E-mail
Print
RSS
G-bookmarks
Live
TechnoratiIn the 1965 film, "The Greatest Story Ever Told," another story about the life of Jesus Christ, Heston played John the Baptist.
Even years later after he retired from his extensive film career, Heston appeared in another biblically-themed production – "Charlton Heston Presents the Bible," a four-part video series in which he narrates and presents the Bible. In the series, which was shot in the Middle East, Heston declared, "If you seek the Lord, you will find Him," according to Baehr.
In the early 1990s, Heston became involved in a Christian entertainment award ceremony hosted by Baehr's Christian Film & Television Commission. Baehr said Heston came for several years to present awards at the Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala & Report to the Entertainment Industry until his health prevented his participation.
According to AFP, Heston had hip replacement surgery in 1998 and survived prostate cancer that same year. In August 2002, he announced he had Alzheimer's disease.
The actor is also remembered for his political activism, including his involvement in the civil-rights movement and his stand for the right to bear arms.
Heston opposed abortion and appeared in the introduction to a 1987 pro-life documentary on late-term abortions.
He also spoke frequently of the culture war waged by liberals. In a speech in 1997 Heston argued that a generation of liberal media, educators, entertainers, and politicians were waging a war against “the God-fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle-class Protestant, or even worse, evangelical Christian, Midwestern or Southern, or even worse, rural, apparently straight, or even worse, admitted heterosexual, 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 downright obstacle to social progress," according to The Times Online.
President Bush, who presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Heston in 2003, praised Heston as "one of the most successful actors in movie history and a strong advocate for liberty."
"He was a man of character and integrity, with a big heart," Bush said, as reported by AFP.
He is survived by two children, Fraser Clarke Heston and Holly Heston Rochell, and three grandchildren, Jack Alexander Heston, Ridley Rochell and Charlie Rochell.
pburwell »
Agree: 
Disagree: 
