CHARLTON HESTON (1923-2008)

Many people hate him because of his opinions. Many people, and I, like him because of his movies. Since i was like five (the first time i watched The Naked Jungle A.K.A. MARABUNTA! (1954) I am his fan. So here my homage to the great late Chuck "Stoneface" Heston:


My first Heston movie, a late night long time ago in a far, far away country...

With Gregory Peck as James McKay and Carroll Baker as Patricia Terrill in a scene from The Big Country, my most beloved western of them all. And one of the best soundtracks ever, by Jerome Moross.

Here's a little scene:

James McKay: If it's a fight you want, you've picked the right time for it, haven't you?

Steve Leech: Yeah, I'm offering you a fight. Or ain't that a nice word back east?

James McKay: You're gambling, Leech. You're gambling that if we fight, you can beat me. And you're gambling that if you beat me, Ms. Terrill will admire you for it.

Steve Leech: Out here, we leave a lady's name out of an argument.

(I hope someday I'll say this one somebody. By the way, this was a fist fight not a "gunned" one)

The tough but loyal Steve Leech from the same William Wyler,1958 masterpiece.

A "Semana Santa" classic. As Miguel Angel in La Agonía y el Extasis "Cuándo lo terminarás?(The Pope Rex Harrison kept asking him) Cuando lo termine! (his usual answer)" My mother always quoted him , when she used to take too much time on something (hence the "spanish mix")

An Epic Man if there ever was one. Mr. Heston as Major Dundee.


This one i'm sure doesn't need a presentation.


Remember my father taking me on my 10th birthday from the school to watch this great one.

A studio still as Judah Ben-Hur. No movie has won more Academy Awards then this one.

This pic is worth a click. It gets bigger then life.

Another classic that my father took me to see re-released at the movies when i was a kid.

And this one on it's premiere during the seventies, when he was the "Lord of Sensorround"!

With eeerh..., Julio Iglesias!!


My second favorite movie from all time Planet of The Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968). Chuck as Colonel Taylor with Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius and my dreamgirl since i was fourteen Linda Harrison as Nova.

"FROM MY DEAD COLD HANDS!" Stupid, but brave!

By the way a quote from Planet of The Apes:

Cornelius: Well Taylor, we're all fugitives now.

George Taylor: Do you have any weapons, any guns?

Cornelius: The best, but we won't need them.

George Taylor: I'm glad to hear it. I want one anyway.

Right! Heston wasn't playing Cornelius...

Here he was "The Omega Man" fighting albino vampires, so i guess the use of firearms was justified.

With the great Orson in Touch of Evil. The "last" great B movie (1958). Playing a mexican polis called Miguel Vargas.

As Indiana Jones "Grandpa" Harry Stelle in Cuzco. Secret of the Incas from 1954. When is the "Damned Dirty" DVD coming??

" I marched for civil rights with Dr. [Martin Luther King] in 1963 - long before Hollywood found it fashionable. But when I told an audience last year that white pride is just as valid as black pride or red pride or anyone else's pride, they called me a racist. I've worked with brilliantly talented homosexuals all my life. But when I told an audience that gay rights should extend no further than your rights or my rights, I was called a homophobe. I served in World War II against the Axis powers. But during a speech, when I drew an analogy between singling out innocent Jews and singling out innocent gun owners, I was called an anti-Semite. Everyone I know knows I would never raise a closed fist against my country. But when I asked an audience to oppose this cultural persecution, I was compared to Timothy McVeigh."(Chuck in 1999)

With Poitier and Belafonte...

With Brando and Baldwin, fighting for human rights.

"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. [Martin Luther King] and [John F. Kennedy] 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-cap'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."

(Chuck, 9 August 2002)