding enclosure walls could only have been caused by prolonged and extensive rainfall and that the whole structure was carved out of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limestone" title="Limestone" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">limestone</a> bedrock by an ancient advanced culture (such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Neolithic" title="Heavy Neolithic" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Heavy Neolithic</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qaraoun_culture" title="Qaraoun culture" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Qaraoun culture</a>).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-Schoch(1992)-72" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[72]</a>In a 1997 speech called "Fighting the Culture War in America", Heston rhetorically deplored a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_war" title="Culture war" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">culture war</a> he said was being conducted by a generation of media people, educators, entertainers, and politicians against:<blockquote style="overflow: hidden; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 40px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">... the God fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle-class <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant" class="mw-redirect" title="Protestant" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Protestant</a> – or even worse, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_Christian" class="mw-redirect" title="Evangelical Christian" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">evangelical Christian</a>, Midwestern or Southern – or even worse, rural, apparently straight – or even worse, admitted heterosexuals, 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 to social progress. Your voice deserves a lower decibel 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?<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-73" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[73]</a></blockquote>He went on to say:<blockquote style="overflow: hidden; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 40px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution" title="United States Constitution" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Constitution</a> 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 in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln" title="Abraham Lincoln" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Lincoln</a>'s name opposing slavery in the 1860s. So why should I be ashamed of white guys? Why is "Hispanic Pride" or "Black Pride" a good thing, while "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Pride" class="mw-redirect" title="White Pride" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">White Pride</a>" conjures shaven heads and white hoods? Why was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Man_March" title="Million Man March" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Million Man March</a> on Washington celebrated by many as progress, while the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promise_Keepers" title="Promise Keepers" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Promise Keepers</a> March on Washington was greeted with suspicion and ridicule? I'll tell you why: Cultural warfare!</blockquote>In an address to students at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School" title="Harvard Law School" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Harvard Law School</a> entitled "Winning the Cultural War", Heston said, "If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_III_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="George III of the United Kingdom" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">King George</a>'s boys – subjects bound to the British crown."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-Winning_the_Cultural_War-74" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[74]</a><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 222px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ronald_Reagan_Charlton_Heston.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22 viewBox=%220 0 11 15%22 width=%2215%22 height=%2211%22%3E %3Cg id=%22magnify-clip%22 fill=%22%23fff%22 stroke=%22%23000%22%3E %3Cpath id=%22bigbox%22 d=%22M1.509 1.865h10.99v7.919h-10.99z%22/%3E %3Cpath id=%22smallbox%22 d=%22M-1.499 6.868h5.943v4.904h-5.943z%22/%3E %3C/g%3E %3C/svg%3E"); display: block; text-indent: 15px; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; width: 15px; height: 11px; user-select: none;" /></div>Heston with President Ronald Reagan during a meeting for the Presidential Task Force on the Arts and Humanities in the White House Cabinet Room, 1981</div></div></div>He said to the students:<blockquote style="overflow: hidden; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 40px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">You are the best and the brightest. You, here in this fertile cradle of American academia, here in the castle of learning on the Charles 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 since Concord Bridge. And as long as you validate that and abide it, you are, by your grandfathers' standards, cowards.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-Winning_the_Cultural_War-74" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[74]</a></blockquote>During a speech at Brandeis University, he stated, "Political correctness is tyranny with manners".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-75" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[75]</a> In a speech to the National 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."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-76" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[76]</a>Heston was the president (a largely ceremonial position) and spokesman of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association" title="National Rifle Association" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">NRA</a> from 1998 until he resigned in 2003. At the 2000 NRA convention, he raised a rifle over his head and declared that a potential <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore" title="Al Gore" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Al Gore</a> administration would take away his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="Second Amendment to the United States Constitution" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Second Amendment</a> rights "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_my_cold,dead_hands" title="From my cold, dead hands" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">from my cold, dead hands</a>".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-77" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[77]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-78" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[78]</a> In announcing his resignation in 2003, he again raised a rifle over his head, repeating the five famous words of his 2000 speech. Heston became an honorary life member.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-nation-79" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[79]</a>In the 2002 film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_for_Columbine" title="Bowling for Columbine" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Bowling for Columbine</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moore" title="Michael Moore" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Michael Moore</a> interviewed Heston at Heston's home, asking him about an April 1999 meeting the NRA held in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver,Colorado" class="mw-redirect" title="Denver, Colorado" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Denver, Colorado</a>, shortly after the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_high_school_massacre" class="mw-redirect" title="Columbine high school massacre" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Columbine high school massacre</a>. Moore criticized Heston for the perceived thoughtlessness in the timing and location of the meeting. When Moore asked Heston for his thoughts on why gun-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/or that "we have a history of violence, perhaps more than most countries."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-80" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[80]</a> Heston subsequently, on-camera, excused himself and walked away. Moore was later criticized for having conducted the interview in what some viewed as an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_genres#Ambush_journalism" title="Journalism genres" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">ambush</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-81" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[81]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-Ebert-82" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[82]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-83" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[83]</a> The interview was conducted early in 2001, before Heston publicly announced his Alzheimer's diagnosis, but the film was released afterward, causing some to say that Moore should have cut the interview from the final film.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-84" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[84]</a>In April 2003, he sent a message of support to the American forces in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War" title="Iraq War" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Iraq War</a>, attacking opponents of the war as "pretend patriots".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-85" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[85]</a>Heston opposed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion" title="Abortion" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">abortion</a> and introduced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Nathanson" title="Bernard Nathanson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Bernard Nathanson</a>'s 1987 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-life" class="mw-redirect" title="Pro-life" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">pro-life</a> documentary, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_of_Reason" title="Eclipse of Reason" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Eclipse of Reason</a>, which focuses on late-term abortions. Heston served on the advisory board of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_in_Media" title="Accuracy in Media" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Accuracy in Media</a>, a conservative media watchdog group founded by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Irvine" title="Reed Irvine" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Reed Irvine</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-86" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[86]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Illness and death[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charlton_Heston&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Illness and death" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>In 1996, Heston had a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_replacement" title="Hip replacement" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">hip replacement</a>. He was diagnosed with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostate_cancer" title="Prostate cancer" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">prostate cancer</a> in 1998. Following a course of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_therapy" title="Radiation therapy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">radiation treatment</a>, the cancer went into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remission(medicine)" class="mw-redirect" title="Remission (medicine)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">remission</a>. In 2000, he publicly disclosed that he had been treated for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism" title="Alcoholism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">alcoholism</a> at a Utah clinic in May–June of that year.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-87" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[87]</a><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 172px;"><div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Heston.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22 viewBox=%220 0 11 15%22 width=%2215%22 height=%2211%22%3E %3Cg id=%22magnify-clip%22 fill=%22%23fff%22 stroke=%22%23000%22%3E %3Cpath id=%22bigbox%22 d=%22M1.509 1.865h10.99v7.919h-10.99z%22/%3E %3Cpath id=%22smallbox%22 d=%22M-1.499 6.868h5.943v4.904h-5.943z%22/%3E %3C/g%3E %3C/svg%3E"); display: block; text-indent: 15px; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; width: 15px; height: 11px; user-select: none;">
</a></div></div></div></div>On August 9, 2002, he publicly announced (via a taped message) that he had been diagnosed with symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-88" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[88]</a> In July 2003, in his final public appearance, Heston received the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom" title="Presidential Medal of Freedom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Presidential Medal of Freedom</a> at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House" title="White House" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">White House</a> from President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George W. Bush</a>. 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-89" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[89]</a>Heston died on the morning of April 5, 2008, at his home in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Hills,California" title="Beverly Hills, California" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Beverly Hills, California</a>, with Lydia, his wife of 64 years, by his side. He was also survived by their son, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Clarke_Heston" title="Fraser Clarke Heston" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Fraser Clarke Heston</a>, and adopted daughter, Holly Ann Heston. The cause of death was not disclosed by the family.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-90" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[90]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-fox-91" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[91]</a> A month later, media outlets reported his death was due to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonia" title="Pneumonia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">pneumonia</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-92" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[92]</a>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 Lady <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Reagan" title="Nancy Reagan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Nancy Reagan</a> 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 support <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ronnie</a> in whatever he was doing."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-times-death-93" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[93]</a>Heston's funeral was held a week later on April 12, 2008, in a ceremony which was attended by 250 people including Nancy Reagan and Hollywood stars such as California Governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger" title="Arnold Schwarzenegger" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Arnold Schwarzenegger</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_de_Havilland" title="Olivia de Havilland" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Olivia de Havilland</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Carradine" title="Keith Carradine" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Keith Carradine</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Boone" title="Pat Boone" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Pat Boone</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Selleck" title="Tom Selleck" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tom Selleck</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Stone" title="Oliver Stone" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Oliver Stone</a> (who had cast Heston in his 1999 movie <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Any_Given_Sunday" title="Any Given Sunday" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Any Given Sunday</a>), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Reiner" title="Rob Reiner" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Rob Reiner</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Bale" title="Christian Bale" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Christian Bale</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-94" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[94]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-95" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[95]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-96" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[96]</a>The funeral was held at Episcopal Parish of St. Matthew's Church in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Palisades,Los_Angeles,California" class="mw-redirect" title="Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Pacific Palisades</a>, the church where Heston had regularly worshipped and attended Sunday services since the early 1980s.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-97" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[97]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-98" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[98]</a> He was cremated and his ashes were given to his family.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston#cite_note-99" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[99]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Legac</h2></div><div>===</div>