Charlton Heston
Actor, Author, Spokesman, Public
Servant
 Growing
up hunting, shooting and fishing in the north woods of Michigan,
Charlton Heston found in America's outdoors tradition a respect
for individual freedom and personal responsibility that would
guide him through life. While studying at Northwestern
University, he married fellow acting student Lydia Clarke
and, after serving three years in the Army Air Corps during World
War II, they moved to New York's theatre district.
Since then, Heston has starred in more than 70 motion pictures,
nearly as many theatre productions, and innumerable television
shows and appearances. Among his many achievements, Heston won
an Academy Award
for Best Actor in BEN
HUR, a second Oscar for the Jean
Hersholt Humanitarian Award, as well as similar international
citations, was elected six times as president of the Screen
Actors Guild, served as the first Chairman and President of
the American Film Institute
and authored five books.
Throughout his richly varied and duty-conscious life, Charlton
Heston has never shied away from public service. The Michigan
actor, conservative spokesman and patriot achieved the rank of
Staff Sergeant with the 11th Air Force during World War II, serving
for two years in the Pacific Theatre. In the early sixties, by
then a major star, Heston campaigned for racial equality throughout
the Southwest, well before that was a popular stance. In 1963
the noted performer headed a contingent from the arts community
for Dr. Martin
Luther King's march on Washington, DC, an event that led to
the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Later, as president of the
Screen Actors Guild,
Heston worked once again with Dr. King, helping black Americans
gain entry into the Hollywood technical work force.
Heston has lent his time, talent and energy to a number of
federal agencies including the USIA and the Departments of Energy
and Agriculture.
He's done chores for every branch of the armed services, films
for a variety of governmental departments and, in 1982, traveled
to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to film a documentary designed
to wage war against agricultural failure and the resulting famine.
In 1984, the tireless activist went to Ethiopia on behalf
of the Red Cross,
where he reported on the political and economic impact of widespread
famine. Heston also visited Afghanistan guerilla camps to see
for himself how Afghan freedom fighters were faring in their struggle
against Soviet aggression. The politically astute actor remains
a strong voice in behalf of NATO,
and has traveled to France, Belgium and Germany on assignment
for the multi-national defense organization.
In 1981, Heston was named co-chairman of President Ronald
Reagan's Task Force on the Arts and Humanities. The following
year he was in Mexico City for the State Department as an observer
at the UNESCO
Conference on the arts. Heston has served as the official US delegate
to numerous film festivals and undertaken assignments to cultural
embassies in England, Egypt, Nigeria, Australia and West Berlin.
The widely traveled film star has been a member of the National
Council on the Arts, and was the first chairman and president
of the American Film
Institute.
In recent years, Heston has been no less active on the stage
and screen, starring in the 1996 feature film ALASKA,
giving an acclaimed performance as the Player King in Kenneth
Branagh's HAMLET,
and performing with his wife, Lydia, in LOVE LETTERS, a two-person
romantic comedy that's been among the couple's favorites for years.
In 1997 Heston was a recipient of the prestigious Kennedy
Center Honors for lifetime achievement in the performing arts,
one of just 105 individuals ever to receive, as the national cultural
center describes it, "America's equivalent of a knighthood in
Britain, or the French Legion of Honor, the quintessential reward
for a lifetime's endeavor."
 Charlton
Heston's impact on the American political scene has been as powerful
as his undeniable film presence. Heston often has testified before
state agencies and congressional committees and he remains a tireless
and feared campaigner for those who share his political philosophy.
He currently serves as President of the National
Rifle Association.
Charlton and Lydia Heston live a busy but informal life on
a ridge in Beverly Hills that Heston describes as "a modest home
attached to my wife's state of the art photographic studio." Lydia's
career as a photographer is burgeoning, with several exhibitions
scheduled. Charlton Heston has two books planned for this year.
 Among
Mr. Heston’s memorable film roles are The Ten Commandments, Ben
Hur, El Cid, Touch of Evil, The Naked Jungle, The Greatest Story
Ever Told, Planet of the Apes, Will Penny, The Hawaiians, Earthquake,
The Battle of Midway, Antony & Cleopatra, Omega Man, Skyjacked,
The Mountain Men, Mother Lode, Treasure Island, Tombstone and
the upcoming Town & Country.
A Personal Message : August
9, 2002
Los Angeles
August 9, 2002
My Dear Friends, Colleagues and Fans:
My physicians have recently told me I may have a neurological
disorder whose symptoms are consistent with Alzheimer's disease.
So... I wanted to prepare a few words for you now, because when
the time comes, I may not be able to.
I've lived my whole life on the stage and screen before you.
I've found purpose and meaning in your response. For an actor
there's no greater loss than the loss of his audience. I can part
the Red Sea, but I can't part with you, which is why I won't exclude
you from this stage in my life.
For now, I'm not changing anything. I'll insist on work when
I can; the doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see
a little less spring in my step, if your name fails to leap to
my lips, you'll know why. And if I tell you a funny story for
the second time, please laugh anyway.
I'm neither giving up nor giving in. I believe I'm still the
fighter that Dr. King and JFK and Ronald Reagan knew, but it's
a fight I must someday call a draw. I must reconcile courage and
surrender in equal measure. Please feel no sympathy for me. I
don't. I just may be a little less accessible to you, despite
my wishes.
I also want you to know that I'm grateful beyond measure. My
life has been blessed with good fortune. I'm grateful that I was
born in America, that cradle of freedom and opportunity, where
a kid from the Michigan Northwoods can work hard and make something
of his life. I'm grateful for the gift of the greatest words ever
written, that let me share with you the infinite scope of the
human experience. As an actor, I'm thankful that I've lived not
one life, but many.
Above all, I'm proud of my family... my wife Lydia, the queen
of my heart, my children, Fraser and Holly, and my beloved grandchildren,
Jack, Ridley and Charlie. They're my biggest fans, my toughest
critics and my proudest achievement. Through them, I can touch
immortality.
Finally, I'm confident about the future of America. I believe
in you. I know that the future of our country, our culture and
our children is in good hands. I know you will continue to meet
adversity with strength and resilience, as our ancestors did,
and come through with flying colors - the ones on Old Glory.
William Shakespeare, at the end of his career, wrote his farewell
through the words of Prospero, in The Tempest. It ends like this:
Be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Thank you, and God bless you, everyone.
Sincerely,
Charlton Heston
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