Legendary actor Heston dies at 84

From the Houston Chronicle:

Charlton Heston, a towering star of the 1950s and 1960s who continued to command the stage in recent years as the face and defiant voice of the National Rifle Association, has died. He was 84.

Family spokesman Bill Powers said the actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife, Lydia, at his side.

Powers declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.

Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying, "I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure."

With his powerful bass voice and rugged athleticism, Heston was a natural to play larger-than-life figures in historic epics, and he played a slew of them in a career that spanned a half-century and included 80 films.

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I could go into a bunch of words about his lame right-wing turn in later years, or how his acting sucked by the standards I've learned in school, and then into a long diatribe about how none of that matters. But screw that. His work should speak for itself.

Here are three Charlton Heston moments that continue to blow me away after some thirty five years:







Farewell, Charlton Heston. I don't care what people say: you've affected my life in profound ways.

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