Charlton Heston RIP

[poliphilo]

Dear Chuck,

You were the first film star I ever loved. Ben Hur is very long and boring but at the time I was just grateful to be in your presence. The chariot race is magic.

I think you took yourself a little too seriously- certainly it's hard to imagine you playing comedy- and perhaps that's what held you back from being the great actor I believe you wanted to be- and so nearly were.

You were in some very good films. El Cid is a favourite of mine. The Warlord is forgotten but cool. Soylent Green and Planet of the Apes are cult classics.

Touch of Evil is a masterpiece. I believe you used your star power to ensure Welles got to direct it. That could be the single most important thing you ever did.

I saw you on stage once. You did OK.

I'm a European so I really don't get that thing about guns but I guess it all made sense to you. I don't think it was kind of Michael Moore to doorstep you the way he did.

You were an innocent-  a gallant gentleman- married to the same woman for 64 years, which is sweet. Gore Vidal and his mates laughed at you for not getting the gay subtext they'd inserted into Ben Hur- and that sniggering accompanied you all through life. You probably deserved a lttle gentle mockery (who doesn't?) but I don't believe you were ever hated. You were too nice, too courteous, too trusting. You got to play all manner of antique fools, but you never got to play Don Quixote, which is a pity, because you'd have been a natch.

Off you go then on your white stallion across the limitless sands,

Vaya con Dios,

Poliphilo

Comments

[jfs.livejournal.com]

With regard to comedy, Heston had a small role in Wayne's World Two - he wasn't rip-roaringly funny, but he was at least willing to send himself up a little.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I should perhaps have said it's difficult to imagine the young Heston playing comedy. I think he lightened up as he grew older.

[jenny_evergreen]

That was very sweet and quite perfect.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

EDIT: I took off on one bit of the Charleston Heston meditation, which may lead you to believe that I didn't appreciate the rest of it. Believe me, I did. I'm not sure when it became fashionable to snigger at simple decency, but it's a damned shame.

Let me explain "the gun thing."

Shortly before we declared our independence from you, you tried to put a lid on our rebellion by collecting all our guns. We had a thing or two to say about that. Some of us have very long memories.

That phrase in our Second Amendment about "a well-regulated militia" being necessary to a free society? It means a couple of things, but especially it means a distrust of anyone having a monopoly on the means of self-defense. Well-regulated means well-controlled, and the best control on a militia etc. is the knowledge that they'd best not turn on the citizenry because the citizens have guns and know how to use them.

I have believed for a long time that a well-armed and cantankerous citizenry is the best defense against tyranny. I've seen nothing in my lifetime to change my mind.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

"Decency" Yes. I can think of very few actors or other celebs who embody that quality.

I see what you're saying about guns. It's a persuasive argument and I respect it.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

it means a distrust of anyone having a monopoly on the means of self-defense

Yes. The only good government is minimal government, and one perpetually afraid of its people.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

Heston is another actor from my parents/grandparents' generation. I suspect I'll wax similarly nostaligic if I ever find myself reading Harrison Ford's obit. He's the first actor I can think of that I remember watching on screen while growing up who has a similar sort of appeal.

(sorry, the first time I tried posting this I clicked "post" when I shouldn't have)

[athenais.livejournal.com]

That was an excellent obit. Thank you.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

It was weird to me that we just watched the original Planet of the Apes a couple of nights ago and then I read that Charlton had passed away. It is sure a cult classic but wow... I was surprised by my feeling about the movie now.

I had no idea that he had Alzheimer's. How sad!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Those two have a lot in common. Ben Hur was the Star Wars of my childhood.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I tried to do him justice. He meant a lot to me.

[sovay]

That's very lovely.

My mother remembers that the first time she saw Ben Hur—they lived in Norman, Oklahoma; her father was a professor at the university—her mother had gone to Oklahoma City to picket a segregated department store, and Charlton Heston was there, leading the protest. She never liked how conservative he became with the NRA, but it was not how she defined him.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I only found out about his support for civil rights when I googled him today and up came all these pictures of him standing shoulder to shoulder with James Baldwin and Harry Belafonte.

I didn't like the way his politics developed, but I never doubted that he was a good and honourable man.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My favourite Heston role is in El Cid. I feel I want to watch that movie again now.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

I have believed for a long time that a well-armed and cantankerous citizenry is the best defense against tyranny. I've seen nothing in my lifetime to change my mind.



While a small part of me admires your romantic philosophy, I find it extremely fascinating. Given the slow and painful grasp of our civil freedoms over the last eight (twenty-eight) years I feel that tyranny takes a different shape this century. Our possession of guns in a generally passive society is of no use to anyone, the least of them being those who use guns against each other.

I don't really foresee Americans taking their guns and rising up against the government which slowly took their liberties over time while they were being anesthetised by iPods, XBoxes, and Hollywood.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

I love this obit, tremendously! May I quote you?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Please do. I'd be highly flattered.

[(Anonymous)]

Liberal that I am, I could not agree more. When the government owns all the weaponry, the citizenry becomes enslaved.
Checks and balances -- even the citizenry are part of that equation, not just appointed and elected officials.

[(Anonymous)]

Also, before we had all this brouhaha about gun laws there were far FEWER guns in the hands of the citizenry. NEVER back then did we hear of teenagers killing each other in gang-type vendettas. We lived in one of Boston's worst neighborhoods when I was a teen, and not once in all those years was there a shooting. There were, however, occasional stabbings and beatings with the brass buckled garrison belt. So...what then? - Should the authorities have taken away all knives from the citizenry? Or all belts from around people's waists?

Ford

[(Anonymous)]

The only man for whom I would gladly have left my husband.

[ex-redrain.livejournal.com]

I have enjoyed reading your posts, and this post. Would you mind adding another reader?

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Which liberties are you talking about?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Of course not. I'm very happy to make your aquaintance. :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome :)