Charlton Heston

Highest Rated: 100% Khartoum (1966)

Lowest Rated: 0% The Order (2002)

Birthday: Oct 4, 1924

Birthplace: Evanston, Illinois, USA

Steely jawed, hard bodied, terse in speech, Charlton Heston was an American man's man, an epic unto himself. While he played modern men, he was at his best when portraying larger-than-life figures from world history, preferably with his shirt off. He was born John Charles Carter on October 4, 1924 and originally trained in the classics in Northwestern University's drama program, gaining early experience playing the lead in a 1941 filmed school production of Peer Gynt. He also performed on the radio, and then went on to serve in the Air Force for three years during WWII. Afterwards, he went to work as a model in New York, where he met his wife, fellow model Lydia Clarke, to whom he remained married until his death. Later the two operated a theater in Asheville, North Carolina where Heston honed his acting skills. He made his Broadway debut in Katharine Cornell's 1947 production of Anthony and Cleopatra and subsequently went on to be a staple of the highly-regarded New York-based Studio One live television anthology where he played such classic characters as Heathcliff, Julius Caesar and Petruchio. The show made Heston a star. He made his Hollywood film debut in William Dieterle's film noir Dark City playing opposite Lizabeth Scott. Even though she was more established in Hollywood, it was Heston who received top billing. He went on to appear as a white man raised in Indian culture in The Savage (1952) and then as a snob who snubs a country girl in King Vidor's Ruby Gentry (1952). His big break came when Cecil B. DeMille cast him as the bitter circus manager Brad Braden in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). In subsequent films, Heston began developing his persona of an unflinching hero with a piercing blue-eyed stare and unbending, self-righteous Middle American ethics. Heston's heroes could be violent and cruel, but only when absolutely necessary. He began a long stint of playing historical characters with his portrayal of Buffalo Bill in Pony Express and then Andrew Jackson in The President's Lady (both 1953). Heston's star burned at its brightest when DeMille cast him as the stern Moses in the lavish The Ten Commandments (1956). From there, Heston went on to headline numerous spectaculars which provided him the opportunity to play every one from John the Baptist to Michelangelo to El Cid to General "Chinese" Gordon. In 1959, Heston won an Academy Award for the title role in William Wyler's Ben Hur. By the mid-1960s, the reign of the epic film passed and Heston began appearing in westerns (Will Penny) and epic war dramas (Midway). He also did sci-fi films, the most famous of which were the campy satire Planet of the Apes (1968), The Omega Man (1970) and the cult favorite Soylent Green (1973). The '70s brought Heston into a new kind of epic, the disaster film, and he appeared in three, notably Airport 1975. From the late '80s though the '90s, Heston has returned to television, appearing in series, miniseries and made-for TV movies. He also appeared in such films as Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996) and 1998's Armageddon (as the narrator).Outside of his film work, Heston served six terms as the president of the Screen Actors Guild and also chaired the American Film Institute. Active in such charities as The Will Rogers Institute, he was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 1977 Oscar ceremony. Known as a conservative Republican and proud member of the National Rifle Association, Heston worked closely with his long-time colleague and friend President Ronald Reagan as the leader of the president's task force on arts and the humanities. He made two of his final film appearances in the disastrous Warren Beatty-Diane Keaton sex farce Town and Country (2001) (in a parodistic role, as a shotgun wielding arsonist who burns Beatty's cabin to the ground) and as himself in Michael Moore's documentary Bowling For Columbine (2002) (in which he stormed out of an interview after Moore pummeled him with gun-related questions). Hest

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Highest Rated Movies

Khartoum
100%
The Big Country
100%
Major Dundee
97%
Cameraman: The Life And Work Of Jack Cardiff
96%

Filmography

MOVIES

		CREDIT
No Score Yet	The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille	Actor	2016
No Score Yet	Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen	Actor	2013
95%	Sing Your Song	Charlton Heston	2012
96%	Cameraman: The Life And Work Of Jack Cardiff	Actor	2011
No Score Yet	Vietnam: A Retrospective	Actor	2007
No Score Yet	America Home of the Brave	Actor	2005
No Score Yet	Ben Hur	Actor	2003
No Score Yet	When the Pipers Play	Actor	2003
95%	Bowling for Columbine	Actor	2002
0%	The Order	Prof. Finley	2002
No Score Yet	Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible - The Nativity	Actor	2002
No Score Yet	Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible - Samson and Delilah	Actor	2002
No Score Yet	Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible - Joshua and the Battle of Jericho	Actor	2002
No Score Yet	Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible - Miracles of Jesus	Actor	2002
No Score Yet	Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible - Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors	Actor	2002
No Score Yet	Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible - Sodom and Gomorrah	Actor	2002
45%	Planet of the Apes	Zaius	2001
53%	Cats & Dogs	Dog Leader	2001
13%	Town & Country	Mr. Claybourne	2000
No Score Yet	Forever Hollywood	Actor	2000
51%	Any Given Sunday	Commissioner	1999
No Score Yet	Gideon	Addison Sinclair	1999
60%	Behind the Planet of the Apes	Actor	1998
38%	Armageddon	the Narrator Narrator	1998
No Score Yet	Secrets of War: Intelligence - The Ultra Enigma	Narrator	1998
No Score Yet	Secrets of War - Spy Games Of World War II	Actor	1998
No Score Yet	Secrets of War: Air Wars - Spies in the Sky	Narrator	1998
No Score Yet	Secrets of War - Bold Strikes	Actor	1998
No Score Yet	Secrets of War: Air Wars - Vietnam, Alpha Strike	Narrator	1998
No Score Yet	Secrets of War - Wealth & Power	Actor	1998
No Score Yet	Secrets of War: Intelligence - Women Spies in World War II	Narrator	1998
No Score Yet	Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's	Actor	1997
No Score Yet	Charlton Heston Presents: The Bible	Actor	1997
No Score Yet	To the Galaxy and Beyond with Mark Hamill (Hollywood Aliens & Monsters)	Actor	1997
No Score Yet	Alaska: Spirit of the Wild	Narrator	1997
95%	Hamlet	Player King	1996
18%	Alaska	Perry	1996
No Score Yet	Mysterious Origins of Man: Rewriting Man's History	Narrator	1996
No Score Yet	Adventures of Mowgli	Narrator in the English-language version	1996
No Score Yet	Texas	Actor	1995
60%	In the Mouth of Madness	Jackson	1995
No Score Yet	The Avenging Angel	Brigham Young	1995
71%	True Lies	Spencer Trilby	1994
No Score Yet	The Bible According to Hollywood	Actor	1994
73%	Tombstone	Henry Hooker	1993
61%	Wayne's World 2	Good Actor	1993
No Score Yet	The Mystery of the Sphinx	Host	1993
No Score Yet	Solar Crisis	Actor	1993
No Score Yet	Noel	Actor	1993
No Score Yet	Les Secrets professionnels du Dr Apfelglück (The Professional Secrets of Dr. Apfelgluck)	Actor	1992
No Score Yet	Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232	Actor	1992
No Score Yet	Smithsonian's Great Battles of the Civil War, Vol. 1	Actor	1992
No Score Yet	Symphony for the Spire	Actor	1991
No Score Yet	The Crucifer of Blood	Sherlock Holmes	1991
No Score Yet	The Little Kidnappers	James MacKenzie	1990
No Score Yet	Treasure Island (Devil's Treasure)	Long John Silver	1990
29%	Almost an Angel	God (uncredited)	1990
No Score Yet	Solar Crisis (Crisis 2050)	Skeet Kelso	1989
No Score Yet	Original Sin	Louis Mancini	1989
No Score Yet	From Defeat into Victory	Actor	1988
No Score Yet	Proud Men	Actor	1987
No Score Yet	The Fantasy Film World of George Pal	Actor	1985
No Score Yet	Nairobi Affair	Lee Cahill	1984
No Score Yet	Chiefs	Hugh	1983
No Score Yet	Mother Lode (Search for the Mother Lode: The Last Great Treasure)	Director Ian McGee, Silas McGee	1982
No Score Yet	The Awakening	Matthew Corbeck	1980
43%	The Mountain Men	Bill Tyler	1980
No Score Yet	The Helga Pictures	Actor	1979
60%	Gray Lady Down	Capt. Paul Blanchard	1978
No Score Yet	Crossed Swords (The Prince and the Pauper)	Henry VIII	1977
54%	Midway	Capt. Matt Garth	1976
No Score Yet	The Last Hard Men	Sam Burgade	1976
No Score Yet	America at the Movies	Narrator	1976
30%	Two Minute Warning	Actor	1976
79%	The Four Musketeers	Cardinal Richelieu	1975
No Score Yet	The AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards: Orson Welles	Actor	1975
35%	Earthquake	Stewart Graff	1974
29%	Airport 1975	Alan Murdock	1974
82%	The Three Musketeers	Cardinal Richelieu	1973
72%	Soylent Green	Det. Thorn	1973
No Score Yet	Call of the Wild	John Thornton	1972
No Score Yet	Skyjacked	Capt. Henry 'Hank' O'Hara	1972
No Score Yet	Antony And Cleopatra	Director Marc Antony	1972
63%	The Omega Man	Neville	1971
No Score Yet	The Hawaiians	Whip Hoxworth	1970
40%	Beneath The Planet Of The Apes	Taylor	1970
No Score Yet	King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis	Actor	1970
No Score Yet	Julius Caesar	Marc Antony	1970
85%	Will Penny	Will Penny	1968
88%	Planet of the Apes	George Taylor	1968
No Score Yet	The Adventures of Mowgli	Actor	1967
No Score Yet	Counterpoint	Actor	1967
100%	Khartoum	Gen. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon	1966
67%	The War Lord	Chrysagon	1965
86%	The Agony and the Ecstasy	Michelangelo	1965
97%	Major Dundee	Maj. Amos Charles Dundee	1965
37%	The Greatest Story Ever Told	John the Baptist	1965
No Score Yet	Diamond Head	Richard 'King' Howland	1963
57%	Fifty Five Days at Peking	Major Matt Lewis	1963
No Score Yet	The Pigeon That Took Rome	Capt. Paul MacDougall	1962
92%	El Cid	El Cid	1961
87%	Ben-Hur	Ben-Hur	1959
No Score Yet	The Wreck of the Mary Deare	John Sands	1959
No Score Yet	The Buccaneer	Gen. Andrew Jackson	1958
96%	Touch of Evil	Ramon Miguel `Mike' Vargas	1958
100%	The Big Country	Steve Leech	1958
No Score Yet	Three Violent People	Capt. Colt Saunders	1957
94%	The Ten Commandments	Moses	1956
No Score Yet	Lucy Gallant	Casey Cole	1955
No Score Yet	The Private War of Major Benson	Maj. Bernard R. 'Barney' Benson	1955
No Score Yet	The Far Horizons	Lt. William Clark	1955
No Score Yet	Secret of the Incas	Harry Steele	1954
86%	The Naked Jungle	Christopher Leiningen	1954
No Score Yet	Bad for Each Other	Dr. Tom Owen	1953
No Score Yet	Arrowhead	Ed Bannon	1953
No Score Yet	The President's Lady	Andrew Jackson	1953
No Score Yet	Pony Express	Buffalo Bill Cody	1953
57%	Ruby Gentry	Boake Tackman	1952
No Score Yet	The Savage	James 'Jim' Aherne Jr./War Bonnet	1952
43%	The Greatest Show on Earth	Brad	1952
No Score Yet	Dark City	Danny Haley	1950
No Score Yet	Julius Caesar	Marcus Antonius	1950
No Score Yet	Studio One Anthology	Actor	1948
No Score Yet	Peer Gynt	Peer Gynt	1941

TV

		CREDIT
No Score Yet	CBS This Morning 2012	Appearing	2013
No Score Yet	60 Minutes 2008	Guest	2000
No Score Yet	The Outer Limits 1995-2002	Wainwright	2000
No Score Yet	seaQuest DSV 1993-1996	Abalon	1994
No Score Yet	Saturday Night Live 1975	Host Guest	1993 1987

QUOTES FROM Charlton Heston CHARACTERS

Narrator	Close
Narrator	Close.

Taylor

Dr. Zaius, would an ape make a human doll....that talks?

Neville

Tell me something. Are you fellas really with the Internal Revenue Service?

Ramon Miguel Vargas

A policeman's job is only easy in a police state...

Steve Leech

All I can say, McKay, is you take a hell of a long time to say goodbye.

Detective Thorn

Soylent Green is people!

Taylor

They blew it up! God, damn you! Damn you all to hell!!!

Moses	Go, proclaim liberty throughout all the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof.
Moses	Go, proclaim liberty throughout all the land and to all the inhabitants thereof.

Moses

The Lord of Hosts will do battle for us. Behold His mighty hand.

Moses

There is a beauty beyond the senses, Nefretiri. Beauty like the quiet of green valleys and still waters. Beauty of the spirit that you cannot understand.

Moses

It would take more than a man to lead the slaves from bondage. It would take a god.

Moses

What change is there in me? Egyptian or Hebrew I am still Moses. These are the same hands, the same arms, the same face that were mine a moment ago.

Nefertiri	You will be king of Egypt and I will be your footstool!
Moses	The man stupid enough to use you as a footstool would not be wise enough to rule Egypt.

Moses	Great one, I bring you Ethiopia.
Rameses	[Trumpets play, the two Ethiopians stepped forward] Command them to kneel before Pharaoh.
Rameses	Command them to kneel before Pharaoh.
Moses	Command what you have conquered, my brother.

Moses	[Moses then put a brick on empty weight scale, on opposite side of Rameses' weight scale, of accusations, and then said] A city is made of brick, Pharoah. The strong make many. The weak make few. The dead make none. So much for accusations.
Moses	A city is made of brick, Pharoah. The strong make many. The weak make few. The dead make none. So much for accusations.

Moses

Let my people go!

Moses	Does your god live on this mountain?
Sephora	Sinai is His high place, His temple.
Moses	If this god is God, he would live on every mountain, in every valley. He would not be the god of Ishmael or Israel alone, but of all men. It is said he created all men in his image. He would dwell in every heart, every mind, every soul

Moses	No son could have more love for you than I.
Sethi	Then why are you forcing me to destroy you? What evil has done this to you?
Moses	The evil that men should turn their brothers into beasts of burden, to be stripped of spirit, and hope, and strength - only because they are of another race, another creed. If there is a god, he did not mean this to be so.

Moses	Those who do not live by the law...shall die by the law!
Moses	Those who do not live by the law... shall die by the law!

Taylor

You maniacs! You blew it up!

Quintus Arrius	What is your name, forty-one?
Judah Ben Hur	Judah Ben Hur.

Narrator

"This is the Earth, at a time when dinosaurs roamed a lush & fertile planet. But the piece of rock just six miles wide changed all that. It hit with the force of ten thousand nuclear weapons. A trillion tons of dirt & rock hurtled into the atmosphere creating a suffocating blanket of dust the Sun was powerless to penetrate for a thousand years. It happened before, it will happen again, it's just a question of when."

Narrator

This is the Earth, at a time when dinosaurs roamed a lush & fertile planet. But the piece of rock just six miles wide changed all that. It hit with the force of ten thousand nuclear weapons. A trillion tons of dirt & rock hurtled into the atmosphere creating a suffocating blanket of dust the Sun was powerless to penetrate for a thousand years. It happened before, it will happen again, it's just a question of when.

Moses

Men shall be ruled by Law, not by the will of other men.

God (Uncredited)

I am, that I am.

Perry

I want that bear!

Mastiff

Failure is not an opinion.

Judah Ben Hur

And I felt his voice take the sword out of my hand.

Taylor

I can't help thinking somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be.

Maj. Matt Lewis

Clever women make me nervous.

The Commissioner

[of Christina Pagniacci] I honestly believe that woman would eat her own young.

Detective Thorn

I can't figure this Simonson. If I was like him. Rich. Important... ...plenty to eat... ...real bourbon... ...and a girl like you... ...you wouldn't see me in church.

Sol Roth	There was a world once, you punk.
Sol Roth	There was a world, once, you punk.
Detective Thorn	Yes, so you keep telling me.
Detective Thorn	Yes, so you keep telling me.
Sol Roth	I was there. I can prove it.
Sol Roth	I was there. I can prove it.
Detective Thorn	I know, I know. When you were young, people were better.
Detective Thorn	I know, I know. When you were young, people were better.
Sol Roth	Aw, nuts. People were always rotten. But the world was beautiful.
Sol Roth	Aw, nuts. People were always rotten. But the world 'was' beautiful.

Zaius	I see you've brought the female of your species. I didn't realize that man could be monogamous.
Taylor	On this planet, it's easy.

Taylor	It's a madhouse!
Taylor	It's a mad house! A mad house!
Julius	[stops hosing Taylor]
Taylor	A MADHOUSE!!!

Neville	I like Pizza
Neville	I like pizza.

Taylor

Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!

Gen. Charles Gordon	And when the Mahdi floats me down the Nile, the government will assume a pained expression and say to Her Majesty and the churchmen and the antislavery people "Well, we did the best we could. We sent Gordon."
Gen. Charles Gordon	And when the Mahdi floats me down the Nile, the government will assume a pained expression and say to Her Majesty and the churchmen and the antislavery people, 'Well, we did the best we could. We sent Gordon.'
Mr. Gladstone	Precisely.
Gen. Charles Gordon	And that will be the end of Gordon. But not of Gladstone.
Mr. Gladstone	In a nutshell!
Gen. Charles Gordon	Well I must say, Mr. Gladstone ... you're hardly a bore.
Gen. Charles Gordon	Well I must say, Mr. Gladstone, you're hardly a bore.