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Charlton Heston, "remembered chiefly for his monumental, jut-jawed portrayals of Moses, Ben-Hur and Michelangelo."

By Ann Althouse

Goodbye to one of the all-time great movie stars, Charlton Heston, who has died at the age of 83.

When I read "remembered chiefly for his monumental, jut-jawed portrayals of Moses, Ben-Hur and Michelangelo," I wondered, by whom? I'm pretty old but I've never seen those movies. I was alive when they came out, but too young to go to movies like that, and they weren't the kind of movies I was ever interested in over the decades I've spent catching up on old movies. So I don't believe Charlton Heston is remembered chiefly for his monumental, jut-jawed portrayals of Moses, Ben-Hur and Michelangelo. I think most people younger than 60 remember him chiefly for "Planet of the Apes."

Ask the man on the street to imitate Charlton Heston and I bet he'd say "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!"

Or maybe:

Ah, we loved Science Fiction Charlton Heston!

It was Charlton Heston that turned me against Michael Moore. Remember this from "Bowling for Columbine" ? taking advantage of the old man's deteriorating mind?

Horrible. Moore must have felt so self-righteous about his anti-gun agenda that he couldn't see why it was indecent to use that footage. [ADDED: Actually, I don't think that clip is "horrible" or "indecent." When I posted this, I was remembering it and the discussion around it at the time. After watching it just now, I think, given Heston's NRA activities, it was appropriate to interview him and push him, and Moore addressed him with an appropriate level of respect.]

The obituary outlines Heston's political career. He started out as a Democrat, and though he, like Ronald Reagan, served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, he never wanted to run for office.

He became a Republican after Democrats in the Senate blocked the confirmation of Judge Robert Bork, a conservative, to the Supreme Court in 1987. Mr. Heston had supported the nomination and was critical of the Reagan White House for misreading the depth of the liberal opposition....

In December of that year, as the keynote speaker at the 20th anniversary gala of the Free Congress Foundation, Mr. Heston described ?a cultural war? raging across America, ?storming our values, assaulting our freedoms, killing our self-confidence in who we are and what we believe.?

The next year, at 73, he was elected president of the N.R.A. In his speech at the association?s convention before his election, he trained his oratorical artillery on President Bill Clinton?s White House: ?Mr. Clinton, sir, America didn?t trust you with our health care system. America didn?t trust you with gays in the military. America doesn?t trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don?t trust you with our guns.?

Full post as published by Althouse on April 06, 2008 (boomark / email).