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He succeeded Ronald Reagan as president of the Screen Actors Guild, which issued this statement Sunday night:
Los Angeles (April 6, 2008) -- Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg released the following statement today:
"Screen Actors Guild mourns the loss of former SAG president Charlton Heston, who died Saturday. He was an actor of astonishing talent, a capable and visionary union leader and, above all, a man of dignity and grace.
"He will be missed by many people across the world, but by none more so than the members and staff of Screen Actors Guild who were honored to have served with him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Lydia and his children and grandchildren."
Among his richly deserved honors, Heston was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1971 and the Academy Award for best actor in 1959 for his performance in "Ben Hur," He was a prolific and accomplished actor having played characters as diverse as Moses, El Cid and Michelangelo.
Heston was the Guild’s 16th president, serving in the position from 1965-1971 and was a lifelong member since receiving his SAG card in 1950.
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Our thoughts and prayers go to Mr Hestons family on this very sad occasion.
The world has lost a true Film STAR and a great ambassador for all men.
R.I.P
An Honorable Man who’s life affected others. He showed the world that it did not matter what political party or religious group you were affiliated with that in if you believed in a cause or ideology and supported that belief then it was right. A man who’s talents were used to tell stories and through those stories he was able to affect and in some cases change lives.
He will be missed. He is in his eternal home and at peace at this moment. The best thing that his death brings is that in Heaven he has been made whole again and the affects of the horrible disease that he lived with for the last 6 years are no more. May he find PEACE in his new home.
May his family gain strength in knowing that he is whole again and in a peaceful place awaiting them to join him.
Someone who I did not know but who affected me through his work and the example that he was in life has been taken away but I rejoice in the fact that I lived during the time he too lived. Like my father and grandfathers, he was a man of principle and compassion and I am so sorry there are not more men like him on this earth today.
God Bless his family and may they rejoice in their memories.
Remembering the Heston Family in Prayers.
What if a six time president of SAG died and nobody noticed? Apparently SAG hasn’t, because 24 hours after his death the SAG website makes no note of it. Classy.
Well, we have lost another link to old Hollywood. While it was privately known by many that the final curtain call was close at hand, it is still, for me, a shock. He, like Wayne, Cagney and a few others, always seemed invincable. I never could imagine a world without Heston.
I met Heston several times. First time was at a small actor’s seminar at the old AFI at Doheny Library. He was very business-like, thoughtful, encouraging and smart.
The next time I met him was at John Ford’s funeral in 1973. Walking out of Blessed Sacrament Church, I 16 and was crying my eyes out at Ford’s passing. Standing next to me was William Wyler & Heston, who towered over both of us. He had his aviator shades on, his lips were pressed tight and when I looked at him, tears running down my cheeks, he simply nodded at me, as if to say he understood.
The last time I saw him was in 1987. I was subbing for my pal who did the makeup on Entertainment Tonight while he was on vacation. They were doing interviews with actors who won the Oscar for an upcoming Oscar special.
He came down, brought his Oscar. God was he tall. I told him he looked great and wouldn’t need any makeup, except for a bit of powder. After powdering his face he looked at me and asked, “Am I lovely as ever?” I told him I did the best I could without Lon Bentley by my side. (Bentley was his long-time makeup artist and what Heston asked me was a favorite saying of his to makeup artists.) He chuckled and patted my shoulder, thanking me. During filming he would talk to the crew about his career, mainly about the chariot race in BEN-HUR. Everyone was in awe of the man and he knew it & did his damndest to make them at ease.
Heston was a great actor. Watch him & Olivier in KHARTOM. He was insightful, dedicated, studious and honest. Even in a bad film, he gave his best & 100%. One of my favorite films — a guilty pleasure — is THE MOUNTAIN MEN. Both he and Brian Keith captured what a mountain man was like.
Our profession — and the world — is a bit poorer with his passing, although the deadly disease that took him can no longer hold him in its grasp. Like Moses, he is no longer held in bondage.
The thing I will remember most about him is when he left the Entertainment Tonight set, he went to every crew member, shook their hand and thanked them. Not many of his kind are left.
“Good night sweet prince and flights of Angels take thee to thy rest.”
Michael F. Blake
I think America has lost a great man. Because of his high moral standards and character I truly admired him and his work. I also became a member of the NRA because of him and his stand for freedom.
Ron, it is the weekend. Besides that Nikki reported his death at Midnight Central time and 1 AM Eastern.
As for Charlton, may a great actor rest in peace. George Clooney will never have the class that he had, even in pushing his views.
Hollywood, please honor his death by making sure the new releases this weekend are his work.
Charlton Heston, we love you in North Dakota!!!!!!!!!!!
RIP Charlton.
Charlton, was one of those actors who could really act. in any roll from westerns, to Ben Hur, he did it with such perfection. he will truly be missed. most male actors today can not play different rolla, both charlton and the late john wayne were 2 of a kind both devoted to there families and grandchildren. rest in peace…..Lee
I was sure Heston was going to be trashed here. I was wrong.
Charlton Heston was a great actor and a great man. I was raised watching his movies, from Ben-Hur to The Ten Commandments to Planet of the Apes, and each time I was in awe of his presence and acting capacity. His private life was as noble as his characters on screen, something which can be said of few actors. He led a full life and a good one. May he rest in peace. My thoughts go to his family at this time, and to all the other fans across the world. Goodbye, old man. You did well.
He was an actor of great power, intelligence, and courage, both personally and professionally. Personally, he stood for causes that weren’t popular or controversial among his Hollywood peers at the time from civil rights to the 2nd amendment. Professionally, he did a lot of offbeat films that couldn’t have been made without him, and many of them have become classics in their own right.
And he did it all with something a lot of modern Hollywood seems to be missing: class.
You just don’t see his kind of performer these days.
Have they taken that rifle he is sooo proud of out of his cold, dead hands yet? Great actor, sick conservative!
I can get riled up about politics, but no matter how conservative or right-wing Mr. Heston was, he as always a classy individual. I had the privilege of meeting him — for a split-second — after a screening of EL CID at the Egyptian a few years ago and he was diginfied and humbled that so many people came out to see him. Most “actors” of his stature would have blown off genre movies like SOYLENT GREEN and THE OMEGA MAN, but he came for those screenings as well and talked not down to the fans, but knowing that these movies meant as much to some of them as THE TEN COMMANDMENTS did for others.
You will be missed, sir. Between his passing and that of the sorely-underrated Richard Widmark — who should have gotten at least an honorary Oscar — it’s been a sad couple of weeks for classic Hollywood.
Every year Charlton Heston is watched by our family from Ben Hur to the Ten Commandments…it’s like a ritual…that bring many memories of family and Holidays.
Regarding the man…he was a man of great character.
TO the 1ultra liberal11ltra liberal…your comment was just like you…classless and tasteless. I’m tired of a holes who call themselves liberal, bashing other people for their point of views.
I might disagreed with Mr. Heston on Gun Control but I never, never would demean or dismiss his opinion when I know my liberal husband and his friends has guns and would never part with them either.
Heston’s much documented NRA show in Denver 10 days after the Columbine tragedy was unforgivable. Good riddance.
Agreed. 1ultra liberal11ltra liberal’s comment should be deleted because this isn’t the time for bashing regardless of who is being remembered. Yes he was a NRA member, but he was also one of the reasons actors and actresses such as Danny Glover, Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, and Samuel L. Jackson among others have jobs as actors in Hollywood, and get paid good money to do their jobs.
I agree with 1ultra liberal.
I wish I could say that Heston was a bad actor, but he was not.
charlton heston was an honourable man it seems to me. the world is a sadder place for him not being in it. A terrible disease robbe him and his family of his final years – but my god, in that final interview, could you believe he was still so strikingly handsome in his 80’s? proof if proof were needed that your life shows in your face. He was a contented man who required nly the love of his family to be truly happy. They must be devastated
A true gentleman and star — a rare combination indeed.
He was unique and irreplaceable. Anyone who doubts Mr. Heston’s abilities as a actor should check him out in Kenneth Brannagh’s version of Hamlet. He steals the movie with his soliliquy as the Player King, where you see nothing but his talking head. In that one speech you feel more real emotion than in the rest of the movie combined — an incredible feat considering the amazing talent of the rest of the cast.
We will miss his presence in and contribution to the movies.
Charlton Heston and his generation of actors will be missed in a Hollywood that seems to have lost any sense of dignity or refinement. If only today’s performers could begin to have his character, not to mention his box office appeal. As for his politics, he was a libertarian. Petty liberals who do not have the class enough to keep quiet at this good man’s passing do not grasp his sincere belief in human freedom. That is a sad commentary on the liberal thought police, but not on this truly gentle man who supported his fellow actors of SAG and who never let down his loyal fans.
Get it right,
didn’t you just bash someone because of their point of view? it might well be argued that ‘a man of great character’ wouldn’t so tirelessly support the gun lobby when between hundreds of teenagers are killing each other every year in this city alone with hand guns. i have never met Mr. Heston but he’d have to have one hell of handshake and tell some pretty funny stories for me to forgive him for his lunatic NRA politics in a time when more than 30,000 people a year are shot to death in this country. that’s about 30 times a year MORE than we’re losing in Iraq. there is war here too, we’re losing, and in my opinion he was a traitor.
May Mr. Heston rest in peace. He was a man of class and strong character. He was entitled to his beliefs and knew you (David and 1ultraliberal) are entitled to yours. He KNEW when to keep his mouth shut, apparently the two of you don’t. You look like idiots – now hush and quietly give the man the respect he so richly deserves. (You could go on Michael Moore’s site and do your sniping.) My thoughts and prayers are with the Hestons family.
David,
This is a memorial post, not a political screed. I know it’s hard, but jeez, could you not be QUITE so disrespectful. “In my opnion,” as you say, you’re being a douche.
David, ultralib etc – stay classy!
“i have never met Mr. Heston but he’d have to have one hell of handshake and tell some pretty funny stories for me to forgive him for his lunatic NRA politics in a time when more than 30,000 people a year are shot to death in this country.”
Ummm… you mean the same hand that shook Martin Luther King Jr.’s and walked in civil rights marches in ‘63? The hand of a man that campaigned for Adlai Stevenson and Kennedy? He was a complex and real person who’s political views shifted with his years (like millions before him), and it’s pretty disgusting that upon his death, you’re boiling him down to one viewpoint and seemingly blaming him for the deaths of 30,000 people a year. I don’t want to get into the issue of gun rights (which in many ways I disagreed on him with), and certainly don’t want to question how many of those deaths were from illegal weapons anyway. Granted, I grew up in a more rural existence and had a father who had several legal guns and would never kill a thing. But, I will say that you’re smug obnoxious attitude and the fact that you’re here trashing a man who did countless things in his life aside from presiding over the NRA is the precise reason half of this country hates us liberals for no reason at all. Thanks.
If it’s all right for dona to come and make comments about the “liberal thought police”, it should be all right for someone to come and give their honest opinion of a man, even if it is in the shadow of his death. (Though I do think it could and should be done with more taste, as has been pointed out.) Charlton Heston was a good man and even better actor. Moreover, anyone who would walk with both Martin Luther King Jr. and the WGA while also staying married and in love with his wife for so many decades deserves our utmost respect. And he has my respect. But he did not have my love, and his death won’t change that. He stood close to where families and friends were shattered by the loss of innocent students and called efforts to not ban guns, but create laws to prevent future tragedies things that would infringe on gun owners’ rights. Even as school shootings become common in our world, the smallest effort to curb them is shot down by the NRA, and I can’t forget that he was a part of that. It makes me sick, and it won’t stop doing so even with the loss of someone who was, I will admit without an ounce of spite, a great man. Go ahead and dig into me for this. I know it’s too soon, I know this isn’t the place. I will swear on God’s honest truth that I wasn’t going to say anything until I read the comments before me. And I also swear that I won’t say anything else, and if you want to yell at me for this, I really do understand completely. Just know that my words aren’t meant to reflect on any group I’m a part of, just me. I’m not a crazy liberal (at least I don’t mean to be), I’m just a student who has watched other people my age die without reason and wishes something would be done about it. Charlton Heston helped the fact things aren’t happening. I won’t forgive that. I will forgive him. May he rest in peace and thoughts and prayers be with his family and friends.
The world is a sadder place due to the loss of Charlton Heston. He was a breed of Hollywood actors that will never be replaced. As for his views on gun control… Hello that is a constitutional right. Do you people who blame every school shooting, every robbery, and every gun accident on the NRA really believe that outlawing guns is the answer??? Then only OUTLAWS would have them.
My thoughts and prayers are with Charlton’s wife (of over 60 years), kids and grandkids
I’m definitely liberal but Charlton Heston has got my total respect, even if I would disagree with him on the guns issue. The guy walked with MLK, as was noted above, and insisted that Orson Welles direct Touch of Evil when O.W.’s directing career was considered DOA in Hollywood. Quite frankly, it’s liberals like the assholes above who make the rest of us look bad and contribute to the “us against them” that has done nothing but polarize the political debate in this country. I don’t know how the hell he was a “traitor”, unless supporting a particular POV that is upheld in the laws of this country makes someone a “traitor”. Empathy is one hell of a character trait, especially when it comes to trying to understand where the “other side” is coming from. Empathy is a trait more people need to acquire in this day and age. But I understand the need to feel the competition and treat politics and society like it’s a Super Bowl, so you know, go team and all that bullshit.
God bless each of you who has left kind words remembering Mr. Heston.
Thank you to the liberals who posted their condolences and appreciation for Charlton Heston, his craft and his style. Other posts however, have shown the true face of the Loony Blacklist Left. Tolerance? Hah.
I started to say that I can not believe that people will get on a public board and bash someone who died of a terrible disease not only for him but for his family. What utter disrespect. But that is what I have come to expect from liberals. You know it is okay to disagree but to the point of hate and disrepect. ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE. Charlton Heston had more class in one finger than those of you who came on here to bash someone who cannot defend himself. But you know what? He didn’t have to defend himself. He was very comfortable with who he was and that is one reason that I respected him so much.
First i would like to say that may God bless the Heston family. For those that are against guns if it were not for our right to bear arms we would not be a free country today that is the reason why Japan stopped short at pearl harbor they would not invade the homeland because most citizens had guns and look throughout history those countries who pass gun control laws shortly after they are invaded by their own country or other country so let that be a lesson Charlton Heston knew that and that is why he will always be remembered as a patriot.
I weep.
Mr. Heston was a man of integrity that you ‘anti’s’ will never understand. I have been around guns all my life. Ironically, I was disabled for life becouse of an accidental shooting. The gun did NOT shoot me! The dumb son of a bitch holding it shot me! If he would of had a knife, he probably would have stumbled and stabbed me with that! And yes, I still shoot guns,BUT, I,m more carefull about who I hunt and shoot with.