Fade to Black - Charlton Heston

I always had a spot in my heart for Charlton Heston. He wasn't so much an actor as he was an icon, a symbol of an era.

My favorite story about him comes from Burt Reynolds. Reynolds was at Florida State University. He was a student and football quarterback with aspirations of becoming an actor. He was in the auditorium when Heston arrived to give a speech.

The way Reynolds tells it, Heston looked magnificent when he came onto the stage. Tanned. Tall. Brilliant white teeth. Stunningly handsome in a camel skin coat.

Thought Burt, "I'll never be an actor."

Then Heston tripped and almost fell flat on his face.

Heston made over-the-top acting cool. I can't think of any other actor from his era that could pull off the parts of Moses, El Cid, and Ben-Hur, without looking like a pompous ass. Heston relished the high-drama act of lifting a fist to the air, cursing the heavens, tasting every consonant in each spoken word.

As a private citizen, he marched for civil rights, headed the Screen Actors Guild, and later the National Rifle Association. It was the latter that put him in the sights of those with differing politics. That's unfortunate. From now until the end of time, his name will be on the same page as Michael Moore's, though Moore only met the man once, briefly, in an ambush interview.

That's all right. Compared to that footnote, Heston's library of work stands tall. In any documentary on the history of film, you'll find shots of Heston riding a chariot, sobbing before the Statue of Liberty, parting the Red Sea, or saying one of the most famous lines in film history: "Get your stinking paws off me, you damned, dirty ape."

Maybe he should have saved that one for the interview.

Photos: Star Pulse