I’m so glad they are such thoughtful, considerate and gentle people. Heston had more integrity and acting ability in his little finger than the collective lot of them have tin their bodies.

gee, really?

because i wonder about a ‘great man’ who advocates gun rights shortly after grieving parents who lost children at Colombine Massacre was really so honorable in real life as he was onscreen.

at least, that is, at THAT point of his life.

because… those were real parents who lost real children, in part because Dylan and Kliebold had far too easy access to the very guns Mr. Heston said was ‘above and beyond’ reproach.

many of those parents are and were strongly-believing Christians. many were devastated and begging him to cancel his scheduled appearance in light of their pain. out of respect for their local tragedy and the needless additional pain it would inflict on an already heartbroken community, if for no other reason.

i mean, many will criticize me for “speaking ill of the dead,” but didn’t Mr. Heston do as much when he spoke for gun ownership in light of the senselessness of that tragedy? before the NRA convention, no less? at the point when he did?

sure, he has the right to speak. he also has the right NOT to speak when it sensationalizes and exploits if not outright ignores the suffering of others. one doesn’t yell ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater because one can, right?

does this therefore make Michael Moore reprehensible? for taking Mr. Heston to task? i don’t think so. i think if you advocate guns, you have to take the responsibility for your position, not tar and feather those who equally oppose it, as Mr. Moore does and did.

put another way: if Mr. Moore is reprehensible for pointing out his political views, then is Mr. Heston simply exonerated because you liked him as a fictional actor in, say, SOYLENT GREEN or THE TEN COMMANDMENTS?

like all lives, Mr. Heston’s was full of contradictions. he was not a god; he was a man who struggled and made mistakes like us all but overcame many of them to succeed in life, which is the finest compliment you can really pay him, imho.

take the fact that Mr. Heston promoted Civil Rights back in the 1960’s when Hollywood — despite the liberal agenda many falsely accuse the real power lords of promoting when they’re actually very conservative ala Rupert Murdoch and other OWNERS not workers in the factory (i worked in Hollywood for 25 years, so allow me that opinion) — was queasy to do so. that was ballsy.

it’s easy to be MLK friendly today. back then, it could get you blacklisted if J. Edgar Hoover made a phone call to top talent agencies. and by then, Heston was past his prime and vulnerable, career-wise. he was brave.

in another instance, Mr. Heston demanded that Orson Welles direct TOUCH OF EVIL when no one in Hollywood would back Mr. Welles. Heston flatly told Universal that unless Welles directed, Heston wouldn’t act in the picture (which was the only reason Universal gave in and greenlit with Welles at the helm). again, that shows integrity and true vision.

but… his stance on gun rights was at times tasteless and awkwardly self-contradictory, as Mr. Moore’s film demonstrated.

i balance that perspective by pointing out that Mr. Heston was suffering from a degenerative mental disease at that point. as someone who has watched love ones die from the same genetic disorder, i emphasize and it helps to mitigate Mr. Heston’s ultra-right wing stance re: guns.

he was a great actor; he united many in artistic appreciation and civil rights. later, however, he was a divisive figure, who polarized instead of built concensus, and did so often without regard to the justifiably angry feelings of others in the very community where innocent children were slaughtered by two gun-toting fiends.

i can appreciate his complexity, but at the same time, not lionize him. just one fool’s opinion.

George Clooney was one of those who made fun of Heston’s Alzheimer’s—although, to his credit, he DID later apologize for it. One of the reasons I still don’t like Clooney.

RIP, Charlton Heston.

MountDesertIslander–Thanks for all the little tid bits about Mr. Heston’s life. Two of them I did not know about or had forgotten. Thanks for the reminder or teaching me something new today.

Continue to shoot straight, Mr. Heston, and God speed.

My favorite Heston role was as Will Penny.